Pink Dragons
Matthew 5:13-16
NUCC Traditional
05 February 2017
*PRAY
The story is told of Albert Einstein showing up one morning at the Institute where
he worked hobbling around with a cane. It seems that during the night he had stubbed
his big toe. “This has happened five or six times before from walking around in the
darkness,” he explained to a colleague. “The only really annoying part of it is that every
time it happens I have to have an x-ray taken to be sure no bones are broken.” His
colleague asked if it wouldn’t save trouble to simply turn on a light. “Oh,” said Einstein, “I
never thought of that.”
Or the story of the person having trouble with their car late one evening. They
made it to a small garage. Something about the engine needed attention. A mechanic
examined the trouble while a helper stood by, directing the beams of a powerful
flashlight into the recesses under the hood.
However, something else attracted the helper’s attention. They turned away and
in doing so inadvertently turned off the light. The mechanic looked up, and with goodhumored impatience exclaimed: “Shine your light! What are you here for anyway?”
And so that’s my question for us today: “What are we here for anyway?”
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said to his disciples, “You are the light of the
world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it
under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others…”
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“There is not enough darkness in the entire world,” says Robert Alden, “to put out
the light of even one small candle.” No wonder the imagery of light is so important to our
faith. Light was the first thing God created. Some of the first words recorded in scripture
are: “Let there be light…”
People hearing Jesus deliver his “Sermon on the Mount” that day would have
known far more about darkness than we. Light was a luxury. There were no street
lamps. On a dark night, if you were traveling, the world was an especially scary place.
Roads were treacherous and criminals waited in the dark. You were thankful that cities
were often built on hills. “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden,” noted Jesus. Many of the
villages in Judea were built on the summits or sides of mountains, and could be seen
from afar. From a great distance, one knew the location of the next village because of
the light from that hilltop. Perhaps, as he spoke these words to his disciples, Jesus
pointed to such a city. He told his disciples that they were to be like those villages that
had become such a beacon for travelers.
But darkness was not only a problem on the road. At the end of your journey,
light was still a luxury. Palestinian homes were generally dark. They usually had one
small window. Their light consisted of a lamp which was a bowl filled with oil that had a
wick.
When they needed light, the lamp was placed on a lamp stand. The most difficult
part of having this light in the house was in lighting the lamp. There were no matches or
lighters. As a result, no one wanted to let their light go out because it took too much
work to get the wick lit again. However, when people went out of the house it was
dangerous to leave the light on. So, for safety reasons, when they left their homes the
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lamp would be taken from its lamp stand and placed under an earthen vessel where it
could burn risk free.
Of course, no one lights a light only to put it under a basket or earthen vessel.
That would defeat its purpose. So, as soon as someone returned to the house, they
would return the light to its stand so it could shine to its capacity.
It was only natural that light became associated with religious faith. The Psalmist
wrote, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”
The metaphor of light is particularly significant in the New Testament . The
prophet Isaiah had foretold the coming of one who would be the light of the world. “The
people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep
darkness a light has dawned.”
John, in the prologue to his Gospel, built on Isaiah’s vision. “In the beginning was
the Word,” he wrote, “and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…In him was
life, and that life was the light of all humankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness has not overcome it.”
Later in John’s Gospel, Jesus speaks to the people of his time and affirms John’s
description. “I am the light of the world,” he said. “He who follows me shall not walk in
darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12).
It is one thing to curse the darkness, it is quite another to light a candle. We can
rant and rave about corruption in high places, and poverty in low places. And we can
abhor violence in all places. But the question is not “Why is there darkness?" The
question is, “Where is the light?"
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And Jesus said: “You are the light of the world…” And I wonder this morning:
“What are we here for anyway?”
One my favorite religious writers, Terry Hershey, tells the story of being in a
friend's home. He writes: “I saw a hand-drawn crayon picture of a dragon that was
obviously created by a child. The dragon was pink and purple and lavender. I liked the
dragon and mentioned it to my host. ‘My daughter did that drawing when she was very
young,’ the friend told me. ‘And her teacher was not pleased, and told her that she did it
all wrong. ‘Everyone knows that dragons are not that color!‘ ‘Really? What color are
fictitious dragons supposed to be?’”
It starts early, doesn’t it? We are told that being different is scary or somehow
threatening. There is a world filled with people out there who feel different, either
because of whatever label the world has placed on them or the label that they carry
deep in the recesses of their heart. But, you know, Jesus talked a lot about those who
feel different. Jesus did not say that the realm of God is filled with people who are
different, Jesus said “If you want to truly understand what the realm of God is, look
through the eyes of someone who is told that they are different. Look through the eyes
of someone who draws a dragon with pink, purple and lavender crayons and you will
see God.”
And so, we gather today at the Feast of Grace, aware of our common humanity,
aware of God’s love at work in our lives and aware of our great calling to be the light in
a sometimes dim world. And perhaps with the simple taste of bread and of juice, you will
hear Jesus say to you: “Shine your light! What are you here for anyway?” Amen.
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