Shine Your Light
a sermon by Rev. Rebecca Segers
Psalm 147:12-20
John 1:1-18
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
Some people think these original verses were part of an early Christian hymn, and a beautiful one it must have been, huh? “In the beginning was the Word…” In the beginning…
Unlike Matthew and Luke who tell stories of Jesus’ human birth as the opening to their gospels, or Mark who simply goes straight into Jesus’ adult life – because as far as he’s concerned it’s the important part – John goes into unknown territory. Cosmic territory. A place where no one has ever gone before. He begins with the enormous, celestial implications of Jesus’ pre-existence as the Word. You see, to John, the story of Jesus is not the story of Jesus, but the story of God. The important part of the story for John is not Jesus’ humanity, but Jesus’ divinity. This is a balance that is hard for all of us to effect.
I don’t know about you, but there have been periods in my life when Jesus’ humanity is what has gotten me through. When knowing that Jesus was fully human and felt pain and sorrow and anger and anguish was incredibly helpful to me. When reading of Jesus’ human acts: the acts of walking from town to town and when he was not accepted by the folk there, knocking the dust off his sandals and moving on, the act of stopping those who would stone the adulterous woman with the words, “Let him who is without sin…cast the first stone” and thereby leading her to a different path, the act of asking God to “dash this cup from (his) lips” when faced with certain torture and death – when reading of these acts and others, Jesus seems close enough to touch, to know, to follow, to be-friend. I know that this has been a great comfort to me and to many others in the history of humankind.
But John doesn’t go there. Of all the gospel messages, his is the most intent upon Jesus as fully divine, Jesus as the Light, Jesus as God. And because of John’s focus, we are privy to some of the most beautiful verses in the Bible. Verses that also echo the opening of the Old Testament in the book of Genesis. Here are those words:
“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”
Once again the first words are “in the beginning” and what follows is a definition of light and darkness. But the part I love is the world being brought into being with the Word. You see, God’s breath that you hear me talk so often about, the Hebrew word ruah, is was swept over the waters, but it isn’t until God speaks, it isn’t until God says “Let there be light” that the light comes into being, that there is a differentiation between light and darkness. God’s Word, which John describes in the beginning of his gospel as Jesus, is what brings the world into being.
This is the first time that we as Christians are aware of Jesus’ existence and it is precisely because of John’s description here that we understand. John tells us that Jesus didn’t begin with his birth in Bethlehem, but has always been. Jesus was there with God and the Holy Spirit at the beginning of time. But the real point of John’s message is not that Jesus and God have always been one – that is a basic tenet of the Trinity – the real point is in verse 14: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us.” The Word becoming flesh is the decisive event in human history – God not only understands us as a creator, the way we understand a painting we have made or a clay pot we have thrown or an engine we have put together or a piece of wood we have whittled – God understands us as we understand ourselves, because God in the form of Jesus has come to dwell with us and as us. God in Jesus, in choosing to live in human form, experienced the things we experience as human beings – joy, pain, suffering, loss, love, grieve and even death.
To help us to understand this, John describes Jesus as the Light, the true Light that enlightens everyone. I love this metaphor of light and did a little research to help “enlighten” us as to what John might have been talking about. The Fifth Edition of the Concise English Oxford Dictionary describes light as a noun meaning “1) the natural agent that stimulates the sense of sight and 2) medium or condition of space in which sight is possible.” The Dictionary further goes on to say that “Light is usually measured in terms of luminous flux. For most purposes other than nuclear physics or astronomy, it can be assumed to travel along straight lines. When it hits a surface boundary, it will either be absorbed, reflected, transmitted or refracted.”
So if we’re talking about Jesus as the Light and our ability to absorb and reflect that light, this definition can be quite helpful. The first definition simply tells us that light exists and that it stimulates the sense of sight. If we think of sight not merely as the external type, but also the internal we can see that Jesus is the Light that stimulates us to look not only at Him, but also at ourselves. The second definition I like even more: a “medium or condition of space where sight is possible.” In other words, there are some folks, and sometimes those folks might even be us, who are not in any condition to see. Light cannot happen if the conditions do not enable it.
Now don’t get me wrong. John tells us that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” And I believe that’s true. But that doesn’t mean that sometimes the darkness can make it awfully hard. It even sometimes succeeds in putting the light out. After all, we human beings did manage to crucify God – and we continue to crucify those who would emulate God in various and sundry ways – but God did not let humanity have the last word there. And ultimately, John tells us, God never will.
But there are still pockets of darkness in this world and in ourselves. Places where light cannot happen because the conditions are not favorable. What can we do to change that? Well, we don’t have a lot of control over a suicide bomber in Palestine, but we do have control over ourselves. And we can open ourselves to developing more suitable conditions for the light to shine. For one, we can be faithful in attending worship. Here in God’s house, singing God’s praise and hearing God’s word feeds us for the week, shining God’s light in our hearts and hopefully helping us to see the places we need to be more open to God’s work and will. But there are other things we can do – individually and corporately, too. We can read the Bible and other spiritual books to help us see the Light. We can meet in Christian fellowship in such groups as the Book Discussion or the Brunch Bunch. One of my goals in this new year is to start a Bible study – this is something that feeds my soul and I want to share it with you. If you would attend a Bible study, would you please let me know after service if you would prefer daytime or evenings, so that I can begin sooner rather than later?
As we begin to live lives that are more open to God’s light, we will then naturally reflect it more as well. But remember the principles of luminous flux. The definition tells us that light “travel(s) along straight lines (and w)hen it hits a surface boundary, it will either be absorbed, reflected, transmitted or refracted.”
Basically this means that the Light of Jesus whether in his body in his time or as it comes through us has four options. Number one: it can be absorbed. I think this is when we shine God’s light onto others who really need it and they don’t have the capacity or the wherewithal at this given point in time to do anything with it other than use it for their own needs.
I was blessed to spend a little time with Isabelle Vetter on Friday. Isabelle is having a rough time now. She was at the Birchwood Nursing Home after having a stroke last month, but was not doing well there. Her mental functions were impaired to the point that she didn’t understand her need for rehab and kept trying to get out of her chair and go home. Since she couldn’t stand up yet, much less walk and the home didn’t want to restrain her physically, they chose to administer drugs to sedate her. Unfortunately, this made it impossible for her to perform the rehabilitation exercises necessary to get better. Then in the midst of this, her ward came down with the flu. Isabelle is now in the Emergency Room at Huntington Hospital with no breathing functions and no awareness because they have not been able to find her a bed. When I visited, she was essentially being kept alive by machinery, unconscious and unresponsive to anything the doctors and nurses were doing. Her nurse told me her only reaction since she had arrived was to flinch slightly when changing oxygen bags or feeding tubes.
Well, I put on my required mask since she was in respiratory trauma and went into the little cubicle with her. I simply stood for a while, praying silently but then I began reciting Bible verses. And do you know, when I began the 23rd Psalm: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside the still waters, he restores my soul…” her eyelids fluttered and she began to move her left arm and stroke her own body. As I continued to speak verses that we know and love: Psalm 27, Philippians 4, these verses we’ve read today from the opening of John, Isabelle seemed to hear the words, absorb the light and take it for her nourishment. She was obviously not in any shape to reflect light of her own, but just knowing that she could hear and respond when nothing else had reached her was comforting to me.
The second way that light can respond when it touches a surface is it can be reflected. Now this one is easy to understand. How many of you have ever treated someone with kindness out of the blue and seen that kindness reflected in return? This is a most potent way that Jesus’ light lives on in our world and I believe it is our Christian duty and privilege to spread the light as much as we can that it might be reflected all around us.
There is a wonderful old Jewish tale that exemplifies this reflective power of God. Over two hundred years ago in the city of St. Petersburg, a poor bridegroom was kidnapped by the police and held for ransom. This experience was not uncommon in those days, when unscrupulous people in power would arrest and hold Jews for ransom because they knew that Jewish law required the community to do anything – including selling a precious Torah scroll – to save a Jewish life.
Three rabbinic students in the area knew the only way to come up with the money was from a wealthy man named Ze’ev. Now ze’ev is Hebrew for wolf and this man’s name was perfect for him. He was ravenous for wealth and would do anything to acquire it. He was also known to be heartless when turning away people for donations; he never contributed to anything.
One of the students, Shneur, decided to go and ask Ze’ev for the money to help the poor bridegroom. His two friends, Mendel and Levi, decided to go with him to protect him from the mean merchant, but Shneur agreed only on the condition that they say nothing, no matter what happened.
The two agreed and off they went to Ze’ev’s house. When Ze’ev saw them, he was honored that three rabbinic students would come to visit him, although also slightly suspicious. However, he invited them in for tea and they chatted about inconsequential things for a while. Eventually, Shneur related the story of the poor orphan boy who had no family and whose wedding was only a week away. The boy who had been arrested on a trumped-up charge and would not be released now without the payment of a ten thousand ruble ransom.
Shneur spoke so winningly and with such compassion that the merchant Ze’ev was moved to tears. “Oh,” he said, “You have touched my heart. I would like to help.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a grimy, rusty kopek, worth about a penny to us, and handed it to Shneur.
Well, Mendel and Levi were horrified by such miserliness, but they had agreed to stay silent and so they did. Meanwhile, Shneur praised Ze’ev up one side and down the other for his generosity.
“Oh, sir, you do not know what this means to us. We are so grateful for your generosity. I want to bless you and your wife and your children…” On and on went Shneur, until finally the budding rabbis got up to leave.
As they were departing, Ze’ev said, “You have touched me so much with this story, I feel that I must give you more.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out yet another dirty kopek.
Levi and Mendel were infuriated, but said nothing as they had agreed they would not. Meanwhile, Shneur spent the next ten minutes going on and on about Ze’ev’s generosity again, until finally the three left the house and headed down the street.
“Are you crazy?” the two told their friend. “We’ve just wasted an hour for two lousy kopeks!”
“Hush!” whispered Shneur for at that moment, the front door of the house opened and Ze’ev called out, “Teachers, come back!”
They returned to the front door and with great pomp and circumstance, Ze’ev told them, “I want to make a serious donation.” This time, he proudly handed them a one-ruble coin. And Shneur spent another five minutes in new praises and blessings.
As they began walking away this time, Mendel said, “The way I calculate it, we just spent over an hour to get one ruble and two kopeks. At this rate, it will take us four or five years to get that boy out of prison.”
But just then the front door of Ze’ev’s house opened again and he cried out to them. This time he gave them ten rubles. A few minutes later, it was one hundred. Then five hundred, then one thousand. Finally, after a dozen leavings and returnings, Ze’ev wrote out a check for the entire amount and they were able to head toward the police station to free the young man.
The two friends were speechless with amazement. It had taken a few hours, but they had the entire sum. As they walked away the final time, they asked excitedly, “How did you do it? How did you know he would give the full amount?”
Soon-to-be Rebbe Shneur responded, “When our hearts are covered with a thick shield, the barrier not only keeps things from coming in, it also keeps them from going out . There is no way to remove this shield over the heart all at once. So what we must do is find a way to make the tiniest crack. Then each little opening of generosity leads to another.
“This idea of slowly breaking down our barriers is the secret of all success: it works for charity, it works for learning, it works for love. Every time we do a good deed, it builds the capacity to do more. No matter what you want to accomplish, you can begin with something that may seem trivial, even a dirty penny. Let yourself slowly evolve, widening the crack. Ultimately, you will be able to pass through easily.”
You see, Shneur continued to send the light toward the merchant Ze’ev at every meeting. And the merchant reflected a little more light with each and every time they made contact. If we, too, send out the light, it will be reflected back to us, perhaps in little bits and pieces, but sometimes it will even move into step three and be transmitted. Sometimes your light will touch someone who has even more to give than you do and together your light will broaden and intensify and gloriously open a little door to God’s kingdom on earth.
Fourth and finally, sometimes light is refracted. And that means that the recipient isn’t receiving it – or at least not the way that we would intend for him or her to get it. It seems to bounce right off. But even when that happens, know that God’s light doesn’t disappear, but simply shows up somewhere else.
For this is the other piece of our Scripture reading today. John makes it very clear that Jesus came and his own people did not know him. Just as sometimes his own people today – that is, us, you and me – don’t recognize him. Because the rejection of God in Jesus Christ is not restricted to Jesus’ time frame, but exists in ours, too. And not simply in the lives of those who do not choose a Christian path, but in our very own lives. In the choices we make and the actions we take.
Here we are on the cusp of a New Year. Here we are at the start of our 176th year of the Presbyterian Church of Sweet Hollow; on the threshold of our next twenty-five years. Here we are “in the beginning” again. The drama of rejection and acceptance of Jesus as the Word in verses 9-13 places a vivid choice before us: we may either accept the Word and participate in a new relationship with God or reject the Word and receive nothing of the life and light the Word offers. What will we do with our new beginning? How will we step into the future, our future with the Word dwelling among and within us?
We hear these words from John as we begin a new year and we have the opportunity to begin new life in Jesus, this day and every day. We have the chance to live in the Light of Jesus and to allow God’s light to shine through us in the form of the Holy Spirit. We have the options of rededicating our hearts and our lives to the One who gives us meaning. To stepping out in faith and love with new efforts in our own spiritual path and reaching out in faith and love to those who are less fortunate than we – and they are many. Please join me, join us as we open ourselves to the light, to absorbing, reflecting and transmitting it. To sharing the peace, justice, mercy and love of our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer in the coming year and beyond. May it be so. Amen.