Homily for
The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
Sunday 5 February 2017
The Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
A Parish of the Diocese of Bethlehem and The Episcopal Church
Readings:
“You are the light of the world.”
Jesus says these words to his disciples in the Gospel we
have just heard. These are words that
need some unpacking. What does it mean
that we and the disciples are the light of the world? The answer I believe lies in the world around
us. The Scriptures give us an account of
the creation of the world and of the light of the world. This account speaks of two great lights for
the earth; the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the
night. These two great lights are of
course the sun and the moon.
Both the sun and the moon are indeed the light of the
world. So also Jesus and the Christian
are the light of the world. But let’s be
clear on these points; the sun and the moon are not equals as lights of the
world, neither are Jesus and the Christian.
Many of our ancestors did not understand the physical light of the
world, and so the light of the world remained for them a mystery. We and those among our ancestors who have
been able to see into the space beyond this world of ours have come to know
that there is no great mystery in the great lights of this physical world. The moon creates no light. It simply accepts the light of the sun and in
turn reflects that light to us. It is
the light of the world only to the same degree that the light of the sun shines
forth and is reflected by it.
Friends, this applies in the spiritual world also. We are like the moon. We do not produce the light. We reflect the light that we first
receive. We are the light of the world
only when we shine with the radiance of the true light and thus make Jesus Christ
known in the world around us.
“No one after lighting a lamp puts
it under a bushel basket…”
In other words, no one takes the light by which to see and
hides it. If they do, they remain in blindness
in the dark when it was their intent to be able to see. Only there is a deeper issue here. Jesus has told each of us that we are the
light. When we remember this, and then
return to this thought of putting a bushel basket over the light, we are now
faced with the truth that what that veil does is to hid the light not from us but
rather from those around us. It is as if
the moon itself would place a veil between itself and the earth in order that
the moon alone would bask in the warmth and light of the sun. From the physical realms of this creation
this sounds absurd. And yet when we look
into the spiritual realms how many are there who clearly seek to do this very
thing? There are persons around us who
say they love Jesus but hate the Church, who long for God but have never given
any thought to belonging to God’s people.
How else can we understand such ones as these than to see that they are
the light of the world, proclaimed so by Jesus who has made them such by shining
upon them, who promptly hide under a bushel basket?
Only, dear friends, Jesus has not intended that we be the
light of the world for the sake of ourselves.
Jesus does not offer salvation in isolation. The relationship to which God calls us is not
“just me and Jesus.”
Where does the light go?
“…on the lampstand, and it gives light
to all…”
Jesus’ desire is to take us whom he has made to be the
light of the world and establish us in a place where we will so shine in the midst
of others that they might see Christ. He
wishes to lift us up before the world to illumine the world. Yes that is challenging! It is even difficult! You’ve heard such language like this
before. Jesus himself was lifted up that
he might shine on the world. He was
lifted high upon the cross.
In our own day there is some threat to our being lifted
up. In our own land, increasingly more
these days, when we as Christians actually live out the Gospel, we will find
quickly how radically our culture has sought to soften and redefine Jesus into
someone that they believe doesn’t really care for the poor and who doesn’t really
expect us to love others unless they love us.
But before we get too caught up in ourselves and our culture, remember
that there are Christian brothers and sisters of ours in other places in the
world who are being dragged before the leaders of the nations and into the
courts of empires to stand under the accusation of being a Christian; an
accusation that could very well and daily does cost them even their life. Martyrs are not a fairy-tale. They are very much real.
Friends, we are the light of the world. Jesus has called us such. Would the world affirm him in this
truth? If we were dragged before courts
and judges along with those who this very day will be or have already been
added to the ranks of the martyrs, would there be enough evidence against us on
the charge of being a Christian to bring forth a conviction? If the answer is no, it is high time to take
the bushel basket off of ourselves, that we might share Christ with the world.
Father
Timothy
Alleman
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