The Light Goes Into the World: Isiah 60: 1-6; Matthew 2: 1-12
If I were to be truly, truly honest with you, I’d have to say that I don’t really care for the story of the Magi coming to visit Jesus. Yes, I preach it every year, but it’s such a difficult passage to continue making creative every year. I could talk about the Gentiles who came from the east to worship Jesus, but we’ve covered that. I could talk about the gifts—gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and how they symbolize Christ’s kingship, Godliness, and death and resurrection. However, I’ve done that twice now here. I could talk about the flight to Egypt, but that might get a bit political. I could even talk about Herod’s response, but the murder of so many innocents is terrifying.
Where does one go with this scripture on how these sages from the east came to Bethlehem and worshipped the Christ-child who was now likely almost a toddler? Perhaps, there are still a couple of things that resonate in this narrative from Matthew’s gospel. We focus in on two important things here in the story: they were led by the light, and they dared to take the journey.
There is a long history in the Bible of the importance of God’s light to the people. In the beginning God split the light and the darkness and decreed that the light would rule over our waking hours and the darkness over our sleeping hours. In many instances, God’s brilliant light blinded the enemies so that Israel would not be conquered. In the wilderness, as the Israelites marched to the Promised Land, God led them by a pillar of fire, or light, by day. In the New Testament, we see the light from a start leading the Magi. We also see that God came to the Apostle Paul and used a blinding light to reach his soul and change it for good.
We also hear about this guiding light in the hymn “O Holy Night” which says, “Led by the light of faith serenely beaming, so led by light of a start sweetly gleaming… here came the Wise Men from Orient land.” Now, this light could be Jupiter and Saturn aligning. It could be something non-miraculous and easily explained by science; however, the Gospel tells us that it was a miraculous light or star of God that led them. This is how God moves and works in and through us, using that heavenly and miraculous light of Christ to lead us.
We must step into this light and follow God’s guiding. Yet in John 3:19, we are told that “people loved darkness more than the light because their [deeds] were evil.” God has called us to come out of that sin—the sin that leads us away from God’s light, love, and grace. Sometimes the very ones who miss the light sit weekly on the pew of their church…or watch in their pajamas at home. You cannot follow God’s light and have a heart with prejudice and hate. You cannot follow God’s light and be filled with bitterness and resentment. You cannot follow God’s light and follow your own selfish desires too. You cannot follow God if there is anything else there in between you and the Holy One.
One of the things that has worried me most in the past year is to watch the church literally disintegrate in the wake of this pandemic. In years past when people were fearful and worried, they turned in droves to the church to find solace and comfort in the words that speak God’s holy peace to us. But that has not happened this time. The church has quarreled and fought against public safety requirements and defied logic and science altogether. Instead of being the source of comfort in the time of struggle, the churches have become the place where the disease spread the most in many places.
Frankly, I’m not all that convinced people are watching church online either. It’s a nice idea, but your worship should not come with a fast-forward button. Many churches have found themselves with only a third to a half of congregates returning and budgets crippled by the those who don’t continue to support because they’ve come to feel they don’t need the church. For the first time in my life and probably in yours, a majority of people say they feel fine without and do not need the church, and by extension, regular faith in their lives. Let that sink in for a moment.
We must return to being led by the light of Christ, not by our reaction to news media, not by our reaction to the political climate, not by our reaction to what we don’t like. The Wise Men journeyed and hastened hundreds of miles to Christ through tough terrain and bitter weather. They ignored Herod and his political evil. They journeyed with a message found in gifts. We, too, must journey with a gift—the gift of this Good News of a Savior.
The truth of the matter is that church and faith are not found watching a production on television, Facebook Live, or YouTube. They are not found in proudly defying science or safety or good sense, going against God’s will just to prove a point. Church and faith are found in people who call one another to check in, to pray, to share love and hope. Church and faith are found in people who step into the breach where there is suffering to heal, help, and restore. Don’t forget, Christ spent most of his ministry here healing and helping those in need and teaching those hungry for a word of hope. Church and faith are found in people all across their homes sharing bread and cup together and being united in Christ’s table wherever that table may be found for God can come to our worship where we are just as God comes here.
The church and faith are found where we take and shine the light of Christ in the world, for that too, is a gift given to us to share with the world. You might think it a bit odd for me to pick the hymn “Let the Lower Lights Be Burning.” It’s a bit older and somewhat obscure these days, but there’s a point to it. The story comes from the 1800s and inspired Philip Bliss to write the hymn.
Rev. Dwight L. Moody was preaching once and told a story about a ship on Lake Eerie near Cleveland, Ohio. It was dark that night and the waves were crashing hard from a storm. As the ship was battered back and forth, the Captain and Pilot were speaking. They both saw this one, lone light from a lighthouse on the shore and no other lights around it. The Captain was perplexed and asked if they were at Cleveland. The Pilot responded he was sure of it. The struggle was that all they could see was the light at the top of the lighthouse. There were supposed to be lower lights along the shore lighting up where the rocks and hazards were, and to steer the ship away from danger and toward the big light from the lighthouse. Those lower lights had gone out.
The Pilot and Captain were sure they could manage the ship without the lower lights, but they miscalculated. The ship was hurled into the dark rocks because none of the lower lights were burning, and the journey ended in a fatality. Rev. Moody concluded with this, “Beloved the Master will take care of the great Lighthouse. Let us keep the lower lights burning.” God’s light, high in the heavens is still shining brightly as ever, but what about our lower lights here along the shore on Earth? Is there any light left there for others to find safety?
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/228097158806233