Out of the Darkness – Hope
(based on Isaiah 9:1-4, Matthew 4:12-23, 1
Corinthians 1:10-18)
A professor once quoted a newspaper ad
that read, "For Sale: Hot tub, plumbing included. Will trade for pickup truck. Call (and the telephone number was listed)".
It doesn't take a Ph.D. to determine
that here is a life in major transition! From one that was enjoying the life of leisure
and a hot tub after work to a life that needs a pickup truck, even if it is
sort of a hand-me-down. Often these
major transitions of life are caused by crises. The disciples, in our New Testament reading,
are in the midst of major transition. Perhaps
this transition is caused by the crisis of their decision to repent and follow
Jesus. Perhaps it is caused by the fact
that John the Baptist has been put in prison. Many of Jesus' disciples had first followed
John. It would have been easy for these
disciples of John to succumb to disillusionment, retreat into fear, or just
quit because they were tired. But in
Jesus' voice and the message they heard from him, they heard a new call and it
was the time to respond.
Why did they respond to that voice? Perhaps something was lacking in their lives. Sensing in John a glimmer of hope, they
realized a new opportunity in the dynamic preacher from Nazareth. In Jesus, they found a place. We all know that the church is people. The Greek word we translate as
"church" means "called-out ones." But the church also is a place. And having a place is important. When they sinned, Adam and Eve were tossed out
of their place. Cain was doomed to
wander without a place. Abraham and
Sarah were called to journey looking for a place. The children of Israel were delivered from
Egypt upon the promise of a place flowing with milk and honey. Having a place to call your own is important.
In Christ, the disciples found a place where
they could find mercy, purpose, stability, forgiveness, security, and a
sameness that gave unity to their lives.
Out of darkness - hope.
Matthew also reports that they responded
immediately, almost as if they left their father in the boat and just walked
away. "It is now time," Jesus
says. "The kingdom is near".
Have you heard about the Procrastinators' Club?
They boast five hundred thousand
members. Actually, only thirty-five thousand members have joined. The others intend to but they just keep
putting it off!
Here in Matthew, Jesus is saying, "Don't
put it off."
The Bible uses at least two Greek words we
translate as "time." One word
is chronos, from which we get our word chronology. This is the linear, day-to-day living of our
lives. We are really good with chronos
time. We get up and we are already onto
our daily routines, we have our calendar of events to accomplish and our list
of things to do. We fill up our days
ceaselessly with chronos time. But another word used in Greek is kairos. This is crisis time. The moment is here. Opportunity awaits. Seize it. It is the recognition of that penultimate
moment for a decision to be made or an action to be taken. "The kingdom is near," Jesus said. Without delay, those whom Jesus called,
followed him. Out of darkness – hope.
In the play Becket, the king selected
his old hunting buddy and fellow carouser to be the archbishop, expecting to
control his pal and the church. But in
the role of archbishop, Becket changed. "Something
happened to me," he told the angry king. "When you put this burden upon me in the
empty cathedral, it was the first time in my life that I had ever been
entrusted with anything. I was literally
a man without honor. Now, I am a man
with honor, the honor of God." He
had found his place because he recognized the time.
For the disciples, they recognized in Christ, that
a significant moment had arrived. Out of
their crisis of life, of searching for something more, out of their own fog of desperation
they found purpose and a place. Out of
their own darkness, they found hope.
That found joy waiting for them in Jesus.
One of the most pressing problems in our
society is depression. Millions are affected by it; perhaps some of you today
struggle with depression. The prophet
Isaiah ministered to an entire nation gripped by depression because of their circumstances. Although to many, it seemed there was no
hope, Isaiah proclaimed that even in the midst of despair, God is able to bring
life and light.
The Darkness of despair feels
overwhelming. The reading of verse 1 in
Isaiah is obscure but clear enough: gloom, anguish, and contempt are the daily
bread of the people of Israel, who have borne the brunt of an Assyrian invasion
of 733 B.C. Verse 2 fills out the image:
"The people who walked in darkness...." This darkness is what the
people of Israel have lived with, day and night, week in and week out. To walk in darkness, to live "in a land
of deep darkness," is to lose one's sense of reality, of bearings, of
memory or hope.
What Isaiah describes is a kind of communal
defeat and despair, an experience most of us have never known. We have all, however, witnessed such events,
such tragedies, or read of their occurrence in history. Famine, genocide, plague, civil war,
holocaust—all of these are instances where a crisis is so great it leaves the
entire community or country in a chronic state of shock. Since most of us have never lived that kind
of communal despair we can only imagine it.
However, any of us who have experienced acute depression ourselves know
the weight of such darkness. Now
multiply that by the weight of an entire people with everyone around you
feeling that same depression.
Such was the existence of these oppressed
people during this time period in history for the Jews. They walked, but to where? They lived, but for what purpose?
Into the deep darkness comes a bold
announcement from Isaiah, their prophet: the coming of "a great
light". Weeks and months and years
in complete darkness, all at once dissipated by great light, shining light, as
though they were given sight for the very first time.
The result of such an experience of coming into
light is expressed in verse 3 with one predominant word: joy. We spoke of this joy all through the
Christmas Season as we celebrated the 300th anniversary of the hymn Joy to the
World. "You have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest." The image is no longer of heaviness but the
very opposite—lightness, levity, mirth.
The promise of Yahweh through the prophet Isaiah is that however heavy
the darkness of national defeat, humiliation, and exile may be, the darkness is
not the end. Something better is
coming. Out of darkness – hope. There is hope for joy to come again.
And so it is with your own life, as well. Whatever the cause of your despair, God can
bring new light and new joy to you. This
joy comes with God’s love. But leaving
the darkness and coming into the light of hope and joy is a time of deep and
difficult transition. You must leave
that darkness behind and go towards something unknown.
The disciples did not know what they were getting
themselves into when they chose to follow Christ. They stepped out of the dark and into the
light. The people of Israel had no idea
what Isaiah was talking about when he told them that a light was coming. That joy would return to them. But, out of faith, they followed.
It is difficult when we are in deep depression
to know and believe that light and joy can come. Sometimes we need a guiding hand to help us find
the way. For the entire community of
Israel, it was Isaiah. For the
disciples, it was Christ. For you, it
could be a friend, a pastor, a trusted aunt or a counselor. Reach out through the fog of despair and find
the light that Isaiah talks about or the purpose that the disciples found in
Christ.
Out of darkness – hope.
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