Isaiah 60:1‑2, 19
Arise, shine;
for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord
has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you…..
The sun shall no longer be
your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon
give light to you by night;
but the Lord will be your everlasting light.
We are still in Epiphany, and will be for a few weeks yet, until we come to Lent on Ash Wednesday, March 5th.
Epiphany always seems to me to be a somewhat hodge-podge season without a clear theme – or maybe it’s a time with too many different themes. So I’ve decided, rather than trying to follow a theme, we’re just going to stick with Old Testament readings for this time. In fact, today’s reading from Isaiah isn’t even in the lectionary choices this year, but it fits our world right now.
I’ve covered this before but it never hurts to have a refresher. There were at least three Isaiah’s. Our reading today is from the third Isaiah. First and Second Isaiah’s were written before and during the Babylonian exile. The parts written by our Isaiah today, Third Isaiah, were written during the restoration – the time when the Israelites were actually returning home again after the years of exile. Third Isaiah is filled with promises that God was even then in the process of re-establishing the people of Israel as a nation living in righteousness. It sounds good but in reality it wasn’t all that smooth and easy. Their captors had set the Israelites free and allowed them to return home – but once they were all there, the people themselves could not seem to live in peace with each other.
At the time of the exile, most had been carried off to Babylon, but others had been left behind in Israel (to serve their invading conquerors) and so, never left home. Among those who went into the exile, some assimilated into the Babylonian culture, even marrying and having children with native Babylonians, while others held fast to their Hebrew heritage, which of course was completely against any intermixing.
What we had then were one group that never left home, one that held true to their Hebrew ways, and one that intermingled with the Babylonians culture. Now, these three different groups were more or less thrown back into Israel all together, two generations later, and – rather than greeting each other with kisses of joy – there was jealousy and back-biting as each group claimed its own moral superiority.
They’re back home again – sure – but they find they can’t stand each other. The ones who had never left Israel believed they were the real Hebrews and should have all say as to how things should operate here at home – while the Jews from the exile who had fought hard and suffered to hold fast to their Hebrew heritage saw themselves as the true salvation of the faith. Both of these groups hated the third group -- those who had actually assimilated into the Babylonian culture -- and no one trusted anyone else. There was fighting and back-stabbing -- all at a time we would expect there to be rejoicing and thanksgiving to God.
So even though the long-awaited restoration had already begun, things were not going well. The people were home, they have been restored – sort of – but they are still fighting. They’re home - but neighbor can’t even stand to pray with neighbor. After having their hopes raised by the return home, they are still in darkness --- a nasty, hateful darkness, and they long for the light of God’s radiance to lift that darkness and lead them once again toward a life of integrity and wholeness.
This sounds a lot like where we are today, right? We are a divided, angry nation where, in some cases neighbor can’t bear to talk with neighbor and some of us have started to suspect that people we thought we knew are really from another planet. We‘re all stumbling around in the dark.
But, in spite of the darkness, this is what Third Isaiah promises: things are going to be good again – God’s light is going to be shining on us all again – but in order to see these marvels, the people – from all three groups -- must do one thing first – they have to lift up their eyes and look around. God is doing the rest, but they have to do this little bit – they have to at least look around for their salvation – and believe it is there to be found.
Do we do our part? Do we look around us – seeking – expecting -- to find Christ? Do we expect to find goodness in others? Or anywhere?
We have waited for the Light of the World – this is what we’ve been looking for and for those of us who call ourselves Christians, this Light is to be found through the love and teachings of Jesus. But Jesus has this annoying thing he does. He promises to be with us in every problem we face…..but he also expects us to be part of the answer.
Do we want light in the world? Then we need to go out and be light. There’s a lot of dark out there these days with threats of more to come, and it seems as if a whole lot of people are busy hoarding their wattage all to themselves. All the more reason for the rest of us to go out and shine even brighter. Open our eyes, look around, and if we aren’t seeing light, then that means it’s our turn to be light.
Feed the hungry, care for the lost and abandoned, smile at a stranger, stand up against injustice, march, look at each other with kindness for pete’s sake – light wears many faces. There is one to fit each of us. And the love of God will shine right there with us.
Rise up, people of goodness – rise up, and shine. It’s an old, old message, but one we still need. The world needs our light.
Epiphany always seems to me to be a somewhat hodge-podge season without a clear theme – or maybe it’s a time with too many different themes. So I’ve decided, rather than trying to follow a theme, we’re just going to stick with Old Testament readings for this time. In fact, today’s reading from Isaiah isn’t even in the lectionary choices this year, but it fits our world right now.
I’ve covered this before but it never hurts to have a refresher. There were at least three Isaiah’s. Our reading today is from the third Isaiah. First and Second Isaiah’s were written before and during the Babylonian exile. The parts written by our Isaiah today, Third Isaiah, were written during the restoration – the time when the Israelites were actually returning home again after the years of exile. Third Isaiah is filled with promises that God was even then in the process of re-establishing the people of Israel as a nation living in righteousness. It sounds good but in reality it wasn’t all that smooth and easy. Their captors had set the Israelites free and allowed them to return home – but once they were all there, the people themselves could not seem to live in peace with each other.
At the time of the exile, most had been carried off to Babylon, but others had been left behind in Israel (to serve their invading conquerors) and so, never left home. Among those who went into the exile, some assimilated into the Babylonian culture, even marrying and having children with native Babylonians, while others held fast to their Hebrew heritage, which of course was completely against any intermixing.
What we had then were one group that never left home, one that held true to their Hebrew ways, and one that intermingled with the Babylonians culture. Now, these three different groups were more or less thrown back into Israel all together, two generations later, and – rather than greeting each other with kisses of joy – there was jealousy and back-biting as each group claimed its own moral superiority.
They’re back home again – sure – but they find they can’t stand each other. The ones who had never left Israel believed they were the real Hebrews and should have all say as to how things should operate here at home – while the Jews from the exile who had fought hard and suffered to hold fast to their Hebrew heritage saw themselves as the true salvation of the faith. Both of these groups hated the third group -- those who had actually assimilated into the Babylonian culture -- and no one trusted anyone else. There was fighting and back-stabbing -- all at a time we would expect there to be rejoicing and thanksgiving to God.
So even though the long-awaited restoration had already begun, things were not going well. The people were home, they have been restored – sort of – but they are still fighting. They’re home - but neighbor can’t even stand to pray with neighbor. After having their hopes raised by the return home, they are still in darkness --- a nasty, hateful darkness, and they long for the light of God’s radiance to lift that darkness and lead them once again toward a life of integrity and wholeness.
This sounds a lot like where we are today, right? We are a divided, angry nation where, in some cases neighbor can’t bear to talk with neighbor and some of us have started to suspect that people we thought we knew are really from another planet. We‘re all stumbling around in the dark.
But, in spite of the darkness, this is what Third Isaiah promises: things are going to be good again – God’s light is going to be shining on us all again – but in order to see these marvels, the people – from all three groups -- must do one thing first – they have to lift up their eyes and look around. God is doing the rest, but they have to do this little bit – they have to at least look around for their salvation – and believe it is there to be found.
Do we do our part? Do we look around us – seeking – expecting -- to find Christ? Do we expect to find goodness in others? Or anywhere?
We have waited for the Light of the World – this is what we’ve been looking for and for those of us who call ourselves Christians, this Light is to be found through the love and teachings of Jesus. But Jesus has this annoying thing he does. He promises to be with us in every problem we face…..but he also expects us to be part of the answer.
Do we want light in the world? Then we need to go out and be light. There’s a lot of dark out there these days with threats of more to come, and it seems as if a whole lot of people are busy hoarding their wattage all to themselves. All the more reason for the rest of us to go out and shine even brighter. Open our eyes, look around, and if we aren’t seeing light, then that means it’s our turn to be light.
Feed the hungry, care for the lost and abandoned, smile at a stranger, stand up against injustice, march, look at each other with kindness for pete’s sake – light wears many faces. There is one to fit each of us. And the love of God will shine right there with us.
Rise up, people of goodness – rise up, and shine. It’s an old, old message, but one we still need. The world needs our light.
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