St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
January 22, 2017
Year A: The Third
Sunday after the Epiphany
Isaiah 9:1-4
Psalm 27:1, 5-13
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Matthew 4:12-23
Whom Then Shall We Fear?
Well,
that was quite a week, huh?
And
now, here we are.
The
dramatic transition from one administration to another got me thinking about
how every once in a while some historians will rank US presidents. Who have
been our best presidents? Who’s been the worst? And, who’s somewhere in the
middle?
It’s
a fun and interesting exercise, though also usually pretty predictable.
Most
historians rank Lincoln as our greatest president, with Franklin Roosevelt and
George Washington usually with him in the top tier.
The
bottom is usually predictable, too, but I won’t go into that - since I don’t
want to upset… all of the James Buchanan fans out there.
It’s
fun and interesting to rank the presidents, but, the truth is that even our
greatest presidents have been flawed human beings, right?
George
Washington, the “Father of Our Country,” was one of the biggest slave-owners of
his day.
Abraham
Lincoln, the “Great Emancipator,” was bigoted like just about every white
person of his time, and frequently told racist jokes.
And
Franklin Roosevelt, who led the battle against the great evil of Fascism, chose
to do little or nothing to rescue or welcome the Jews who were being
annihilated by Hitler.
Yes,
all of our presidents have been flawed human beings, though, it has to be said,
some have been more flawed than others!
Well,
in today’s Old Testament lesson, the Prophet Isaiah offers a beautiful and
profound message of hope, declaring,
“There
will be no gloom for those in anguish.”
And,
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in
a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined.”
It
seems that Isaiah is writing about either the birth or the rise to power of a
new king of Judah, and most scholars think he’s writing about King Hezekiah who
ruled back around the year 700 B.C.
And,
it’s true that Hezekiah is remembered as an exceptionally righteous and
faithful king, but, no surprise, he also was a flawed human being who made
mistakes, who got Judah into a disastrous war with the much more powerful
Assyrian Empire.
Later,
some will remember him up as a great leader, while others will blame him for
setting the stage for more war, defeat, and exile.
But,
many centuries later the early Christians will read Isaiah’s words, “The people
who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of
deep darkness – on them light has shined,” - the early Christians read those
words and they won’t think about Hezekiah or some other human king.
No,
when they hear Isaiah’s words, when they reflect on light in the darkness, they
think: Jesus.
We
followers of Jesus have seen a great light – it’s the Great Light we can see
each time we come here and listen to God’s Word, each time we extend a hand in
peace or forgiveness – each time we wash a brother or sister in the Baptism
water, and each time take the Body and Blood of Christ into our bodies and into
our souls.
We’ve
seen a great light – it’s the Great Light we can see each time we give to
somebody who can never pay us back, the Great Light we can see each time we
love someone who the world considers unlovable, the Great Light we see each
time we unite to resist and fight cruelty and injustice, sometimes while
wearing pink hats.
Yes,
we have seen a great light.
So,
together with the psalmist, we can say:
“The
Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear?”
Whom
then shall we fear?
One
of the things I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is how most of the people
of the Bible lived during terrible times, times of bloody warfare, brutal
occupation, relentless persecution, terrifying exile.
That
gloom is often in the background, but in today’s Gospel lesson, we’re reminded
that Jesus entered a world where a holy man like John the Baptist could be
arrested and later brutally executed – which reminds us that Jesus and most of
his first followers will also die violently.
Yes,
most of the people of the Old and New Testaments lived during terrible times,
times when fear and death were all around, and yet, even in the midst of all
that pain and sorrow, they were so often still able to see the light – able to
put their trust in God.
Now,
being human, of course, our ancestors in faith didn’t see and trust perfectly.
The
Bible is full of stories of Israel straying from God, right?
Jesus’
first disciples were an often faithless and unreliable lot, right?
And,
as we heard in today’s second lesson, in places like the diverse Greek port
city of Corinth, there were already divisions in the early church, with the
followers of Jesus split into factions, identifying with various apostles and
teachers, some following Paul, some following Apollos, some following Cephas,
who was Peter.
And
yet, despite all of those flaws and all of those mistakes, through the
centuries the people of faith held on, the people of God saw the Great Light
shining.
“The
Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear?”
Whom
then shall we fear?
So,
here we are.
In
our lives, and maybe even just this past week, we’ve experienced fear, anguish
and gloom, haven’t we?
We’ve
walked in darkness, haven’t we?
We’ve
lived in – and maybe are living in - a land of shadows, right?
Yet,
even in, especially in, a time of anxiety and outright fear, that same Great
Light is shining, right here, right now.
You
know, Paul’s description of the divided churches in Corinth reminds me of
Jersey City, another diverse port city, another city where the church is
divided into so many different factions, following so many different teachers
and leaders.
Whenever
I walk around the city, I’m struck by just how many churches there are, so much
competition! There are so many churches, everything from grand old monuments
that look like they were built in medieval Europe to modest storefronts with
shuttered gates.
These
divisions are truly sad and wasteful, but, have you noticed what’s been
happening for the past couple of years?
Have
you noticed what’s been happening here in Jersey City, especially lately?
First
of all, even before the election, throughout our city, clergy and lay people,
Jews, Christians, and Muslims and others, have been setting aside our
differences and have begun to see more clearly our common humanity, our truest
identity as beloved children of God, and through Jersey City Together and in
other ways, we’ve begun to work as one for the common good.
And,
secondly, throughout our city, we Christians, so long divided into our little competing
and mistrustful factions and churches, have finally remembered that we’re not
saved by our church or by our denomination.
We’ve
finally remembered that our truest identity isn’t Episcopal or Catholic or
Lutheran or Baptist or whatever, but we are first of all Christians, disciples
of Jesus, followers of the One who shines God’s light most brightly.
One
example: you
may not have noticed it, but at our rockin’ Martin Luther King service on
Sunday night, there were a lot of clergy and lay people from other churches and
denominations here – some were maybe a little unfamiliar with - and puzzled by
- our way of doing things, but nevertheless they were here, praying and singing
with us, and many even receiving communion with us.
That
night, we were, as St. Paul writes, “united in the same mind and the same
purpose.”
It
was beautiful. It was the way things are meant to be.
We
were – and, more and more often, are - one.
So,
here we are.
Just
like our ancestors in faith, just like John the Baptist and just like Jesus
himself, we may find ourselves walking in the shadows, living during gloomy, dangerous,
frightening, and difficult times.
But,
you and I, we’ve seen the light – and the light
wasn’t flawed Hezekiah or flawed Lincoln and the light wasn’t flawed Obama and
it isn’t flawed Trump.
No,
you and I, we’ve seen the light, we’ve seen the Great Light of Christ shining,
right here and now.
And,
so, together, we Christians are called to put our trust in God, to hold on, to unite,
to pray, to serve, to work, to fight for justice, and, most of all, to love –
to let God’s Great Light shine through us.
“The
Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear?”
Whom
then shall we fear?
Nobody.
Amen.
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