Light Breaks through the Darkness of A Dark World

Based on Isaiah 61 and John 1

Sermon for Mt. Olivet UMC and Cherokee UMC

I am going to begin this morning with our Old Testament passage in Isaiah 61. Isaiah is a prophet in the time that the children of Israel are walking through a very dark time. They have been exiled to Babylon. Their city has been destroyed, their temple is in ruins. They have lost their hope. The Israelites have a history of darkness. They were slaves in Egypt, the wandered in the desert for 40 years. They finally reach the Promised Land only to have it overtaken and them sent into exile. They are in a very dark time. Isaiah comes to them today and gives them a word of hope from the Lord. One lesson we learn from the history of Israel is that we are not promised an absence of dark times. As we anticipate Christmas this year we wait like expectant children, for the magic of the hallmark commercials to happen. Yet, for many Christmas time is one of the darkest times as it reminds us of the absence of magic in our lives. Suicide rates increase over Christmas as the reality of broken relationships, financial troubles, death, sickness breaks through and sinks in. A mother mourns over her daughter who is in a hospital for the 7th time, fighting a drug addiction with nowhere to go when she is released but back into the world of drugs that has become her familiar place. A father is reminded of the small stillborn child he held in his hands prior to handing him over to the funeral home director. A daughter is reminded of the absence of her mother, whom cancer robbed from her. Parents are reminded of the job that was lost this year as they try to figure out how they are going to provide Christmas for their children. Families in Africa are wondering how they are going to overcome the disease of Aids that is robbing them of their loved ones every minute. They wonder also if they will ever have safe drinking water to sustain them. A family awaits Christmas knowing that it is likely to be the last one they have with their loved one who has recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Children are being sold and trafficked across the world. People are robbing banks, killing others. Terror is always a threat on the horizon as loved ones pray for their soldiers who are across the ocean; pray that they will return safely to them. The list could go on and on and on. We live in a world that is full of darkness. It is in such a dark time that Isaiah comes in and proclaims that he has been sent to preach some good news in the midst of this darkness. Isaiah is sent to bring good news to the poor. He is sent to “bind up the broken hearted. To bind up? What does that mean? When I first here the word bind up I think of tying something up, something together. So, what are we going to tie up everyone with a broken heart? No. The Hebrew word translated here “to bind.” Means to wrap something tight, such as a turban on a head, or a bandage, it means to heal. So God has sent Isaiah with a message of healing to the broken hearted. He is sent to set the captive free. Presumably here those held captive in Babylon. He is sent to comfort those who mourn. He is sent to reveal God’s presence among them in the midst of their darkness. The children are going through a time of mourning and Isaiah proclaims that God is there to turn their time of mourning into a festive time. In those times there were several things that were a part of mourning. You knew mourners by the clothes that they wore, typically sackcloths. You knew mourners because they anointed themselves with ashes a symbol of death, you knew mourners because they abstained from using perfumed oils during their times of mourning. Isaiah says your time of mourning is up God is trading in your ashes for a crown of beauty. (Perhaps a garland of roses) a crown symbolized a festive time. Isaiah tells the children of Israel and he tells us here today that the darkness is not the end of the story. God can take the ashes of our lives and he can turn them into something beautiful. I read a story this week of a group of folks who went to look at Christmas ornament. They all were mesmerized by the beauty of this one ornament, a deep purple in color. They had never seen anything quite so beautiful. They inquired about where it came from, presumably wanting to find one for themselves. They found out the ornament had been made out of ashes. The artist had taken the ashes, had made just the right conditions out of heat and water to form a liquid substance which was poured into a mold and then heated. The result was a beautiful ornament. God can take what we believe impossible circumstances and turn them into something better. We’re told in the book of Romans that all things work together for Good for them who love the lord. I’ve come to believe that what this mean is God can take all things that happen in our lives good or bad and bring something good out of it, we just have to look for it. Isaiah calls for them to end their abstinence from oil and to pour it on in joy. Isaiah calls them to get rid of their sackcloths and put on the garment God’s salvation, on the garment of praise.
Isaiah proclaims that the children of Israel are Oaks of righteousness. Oak Trees are symbols of enduring strength. Their roots grow deep, they are strong. They have many uses. The children of Israel are rooted in the righteousness of God, in the grace of God, in the salvation of God. They have enduring strength as a result of their being rooted in God.
Skip down to verse 7. Followers of God are called to be Priests/Ministers. God says here through Isaiah that it is the job of all of God’s followers to minister to people. How are they to minister to people? The passage says the Lord Loves justice. It becomes their job to seek justice just as God has given them justice. We have a responsibility for seeking justice for the world, for bringing good news to the poor, for healing those who are broken hearted, for ministering to those in prison.

I once held the belief that matters of Justice were best dealt with outside of the church. I came to church to be fed, to worship, to be loved. I was a consumer. I believed the church getting involved in matters of justice was overstepping the bounds of separation of church and state it was uncomfortable to sit in the pew and listen to calls for justice, to calls for the church to get involved in the messiness of the injustices of our world. However the more I read the bible the more I understand that to be a follower of God, I must pursue Justice within this unjust world. The whole theme of the Bible, of being a God Follower is about acts of justice and mercy.
Our nation has been very focused in the last 10 years on the war on terror. Now hear me when I say that Terrorism most certainly should be a defense priority for our nation. However as Irene Khan puts it in the following statement:
“While governments have been obsessed with the threat of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, they have allowed the real weapons of mass destruction—injustice and impunity, poverty, discrimination and racism, the uncontrolled trade in small arms, violence against women and abuse of children—to go unaddressed,” said Irene Khan.
We are called here to address these injustices and bring justice back to the world. The church absolutely MUST be involved in matters of justice. We here in the United States have enough food to feed the world yet there are people in third world countries dying of starvation. There are persons who can’t afford health care right here in the United States who are dying because of it. There are countries that do not have access to clean water. Children are being trafficked all across the world including right here in the United States. Law abiding, hardworking persons are being jailed and taken from their families, leaving children orphaned because they crossed a border in search for a better life for their family. Persons are being excluded from churches for reasons that are beyond their control. The list could go on. We have a world full of exiles but the good news is that God breaks into this world to bring good news, to heal the broken places of our world, of our country, of our churches and of our individual lives.
Okay, Isaiah comes to bring a message of hope to the exiles in Babylon, how does that apply to us today? Well that takes us to the New Testament. In John 1, John announces the light that breaks into this dark world. Just as Isaiah was sent to proclaim the Good News to the exiles, John was sent to prepare the way of Jesus into the world. Interestingly enough it is this very chapter of Isaiah that Jesus reads in the Synagogue in Luke 4:14 ff.

14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[f]
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus, the light of the world has broken into the darkness.
So where do you find yourself in today’s stories? Are you a Pharisee, questioning everything about Jesus and the authenticity of God followers? Are you feeling exiled and hopeless, are you John, announcing the light of the world to the oppressed and the outcast.
It’s time to turn your ashes in for a crown, your sackcloth into garments of praise, and to take the oil of festive times and bathe in it for Jesus is coming……He comes to you, to me , to the world with the announcement that Justice does prevail. It’s time to look for the injustices in our world and to work for justice. It’s time to feed the hungry, to visit the imprisoned, to welcome the stranger. It’s time………He is coming……..Emmanuel…….God with us……REJOICE for Joy comes in the morning…….