Let your light break forth like the dawn
There’s
story about a class in school who were being taught about the incredible rate
at which light travels – the teacher explained, ‘Isn’t it wonderful ? To think
of light coming to us from the sun at the speed of all those miles per second
?’ to which one boy replied, ‘Not really Sir, it is downhill all the way !’
If only we
could shine as lights in our lives as easily as that ! Our readings this
morning though do ask us to take a look at ourselves, and to see how well we
are shining as lights - perhaps they’re a deliberate preparation for Lent which
isn’t too far away ! Perhaps they’re the sort of nudge that we all constantly
need…
In the Old
Testament reading from Isaiah (58:1-9a) we have a great contrast. Last Friday
(Feb 7th) it was the anniversary of Charles Dickens birth back in
1812. He began one of his famous novels, ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ with the words,
‘“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of
wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the
epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of
darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
Great
contrasts, including the often-used biblical contrast of light and darkness… And
in this reading from the prophet Isaiah we have a huge contrast between
firstly, living outwardly religious lives but those live are far from God and
secondly, lives that are transformed into serving others and shining brightly
for God.
A true
relationship with God is more than ritual – it was more in the Old Testament
times than doing the right things as prescribed by the law and it is more today
than just coming to church – it is about living lives transformed by God and
recognising the need for him in every part of our lives and when we do that we
will live in a way that is recognisable by our actions and our words in our
service of other people – fighting against injustice, feeding the hungry, helping
the homeless…
When we
allow God to transform our lives, not give just a part of our lives to him then
we allow him to transform us, to change us into the people he wants us to be
and then we will allow ourselves to be the ‘light that shall break forth like
the dawn’… Earlier this week I was out early and noticed an incredible sun
rising over the sea – you couldn’t help notice its beauty… What an incredible
thought to recognise that God can use each one of us to shine as an incredible
light…
And this
theme of looking at ourselves continues in Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians
(2:1-12). One line particularly stood out for me in this as it talks about our
faith not resting on human wisdom but on the power of God…
When we speak
to others about God, it won’t generally be incredible arguments or deep theological
understanding that helps people to see God, but rather a life that is transformed,
in other words something in our lives which looks different because we know
Jesus and his love for us… And beyond that we have a desire to share that love
with others – to say through our words and our actions that God loves them too,
whoever they are, whatever they might have done or failed to do in their lives…
Our confidence
to proclaim the good news of Jesus’ love doesn’t come from our own knowledge
because that would make it about us, and there’ve been, and there are, far too
many Christians who make it about themselves… Rather, we must trust God to give
us the words, the wisdom, the actions, the inspiration, to help point people to
him…
Too often
though we don’t allow God in that far. We don’t allow God to work in and
through us to challenge ourselves and to speak to others and so we’re called
and challenged to open up our lives more so that we and others may truly
recognise ‘what God has prepared for those who love him’.
And then we
turn to the gospel and it’s a pretty blunt message from Jesus that is contained
in the Sermon on the Mount. The passage we heard this morning (Matthew 5:13-20)
is part of a much longer speech of course but here Jesus begins by saying to
his listeners, ‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste,
how can it be restored ? It is no longer good for anything…’
Jesus is
calling on the people to be the salt of the earth, and if they’re not, then
they’re no use – I said it was a blunt message ! It was a blunt message and it’s
a blunt message today because if we are not doing anything in our lives to help
reveal God to the world, then what right do we have to call ourselves Christians.
We need to
be positively involved in the lives of other people, living for Jesus,
responding to need, being and speaking good news to others… And when we do that
we will be noticed as lights shining up on a hilltop, lights shining in a world
where there is too much darkness.
And this
section of the reading ends with another challenge to the listeners. Jesus
calls on them to be more righteous than the Scribes and Pharisees – to us this
might not sound very much, but to them it was huge.
The Scribes
and the Pharisees were the trustees of the law – they knew it backwards and
they followed it rigidly, but what they failed to do and what Jesus called on
his people to do was to not just listen to and obey the law but to know the spirit
of the law as well – they knew all about the law and followed it but they frankly
weren’t nice people – they weren’t people who lived out the spirit of the law
which was written to help and protect people and to ensure a peaceful life for
people… The law was never intended to be stifling but that’s what the Scribes
and Pharisees had made it.
And so Jesus
speaks to us today in the words that we’ve heard this morning – asking us to
look at ourselves and ask how well we are shining as lights for him in the
world today. And whatever our answer to that question might be may we pray and
may we allow God to reveal more of Himself to us and to others through us…
‘If salt has
lost its saltiness, it is useless… So, let your light break forth like the dawn
and rely not on your own wisdom and strength but on God’s power… You are the
light of the world’. AMEN
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