Images of Christ
(series)
Light of the World
By Rev Steven R
Mitchell
Mountain View
United Church, Aurora, CO 2-24-2013
Based on John 1-1-5
and John 8: 15-20 and Colossians 1:15
How
many of you can recall your first nightmare?
I am talking about that first time that you woke up, screaming in
terror? Or possibly walked into a
darkened room and become overtaken with fear with no particular provocation?
For
me, the first time that I can recall being totally terrified by the darkness
was at age 5yrs old. It was in the Fall
and the movie “Wizard of Oz” had its premiere on T.V. My dad insisted that as a family we watch
this classic movie from his childhood, assuring us that we would really enjoy
it. What was supposed to be an evening
of family entertainment ended up becoming a night of terror for me!
My mind was so
stimulated with the image of the wicked
old witch of the West and her flying
monkeys, I found it hard to settle into the security of my bed and just
fall asleep. As I laid there in the darkness
of my room, I suddenly realized that the wicked
witch of the West was hiding in my bedroom closet. As I screamed in terror mother came in,
turning on the light and assured me that this mean old person was not hiding in
my closet. After being shown that indeed
there was nothing in my closet other than my cloths, mom turned off the light
and went back to bed.
Within minutes,
that crafty old witch was back in my closet, ready to do harm to me. Once again I screamed out in terror, bringing
mom back to my bedroom. This happened
several more times until my father’s patience had worn thin and I was told, “One
more outburst, your father would come and do what was necessary to convince me
that there was no witch in my closet. [In reality, I would have rather had an
encounter with that wicked old witch than with my dad.] So once the light went back off and mom had
left my room, I convinced myself that the witch no longer was there. And you know what? She wasn’t! She had been replaced by a man waving a gun at
me! Instead of crying out in terror
again, I decided it was better to just hide under my covers and hope for the
best, because I didn’t want to have to deal with dad.
Darkness in a real
sense has a quality about it that can heighten ones fears. Darkness allows for real or perceived
danger. I recall one back-packing trip
in the Cascade Mountains where a companion and I had set up camp. There was a burn ban in place, so the only
light that we had was a small lantern, which was turned off as we retired to
our tents for the night. About five
minutes after turning off the lantern, there was a blood-curdling scream from
somewhere around the lake. After that
scream, you could hear the sound of feet running alongside the hillside. Our fear of being in the dark was so great
that we broke the law and built a fire in front our tents providing light to
ward off any animal predators as well as giving us the security that comes with
light.
Those two examples
talk about the physical realities between darkness and light. In scripture we read not only about physical
realities that come in darkness and light, but also about theological
implications. Darkness refers to evil or lack of knowledge, where as light speaks about knowledge, safety, goodness. As we study the variety of “images” that are attributed
to Jesus, the writer of the Gospel of John, shows Jesus as “light of the World”. John begins his Gospel by tying God and Jesus
together: John 1:” In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with
God in the beginning. 3 Through him all
things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all
mankind.”
John
then picks this theme up again in chapter 8 as he writes of Jesus saying, “I am
the world’s Light.” Then Jesus
goes on to explain what this “light” means.
“No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty
of light to live in.” Jesus is saying
that because of his relationship to God, Jesus is illuminating God. God is the giver, the creator of all life, so
by Jesus being with God prior to creation, Jesus then is a part of the “life” giving
entity. The implication is, Jesus
understands God and thereby contains the knowledge of the Divine.
As
I was searching through the scriptures dealing with Jesus as the light of the
world, I found a very similar understanding from the author of Colossians in
the first chapter, starting with verse 15, “The
Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16
For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all
things have been created through him and for him. 17
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in
him…”
This letter to the church was written 20-30 years prior to the Gospel of
John.
Within
these two books we then can see how the early church understood Jesus. What I found intriguing with the Colossians
writing was the very first verse: The Son is the image of the invisible God. Jesus is understood as the image of God, this
is the light that God gave to
humankind, this physical reflection of our creator parent. So, if the church is supposed to be the
“image” of Christ, what does that look like for us? So for me the question is “how
does one ‘image’ the invisible?”
How are we to be “the light of the
world?”
We
are in the midst of a new awakening, that started back in the 1960’s and then
stalled in the 1980’s, but has once again emerged in the late 1990’s. What do I mean by “an awakening”? The
definition of an awakening is the realization within a culture that what has
been working no longer works and a shift is made at a cultural level. There is a new way of thinking and then of
action. An awakening affects the three
basic levels of society, the Political,
the Financial, and the Religious. All are institutions that run on agreed upon rules
of behavior. When these institutions no
longer are effective, then the status quote is examined, there is exploration
of new possibilities, and then integration of a new order. We see this today as no confidence in our
Government, the implosion of our financial system, and the shrinking numbers of
Americans who attend church on a regular basis.
So
again, how does one “image” the invisible?
Through Jesus’ ministry, we have a pretty good idea of what God is? We can learn through the “light” that Jesus
brought to his generation that to image the invisible is to care for the needy, to provide a voice for those who have no voice,
and to see that every person has the
basics needed to live.
The
church has been asking for forty plus years, “Where are the people?” If we are in this new spiritual awakening,
then shouldn’t our churches be filling up instead of becoming empty tombs? Remember what happens in an awakening? What isn’t working is dropped, exploration of
new ways, and then integration of a new order.
The church over the past 40 years has ceased being the image of the
invisible within our social structure.
People are “spiritual” and not “religious” because they have seen the
institutional church not reflecting the essence of God.
You
might disagree with me, but how did the average religious institution react to
the outbreak of A.I.D.S? They condemned victims
instead of standing by them. Christians
say “we” represent the “light of the world”, yet we are viewed by the general
public as having a message of condemnation and hateful actions. The church is seen as darkness.
I
had the opportunity this week to help a cousin of mine of whom I had not seen
since he was about 4 yrs old. At the
request of his mother, I stepped up to the plate to help him. When she was telling her son who I was and
how we were related she shared that I was a minister. His first response was, “Mom, you know I
don’t like to be around ministers. I
don’t like to be preached at and made to feel that I am no good unless I go to
church.” This my friends is how the
church is perceived by millions in our country.
To be the light of the world, we need to image the invisible. How does one
“image” the invisible? That is the
question. This is also the challenge, to
image ourselves after Jesus, who is the image of the invisible. “When I was hungry you fed me, when I was
naked you clothed me, when I was a stranger you welcomed me…” Amen
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