Proper 4B 2018 RCL
Rev.
Dr. Adam T. Trambley
June 3, 2018,
St. John’s Sharon
In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians that
we heard this morning, God said, “Let light shine out of darkness.” Paul goes on to say that this same God has “shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ.” Then he
continues that, “we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made
clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from
us.”
Think about it. God’s light does not shine just in the
heavenly spheres where God dwells in light inaccessible from before time and
forever. God’s light shines also from
places that were previously dark. God’s
light shines with all the power and the glory of his presence perhaps most
profoundly in those places out of which we would not expect to find his light
emanating. We know a couple of those
places from scripture.
Open the Bible up to page one and we see the
primordial darkness. In the beginning,
when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was formless and void and
darkness covered the face of the deep.
Then God said, “Let there be light” and there was light. Then, in the prologue of John’s gospel, we
read that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and, that in doing so,
the light shone in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it. Scripture gives us these two most powerful
occasions when God acted -- the creation of universe and the salvation of the
universe through the incarnation. In
both instances, the language to describe those transformative works of the
Almighty is light shining out of darkness.
Paul is talking today about a third way that
God’s light shines out of darkness. He
wants us to compare it to those other incredible examples of God’s
illumination. Paul wants to let us know
that God is also shining in the darkness of our own hearts and lives. Precisely into the darkness of our hearts God
is shining the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. Now that is a long sentence that
we can parse out more fully some other time.
But we note that the phrase connects light with knowing God, and then
connects knowing God with seeing Jesus.
So when that light shines in our hearts, we are going to see Jesus and
share what we see of Jesus. But Paul is
saying that having this light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ doesn’t just happen automatically. No, instead God made the decision to shine
his light into our hearts when they were still places of darkness.
Now we tend to object to such a sentiment in
one of two ways. We tend to either give
ourselves too much credit or to give God too little. One the one hand, we refuse to acknowledge
how dark a place our hearts can be. We
can think, “Of course, God is going to shine into somebody’s heart as good as
mine is. Why wouldn’t he? I mean, he’s
lucky to have me, right?” Here, we can
believe that God is not so much shining in our hearts as maybe powering up our
own innate luster a bit. On the other
hand, we are inclined to believe that we are so bad that God could not possibly
shine in our hearts. We think that the
best God could do is to allow us to wallow in self-pity in the corner while his
light goes to more worthy recipients.
The main problem with both of these attitudes is that we make too much
of ourselves and too little of God. At
our very best, we can but reflect some of God’s light. If we are going to brighten the lives of
those around us, we are going to require God to be at work in us. And make no mistake, God can work in each and
every one of us when he chooses to. God
is perfectly capable of healing and forgiving whatever we think might be wrong
with us to show forth his glory. Later
in this letter, Paul even talks about God’s power being made perfect in Paul’s
weakness and boasting of it.
Paul also talks about God’s light shining out
of the darkness of our hearts in another way.
He says we have the treasure that is the light of God’s glory in clay
jars. These clay jars, by the way, are
us. As Episcopalians, we like to see all
the stuff we use for God plated in gold and silver, like the vessels we use for
communion. But Paul says God’s power is
most clearly shown as belonging to God because that power manifests itself in
us. We are made of clay, formed out of
the stuff of the earth, so we are literally a clay vessel. Yet, we can also think of ceramic jars,
perhaps cracked in places, with the light streaming out through the
cracks. No one would mistake the beauty
and power of the light within for the fragile housing encasing it. Nevertheless
God’s chooses to put the candle of his light in the oddest of ceramic holders,
which are us.
God’s light shining out of our darkness, out of
the cracks in the ceramic containers of our hearts and lives has two
implications that I want to explore briefly.
First, other people are going to experience God’s light through us, and,
second, God is going to use the places in our lives that we might think of as
particularly dark to shine his light for others in some of the brightest ways.
Saint Paul is saying we are going to be the
light of God, the light of Christ, for other people. Our job is to take allow that light to shine
forth from us, to put it on the lampstand so it shines throughout the
household. We will be the only candle
some people will see, so we are called make Christ known to others in our words
and deeds. The old spiritual says it this
way, and feel free to sing along, This little light of mine, I’m gonna let
it shine. This little light of mine, I’m
gonna let it shine. This little light of
mine, I’m gonna let it shine. Let it
shine, let it shine, let it shine.
We’ve talked at various times about how we can
let the light of God shine through us.
We can tell our stories about how God has made a difference in our
lives. We can offer acts of service to
others. We can invite people to join us
for church. We can offer prayers when
people are hurting or troubled. We let
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ
shine through us when we love other people and let them know that we are loving
them because God has first loved us.
Sometimes the places in our lives that God uses
most effectively to shine his light to others are the darkest areas of our own
lives. The difficult experiences we have
had, the mistakes we have made, and the pain we have borne can be the deepest
cracks in the clay jars of our lives that let the most light escape. People in recovery are the ones who are able
to reach those still in the grasp of addiction.
Former gang members have had the most effective inner city ministries to
current gang members. Divorced folks are
best able to reach others going through the pain of a broken marriage. Cancer survivors can walk with those
undergoing chemotherapy. Those who have
lost loved ones too early can minister best to those whose grief is more
recent. People who have made a series of
mistakes can be the best people to tell others how to avoid them.
We may think that God wants us for our
strengths, but God is plenty strong enough already. He can use all of us, but the places where he
consistently and regularly shines his light are in midst of our weakest
places. We may not want to linger in
those painful memories, but God is not afraid of them. He will use our past to transform the present
and future of other people whom he loves.
Then, as his light passes through us, we will find that our own wounds
are healing as they are used to share the love and power of Jesus Christ with
others.
Our God does not limit his light to those place
with plenty of current illumination.
Instead, he says, “let light shine out of darkness.” We are the clay jars that God is using to show
forth his glory. As we become vessels of
the light of Christ, we will find that even our darkest, most painful places
are healed and used for spreading the love and good news of Jesus Christ. God wants each and every one of our hearts to
shine with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ, and to share that light with others.
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