FROM THE SHADOWS
A sermon preached by
Rev. Dr. Randle R. (Rick) Mixon
First Baptist Church, Palo Alto, CA
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Text: Jeremiah 31:7-14; John 1:1-18
In the beginning, God stepped from the shadows, flinging light across the universe. Without light there is no life, so God graced the universe with an abundance of light – sun, moon and stars, planets, galaxies and nebulae – and it was good. God loved what God had made with the all passion and pride inherent in God’s creative spirit. In the course of God’s creative activity, the heavens and earth were established and populated, culminating in the creation of humanity. Human beings were made to live in communion with God, to be God’s people as God desired to be their God. The covenant of relationship was central to God’s purpose.
But the light was too much for humans. It showed their imperfections. It illuminated their limitations. It exposed their foibles. It uncovered the shameful secrets of their hearts. It enlightened them in ways that they could not bear. The truth of the light was just too much. They pretended not to see. They sought places to hide. They shut their eyes, their minds, their hearts, moving deeper and deeper into the shadows. “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
They had been given Paradise and they didn’t know what to do with it. They thought if they could just eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, they would be like God, controlling their own life and destiny, rather than trusting God to care for them. What they discovered was the inherent limitations of human knowledge and power, but instead of acknowledging their limitations, in the light of God, they edged their way deeper into the shadows, hoping and praying that they would be neither seen nor remembered by the One who made them and breathed the breath of life into their bones and desired to be in relationship with them. “Let us hide here in the shadows,” they cried, “even if we wither and die, for we cannot bear this light of life.”
In ancient times, God stepped from the shadows, setting in motion the mechanisms of redemption, drawing creation from its shadows into her own ineffable, life-giving light. God’s prophet proclaimed, “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” (Isaiah 9:2). It was a powerful word of hope, of promise, of grace. Again, God’s prophet promised, “…thus says the Lord: ‘…See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here. With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble’…He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd a flock. For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord…their life shall become like a watered garden, and they shall never languish again…‘I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow’” (from Jeremiah 31:7-14).
God reached out to creation, hovering in the shadows, calling it into his glorious light. These promises of God’s tender care are as ancient as creation itself. The people stuck out their heads; they were warmed by the light; they were touched by God’s compassion; they were drawn toward the truth, but, again, it was too much. It is both a blessing and a challenge to walk in the light of God. It offers so much and demands so much. If people walk in God’s light they do know warmth, compassion and the truth that liberates, but then they must also become agents of that same warmth and compassion and truth in their own lives. So, they turn to the shadows.
Long ago, with the promise of a new beginning, John stepped from the shadows, witnessing that a new light-bearer was on the way, that one was coming to make all things right. He was very clear that he himself was not the light but that he had come to bear testimony to that light. John proclaimed that “…all who received him, who believed in his name, [would be given] power to become children of God…” The new beginning would be the fulfillment of the original, the rebirth of the old Word that would turn the world right side up, illuminating all creation with the wondrous light of God.
In this new beginning, God stepped from the shadows, entering human flesh in the person of a baby born in Bethlehem. The baby was named Jesus - God’s Word, God’s will, God’s ordering principle “became flesh and lived among us…full of truth and grace.” “God’s love made visible! Incomprehensible!” Yet it was so –and still is. God is prepared for us, no matter where we try to hide. God’s light finds us still in the deepest shadows of fear and despair and draws us into the light of the family circle, full of warmth, compassion and truth.
You’re familiar, I’m sure, with the child who has fled to escape the consequence of some wrong-doing she believes to be unforgiveable, who has tried to escape exposure of his selfishness or meanness or…well, humanness. And there comes the loving parent, searching high and low, flashlight shining into the shadows, looking for the runaway, rejoicing when she is found, embracing him in tender love. God is like that. Grace on grace abounds. If God shines such light on us and invites us to walk in that light, isn’t it time to say “yes,” to come out from the shadows of our anxiety and fear, our guilt and shame, whatever constitutes the hidden places of our lives and take God’s hand and come home? And maybe we know someone else who needs to hear that same invitation, to experience that same warm, life-giving light, to take God’s hand and come home as well. We might invite them to join us in the family circle. There is infinite room.
Now, that same baby, that Jesus, all grown up and radiant with God’s light, steps forth from the very shadows of death to invite us to dine with him at this table of abundant and eternal life. It is a table at which there is infinite room – “whosoever will may come.” It is a table at which justice and peace are served with the bread and wine. It is a table at which truth and grace are offered along with warmth and compassion. Here the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, the marginalized are taken in, the naked clothed, the sick healed, the lonely embraced, weapons laid down, enemies known as sisters and brothers and over it all shines the light of God. It may not yet be fully so, but the day is coming. As we step from the shadows and embrace the light that has come into the world, we will be graced to live into that day. Amen.
7 For thus says the Lord: Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, “Save, O Lord, your people, the remnant of Israel.” 8 See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here. 9 With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble; for I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd a flock.” 11 For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. 12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall become like a watered garden, and they shall never languish again. 13 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. 14 I will give the priests their fill of fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty, says the Lord.
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
15(John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) 16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.