Sunday January 6, 2008

Rev. Robert Lee Clark II

Isaiah 60: 1-6

Isaiah 60:1-6
60:1 Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the
LORD has risen upon you.
60:2 For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness
the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory
will appear over you.
60:3 Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the
brightness of your dawn.
60:4 Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather
together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far
away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses'
arms.
60:5 Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill
and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be
brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
60:6 A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels
of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They
shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the
praise of the LORD.

Today is the day we call Epiphany Sunday. It is the day that the church

traditionally celebrates the arrival of the Magi, those wise men who followed

a star, a celestial light to the home of our infant savior. God’s presence is

often associated with light. John the Evangelist talking about Jesus’ coming

into the world uses images of light. “In the beginning was the Word, and the

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Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with

God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing

came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was

the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did

not overcome it.” (NRSV John 1:1-5)

The text we read this morning from the prophet Isaiah begins with a double

imperative. “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD

has risen upon you.” “Arise, shine”. In context these words are directed

toward the people of Israel. Israel has just come through a time of great

darkness, a time of exile. Jerusalem lay in ruins and God’s people have spent

seventy long years in exile. But the fortunes of Israel are about to change.

There has been great darkness covering the land and a thick darkness

enveloping the people, the darkness of despair, of hopelessness, of oppression,

of defeat. There has been great darkness but now the light has come. The

Glory of God has risen.

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“Arise; shine, for your light has come.” Notice that this verse does not say,

“Get up, and seek the light”. It does not say, “Come, bask in the light”. It

does not say, “Rise up and see the light.” It says ‘Arise and be the light’.

Shine, for your light has come! God chose the people of Israel to be light in a

dark world. God chose the people of Israel to shine with the truth of God’s

loving presence. God chose the people of Israel and commissioned them to

shine, to shine as a beacon of hope in a world of despair, to shine as a torch of

justice in an unjust world, to shine as a flare for freedom in a world that was

not free. Arise, shine. “Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the

brightness of your dawn.”

God did not make Israel a large powerful nation and send them out to subdue

and conquer the world. God chose the people of Israel filled them with the

Divine Light and commanded them to shine, just shine. Shine and the world

will be drawn to you. Shine and the nations will beat a path to your door.

Arise, shine. “Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and

rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth

of the nations shall come to you.”

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Through Christ we have become heirs to the covenant God made with Israel.

We who were not a people have become a people, chosen to be God’s light,

blessed to be a blessing. Matthew 4:16, “the people who sat in darkness have

seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death

light has dawned.” Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city built on

a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel

basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same

way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works

and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (NRSV Matthew 5:14-16)

Arise; shine, for your light has come. The wise men looked to the east and

there they saw light, a star, shining more brightly than ever a star had shone.
“
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”

(NRSV John 1:1-18) and they were drawn, irresistibly drawn, to it as a moth

to a flame, as lemmings to the sea. They were drawn to the light of Christ.

These men who were not Jews, who did not look for the messiah, these

gentiles were captured by the light and drawn to it. They came to the light not
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empty handed, not with a hand stretched out to receive, but with hands filled

with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They came, they worshipped, and they

left; left with empty hands; left behind their gold, their frankincense, and their

myrrh. Merely to have been in the presence of the light, the true light, the

light that is Christ, they considered sufficient return on the investment of both

their time and their treasure.

‘Arise; shine for your light has come’ is in a sense God’s command. In

another sense it is God’s invitation…God’s invitation to Israel...God’s

invitation to us. It is an invitation to the light, the true light, to Christ. It is an

invitation to come to the light but it is also and perhaps more importantly an

invitation to become the light. God invites us to shine, to shine in the

darkness, to shine like the moon. The moon is not the light. The moon

generates no light. Yet the moon shines, shines with borrowed light, reflected

light; shines brighter than any other object in the night sky. In the same way

you and I do not, cannot, generate light from our own resources, yet we can

shine. In a dark, dangerous world we can shine, shine not with our own light

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but with the light of Christ, with the light of the Holy Spirit, shine with

reflected light, the reflected glory of God.

We can and in fact do shine. When we pray for others, when we visit the sick,

when we give to those in need, we shine. When we buy Christmas presents

for children we will never see, when we provide food for the hungry, we

shine. When we love one another, forgive one another, live with one another,

we shine. When we bring our gold, our frankincense, our myrrh to lay before

the Child King, when we worship for worships sake, we shine. Isaiah tells us

to lift up our eyes and look around. The people of God are gathering, from the

four corners of the earth the people of God are gathering. In China, in Korea,

in Africa, the Children of God are Gathering in unprecedented numbers. From

Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, Peru, Columbia, Mexico, the sons and

Daughters of God are coming. God tells us to lift our eyes and look around,

then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because

the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations

shall come to you.

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A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and

Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and

frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the LORD.

Arise, shine for your light has come. God has covenanted to be our God and

we to be God’s people. God has covenanted to be our light and we to shine.

God has blessed us to be a blessing. Today we will, as a community, have an

opportunity to renew our commitment to the covenant that God has given us.

As individuals I urge you to give serious consideration to your personal

commitment to the Covenant. God blesses. Are you willing to be a blessing?

God provides the light. Are you willing to shine? God commands. Will you

obey? Will you bring your gold, your frankincense, your myrrh? Will you lay

it at the feet of Christ, expecting nothing in return? “Then,” in the words of

the prophet, “you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice”