Epiphany 4, ‘08                                                               Isaiah 9:1-4
Twente/Nijmegen                                                           1 Corinthians 1:10-18
                                                                                        Matthew 4:12-23
A Light in the Dark

January and February.  They are months when things seem to go wrong at the same time.  Heating units tend to break down.  Christmas bills come.  Flu runs rampant.  The British Psychologist Dr Cliff Arnall has used statistics to suggest that this past Monday is generally the most depressing day of the year.  This year "Blue Monday" fell on January 21st.  Dr Arnall has worked out that people are most likely to get the blues in the final full week of January because of the combination of bad weather, Christmas debts and broken New Year resolutions.Yet Isaiah proclaims to us:  9:1 But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish.  2The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined. 3You [Lord] have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. 4For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.Even those who have faith in God can get the blues like anyone else.  Light deprivation, poor health, difficult financial situations and conflict will take their toll on anyone.  But what faith does is it helps us look beyond our circumstances and gives us hope.  If we truly believe, then we come to know that in whatever situation we find ourselves, God will be with us and see us through.  I know this from personal experience with God, who has helped me believe in the light even at those hard moments when the sun did not seem to shine.  I know this from being beside those who are terminally ill, who, even in their pain, have known the comfort of God.  I know this from hearing the experience of those like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King and Desmond Tutu, who have struggled with oppression, but who knew that it would not ultimately prevail.Isaiah knew God as one who could rescue his people.  A people whose capital city had been destroyed.  A people who had been forced into exile.  Dark times of hopelessness, it would seem.  Isaiah knew that the darkness only gets worse when it captures our spirits, when we assume that nothing will help, that God is not there for us.  When we snuff out any attempt to rekindle the light.Isaiah calls his people to remember.  Remembering the blessings that we have had is a necessary survival tactic.  It is a discipline that will serve as an antidote to the spiritual darkness.  Reminding ourselves what God has done for us.Isaiah says, ‘Remember Midian.’  For those of us who don’t remember Midian, look in a Bible index!  (Judges 6-8)  Midian refers to how Gideon, an Israeli military commander who always needed a sign from God before he did anything, accepted God’s crazy plan to rout a vastly superior army.  God told Gideon to reduce his own troop numbers and then fake like he had a huge army – famously using lots of trumpets – to surprise and intimidate the enemy army into panic.  It worked and the Midianites were driven out of the land.  And this happened because God reduced Gideon’s confidence in all the other things on which he depended: military superiority, confidence in himself, etc..  Gideon had to learn that God alone was up to changing the depressing situation.  And God did.So when Isaiah talks about the people’s yoke, their burden, being lifted like on the day of Midian, he’s talking about that immense relief and jubilation that comes with being delivered by God alone.  That is the light that shines in the hearts of believers.  It lightens our load because we know that we have been freed, not by our own effort, but by God.  This is a relief, because part of the darkness we often feel is that we, who are somehow expected to be independent and self-sufficient in the new DEY world (Do everything yourself) often discover that we can’t solve the world’s problems single-handedly, let alone our own.  It is actually a relief to know that God can and will, ultimately.2The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined.There is light in the gloom and darkness, because Christ has come.  Jesus himself knew darkness, but he would not let it have the victory.Learning that his cousin John had been arrested, Jesus perhaps feared for his new mission, and fled from Nazareth to Capernaum, no obvious safe choice, because it was full of foreigners.  But perhaps he knew that faith could be found among the people he knew, it was time to take risks and reach outside the box, to Gentiles.At the sea of Galilee, Jesus came across Andrew and Simon.  By the other Gospel accounts, they weren’t the best fishermen.  Luke’s Gospel describes how Jesus first saw the brothers returning from (perhaps another) depressing night of unsuccessful fishing.  He tells them to give it another try, and they’re not really impressed with the suggestion.  But they do, and are overwhelmed by their new catch.Perhaps this is a reminder that when we are in a dark patch, when the way we have been doing things does not help, we need to ask Christ for new directions.Christ gives Andrew and Simon a new calling.  That had some skills in another area, but Jesus wanted them to apply them in a new way.  A risky, frightening thing.  Matthew records that ‘20Immediately they left their nets and followed him.‘  And similarly, Jesus called James and John.  And they left their father in the boat.  Jesus’ calling is a radical call to discipleship.  To commitment and to risk.  It is a call to new priorities.  Jesus is saying ‘I am more important than your job or your family.’  He is not calling all of us necessarily to drop our jobs or leave our families.  Rather, he is calling us to think of ourselves, our work, and our relationships, through his eyes, and through a calling ultimately to serve him.  At last year’s Archdeaconry Synod, the Director of Design at Philips Electronics led a bible study about creativity and calling.  And one of the things he said I won’t forget: ‘Where we worship should matter as much when we decide where to live as where we work?’  Usually we decide where to live based on where we’ll work.  But he was calling for a different view.  I firmly believe that all our other priorities will be set right if following Christ is our top priority.  If we follow Christ, we do not sit in darkness, but walk in his light.  He may do things that bewilder us, like he did before Gideon and Andrew and Simon.  He may challenge us to change our ways of doing things.  He will certainly change our thinking.  He may lead us to live in ways that surprise us, and our neighbours.  But that will be a delight to him and to us, if we live in his light.  Amen.                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Any questions?  Contact: The Chaplain, Revd Sam Van Leer, 026 495 0620