Epiphany Sermon 1-8-12 Doug Floyd Old North Abbey We've stepped into the time of Epiphany, a season

of revealing. In the darkness of winter, we meditate upon the Jesus Christ as the Light of the World. As we consider the opening words from the Gospel According to John, let me begin by reading the first part of our passage: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 1 As we hold these words in our hearts, let me tell a little story about darkness and light. In the summer of 1987. I rose up before the dawn and drove to Concord Park. Sitting at the edge of the lake, I gazed across the dark landscape. The world was stripped of color and shape. I stared into the blackness. In some ways, this darkness outside mirrored the darkness inside. For the past year, I'd known inner darkness. How do I describe such a darkness? It's like an anxiety or a certain unease. It's like a constant sense that something is wrong. I've never known quite how to explain this sense of dis-ease. At times, the inner anguish smothered out the light and life of everything around me. I felt like God has abandoned me. I wondered if He was even there to begin with. Prior to this present darkness, I had experienced the power of God's Spirit in my life. The church that I attended in college was a place of spiritual renewal. The pastor taught me how to study the Scripture; he gave me opportunities to preach, perform drama and lead Bible studies. In fact the year before this dark August morning, I had been living in Nashville serving as a summer youth minister at a small church. Then suddenly after the summer, darkness descended upon me. Reading the Bible made me tense. Praying was like groaning. Over the next year, I questioned all my encounters with the Lord. The anxiety was so great at times that I had difficulty talking to people. My inner battle was so loud, I could barely focus. My thoughts were chaotic, and I felt like any moment I would slip over the edge into total darkness.

1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Jn 1:15). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
1

I carried 3 by 5 cards in my pocket with Scriptures. Whenever I drove in the car, I'd read the Scriptures out loud, attempting to use the Spoken Word to overpower the inner confusion. The whole year felt like a battle for sanity and for faith. The two seemed bound together, I realized at some point that I could not sustain my own faith. But I felt like if I gave I up, I wouldn't survive. So I read Scriptures aloud. I sang. My words sounded stillborn, falling to the ground with a thud. I reached a place where I assumed I might never know peace again. Yet, in the mystery of God's grace, I persisted in crying out to Him. That early August morning, I drove down to the park. I was tired. Tired of the anxiety. Tired of the darkness. Tired of the loneliness. I quietly lifted up prayers and stared into the darkness. Slowly the first burst of light appeared on the horizon. The blackened landscape began taking form. As the sun rose, colors flashed across the ripples of the lake. Green, blue, white. Houses appeared on the distant shore. As the Light washed over this newly born world, I felt strangely warmed. I felt the Lord's Presence near me, comforting me. Eventually, I felt the Lord stir me with a question, "Did you worry that the sun would not rise today?' "No" "You rest in the regularity of sunset and sunrise. Though the night seems to swallow the sun, you simply cannot see the sun. It is still there." Those words washed over my soul with peace and love. I knew my own lack of experience, my own darkness could not inhibit His faithfulness. I knew He was and had sustained me. He had drawn me near to Himself by pulling me into the darkness of faith. Since that day, I've known other seasons of darkness. Sometimes days, sometimes weeks and even longer, but I've also known He is faithful. And His faithfulness encompasses my own faithlessness. As I think about John's words about the Word Made Flesh, I think about the Lord who enters into our darkness with Life that is the Light of men. We are not made for darkness. Light brings color and shape to the world around. In the darkness, all things fade into obscurity. John Hull tells the story of his own descent into blindness. As a youth, he had problems with his eyes, and lost vision in one eye. Hull went to seminary and eventually started teaching Divinity and Religious Education courses. In 1973, he began have trouble with his remaining eye. Over the next ten years, his vision grew worse and by 1983, he lost the last glimpse of vision.2
2 Hull, John. Touching the Rock. Vintage, 1992. 2

Then he began losing his memory of vision. He lost memory of the faces of his friends. Eventually, he could not remember his own face. And one day he lost all memory of sight. People become disembodied voices. He no longer dreamed in pictures or thought in pictures. Darkness. John Hull's experience brings home to me the dread of complete darkness. It is both the loss of vision and the loss of memory. Imagine for a moment if all five senses were immersed in darkness. All encounter with the outer world would be lost. The human would turn completely inward. Paul Evdokimov speaks of hell as "a darkened place where solitude reduces a person to the extreme emptiness of demonic solipsism where no ones look crosses anothers."3 He continues, "Darkness is a desperate flight toward its own interior because it cannot get away from the Light. In order to hide itself, darkness clothes itself in the obscurity of guilt and manifests a conscious and demonic attitude of negation, denial, and refusal."4 In John's Account of the Gospel, we encounter a world in darkness. Humanity has lost sight and lost hearing. The world totters in darkness. Into this world of darkness, a light shines. Or I should rather say, the Light shines. The Word of God comes as the Life and Light of the world. But the world does not know, cannot perceive. As John will say, the world shrinks back from the light because their deeds are evil. John reveals a world trapped in darkness and disoriented by the light of God. It misunderstand the Light of God and choose the hell of self consumption over the hope of God's light. To better understand what John is describing, it might help to back up and look at John's allusions. He begins with a direct allusion to the beginning of the world. "In the beginning was the Word." His opening words call to mind the opening of Genesis. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1 ESV) In the Gospel, John takes us back to the beginning, the creation, and He reveals that the Word is present and participating with the Father in Creation. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.5"
3 Evdokimov, Paul, translated by Fr. Steven Bigham. The Art of the Icon: A Theology of Beauty (Kindle Edition). Oakwood Publications, Pasadena, CA, February 2011, Kindle location 158. 4 Evdokimov, Kindle location 174.

5 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Jn 1:13). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
3

We discover that the world is created by God in Relation, by Father, Son and Spirit. Evdokimov writes about the first day, "This first day is the joyous hymn of the Song of Songs sung by God himself, the flashing eruption of Let there be Light." "For the world just beginning its development, Let there be Light means Let the revelation be and Let the One who reveals, let the Holy Spirit come! The Father pronounces his Word, and the Spirit shows him forth; the Spirit is the Light of the Word."6 The Lord creates a world that reveals Him, points to Him, glorifies Him. He creates humans are created to live in relation with Him, in His Light, His Wisdom, His Revelation. As John says, this Light is Life. We are created to live and move and have our being the Light of the Lord. But the Scripture tells a story of humans turning away from the light and into the darkness of selfconsumption, self-adoration, self-despair. We behold humans killing humans; humans torturing and defacing humans; humans enslaving humans. In some passages of Scripture, the darkness is so dark, we want to turn away from the evil. Into this darkness, the light shines. Again and again, we behold God stepping into the plight of His people as Light and Life. One of the central stories of this redeeming engagement is when the Lord steps into false power of Egypt, defeats the horse and chariot in the Red Sea, and leads His people to the Mountain of Light, Mt Sinai. From there He thunders His promises and His Law or His Instruction which will be light for the Children of Israel. Listen to the Psalmist connecting God's Torah, His Instruction with Light, For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light (Ps 36:9). Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Ps 119:105). The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple (Ps 119:130). Again and again and again, Light is connected to Torah. The Proverbs states, "For the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light; reproofs of instruction
6 Evdokimov, Kindle location 190-194. 4

are the way of life"(Proverbs 6:23). In fact, light is often contrasted with darkness. In this famous Proverbs, we see light and dark as two paths. 18 But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. 19 The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble. Proverbs 4:18-19 Those who walk in the way or the wisdom or the instruction of God, are walking in His revelation, His light, His life. The light grows ever brighter for them until they behold Him in glory. But those in the dark, stumble and don't even know what makes them stumble. Israel is chosen to bear this Light of God for all the world. And yet they continue to stumble in the darkness. They fail to bring the light of God's revelation to the world. Instead, they mimic the dark ways of the nations around them. They worship falsely and in turn, they degrade and diminish the human. The prophets accuse them of idolatry and oppression and even murder of their own. In fact, their darkness is so revolting, Isaiah suggests that it is a stench to other nations. The very people called to life in the Light of God, to bear the Light of God, to reveal the Light of God, have fallen into the darkness. As we behold them, we behold our own darkness, our own blindness, our own cruelty, our own tendency to be seduced by the power of this world, the wisdom of this world, the self-preservation of this world. In the people of God, we behold our own darkness and hatred of the Light. Into this darkness, a Light shines. Isaiah writes, Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. 2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. 3 The Gentiles shall come to your light ,
5

And kings to the brightness of your rising. Isaiah 60:1-3 And, 6 Indeed He says, 'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.'" Isaiah 49:6 And again, 2 The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined. Isaiah 9:2 And finally, 6 "I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles, 7 To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house. Isaiah 42:1-7 Again and again, we hear this echo of God's Light, God Revealed Wisdom, God's Instruction, God's Torah entering into the darkness of a world trapped by our blindnesses and our cruelties. In spite of our accursed state, God's does not abandon us. He comes to those who hate, those who lie, those who oppress and sow discord, those who deceive, those who are banned from the city of Light, and He takes hold of their hand to lead them home. There is a Medieval icon of Christ Harrowing Hell. In one variation, Jesus is dressed as a knight, and he has plunged his lance into the mouth of a dragon, rendering it helpless. At the same time, he is taking a person by the wrist and pulling them out of the mouth of the dragon. The image of him

grabbing the wrist is to emphasize that the person is too weak to take his hand, yet he takes hold of them and pulls them out from the dragon's mouth. As we celebrate Epiphany, we are celebrating the Lord of Light who penetrates the darkness of human revolt against God. He is opening blind eyes and deaf ears, so that we can truly behold, "The Lamb of God who Takes Away the Sin of the World." We could not mount the mountain of Sinai and brave the face to face encounter with the Holy One who dwells in unapproachable Light. Yet He brings the mountain of holiness to us in the person of Christ and we behold the wisdom of God, the glory of God, the power of God for our salvation. We behold the lover of our souls who lifts us up into the Light of His Glory. And even as we are lifted into the Highway of Holiness, we are changed. This Light-Filled embrace is both terrifying and joyful, both painful and healing. Having lived in darkness, light hurts our eyes. In fact, we are so blind to the light of God that some of our Eastern Brothers speak of God's Light as Luminous Darkness. The more we enter into His Light, the more it may seem like we've stepped into darkness. For our illusions of grandeur are exposed, our idols are smashed, our wisdom is shown as foolishness and our strength is but weakness. According to Paul in 2 Corinthians 3, He is leading to a more glorious encounter than even Sinai. We are walking into the Light of His Countenance, and we are being changed. In Christ, this proverb becomes fully realized, "But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. We are turning and returning toward the Light of Glory. We walking the path of His glory love. We are dying daily and living in the light of His power. We are being changed into people of Light. So during this Epiphany, I exhort to look up for your salvation us drawing near. If you are struggling in darkness or dancing in the joy, Look up for the Son of Glory is resting upon you. If you have lost your faith or discovered faith, look up for the Faithful One has hold of your wrist even now.