A STORY OF LIGHT

Last week we recalled the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth and the announcement by the angel at the altar that they would have a child.

The child would become John the Baptizer, that maverick prophet who demanded that people come to their senses and repent of their status quo assumptions, and make a new beginning.

The writer of the Fourth Gospel, also known as John, described it this way: Jesus was the light that “shines in the darkness….There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him.”

John was the end of the long line of prophecy stretching back to the beginning. There had been Moses, who was so often in the company of Yahweh that his face shown too brightly for people to stand, and when he was with others, he had to wear a veil. But he was not the only prophet of the time. Prophecy would break out here and there. People invited Moses to suppress it, but he declined: “Would that all God’s people were prophets,” he said.

There was Nathan, who dared to confront King David, and Elijah, who confronted King Ahab, and Elisha, who restored people to life. There was Isaiah and Jeremiah at the potters wheel, and Second Isaiah “Comfort ye my people,” and Ezekiel with the field of bones and Daniel in the lion’s den and Joel and Amos with the plumb line and Hosea and poor Obadiah (whose book we never read) and finally there was Malachi, who ends what we call the Old Testament this way: “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse.”

That Elijah promised by Malachi was thought to be John the Baptizer. They were both these wooly, wild, surly guys…. So that’s what bears witness to the light?

So we move from this broad tradition of prophets who show up in dire times and warn people that they are offending God…down to a period of silence for decades…just silence…..nothing….down to one man: John the Baptizer….out in the wilderness….raving.

Man, that’s solemn. That’s not just solemn, that’s gloomy! That’s not just gloomy, that’s depressing!

For most of us this is a happy time of year. But for some people it is not. Changes in their lives make it impossible to get that cozy buzz that goes with cards and decorations and carols.

From dozens of prophets to one, from promise to warning. From comfort to alert. All the talk about the light at the end of the tunnel? That’s the freight train coming toward you.

Who here hasn’t lost something or somebody this last year? An opportunity missed. A friend neglected? A loved one ignored? And the moment is gone.

Friends, we don’t need a light out there at the end of the tunnel. We need some light IN the tunnel!

We need some light in the tunnel of longer and longer work weeks. We need some light in the tunnel of a future for our kids that is less positive than our own. We need a light in the tunnel of our country making more enemies than friends. We need a light in the tunnel of fear mongering politics and fear mongering denominational structures. And if parenting and aging feel like tunnels, we need some light in there too.

True light. Not ideological manifestos, not distractions, not electric wires and bulbs that come out in December and go away, not little candles that flicker and die.

It was the crazy, nutty John who showed up to point out the true light that came into the world. He was the last, the only one left, the lone voice, until the moment when Moses’ wish came true that all God’s people could be prophets.

And then through Jesus this explosion of healing and forgiving and reconciling and including and calling and empowering and sending, and shaking of society until the complaint came that these followers of Jesus are turning the world upside down.

Out of that gloom, God was creating a witness to the light. And is creating. Moses was right: Would that all God’s people knew they are prophets who can point to the light. You folks on the fourth row and the back row. In the choir and with the church school. And even those sleeping in today.

You’ve got the battery. You’ve got the voltage. You’ve got the juice. You’ve got the lens. You’ve got the authority to point to the light. “You shall be my witnesses till the end of the age,” said Jesus.

Our job is to help people see the light IN the tunnel.