Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
The Light of the World
We live in a brightly illumined, ethically un-enlightened world. While we turn night into virtual day with powerful artificial lighting, sins like pride, avarice, hatred, and oppression continue to haunt us now, just as they haunted those living in Jesus’ day.
Given the omnipresence of human-made light in our own time, it is hard for us to fathom just how precious light was in an earlier, darker world. Jesus speaks of one lamp being used to light an entire (probably one-room) home. Who would be so foolish as to hide the light from such a lamp, when to do so would condemn all within the home to stumbling around in the dark? Light from a lamp placed on a pedestal enabled life in the home to continue after dusk.
In a dark home or dark world, it takes only a little true light to make a real difference in our shared experience of being human.
Jesus Christ is the light of the world (John 1:9); he is God’s model of a more righteous, wholesome humanity. Christ called (and calls) his followers to love God and to treat others as they wish to be treated. He asks us to imitate his humility, generosity, and love, as well as his empowerment and liberation of the oppressed.
When we keep Jesus’ commandments, we show the world that we love him and serve as a beacon of ethical enlightenment in a frequently unjust and troubled world.
Derek French, pastor, Nazareth Moravian Church,
Nazareth, Pennsylvania