Granddaughter Sam and fiance Doug have an interesting wall hanging. This is a picture of the Earth taken from space, with blue background, black country lines and a shiny gold trim where the lights shine and the people are. Lots of lights for metropolitan areas, especially Bosnywash; even Binghamton has its share of lights. But the deeper meaning for me is that there are immense sections of the world without any lights at all! Scripture texts to be read this weekend remind the hearer that there are many dark places and that the community of Christ–the Church–is entrusted with lighting them.
ISAIAH 58:1-12 is God’s remonstrance to a yet unrealized People: “If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, THEN your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday…” You may remember that First Isaiah (Isaiah of Jerusalem, chapters 1-39) spoke words of encouragement to those preparing for Exile; and that Second Isaiah (Isaiah of Babylon, chapters 40-55) gave hope to those returning from Exile–and now “Third Isaiah” (c.550?, chapters 54-66) portrays YHWH as being disappointed that this restored group is too self-centered to be a Holy Community. “…as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God…”! There’s an un-holy gap here between “Belief” and “Practice”. Is worship an individual matter, or are we strengthed by the community in mission?
I CORINTHIANS 2:1-12 is pretty heavy: Paul is telling the Church there that what we do TOGETHER is what really matters. The Apostle says that his entrance there was not an exercise in heavenly wisdom but “a demonstration of the Spirit”; that is, he tried to put his money where his mouth was, to “walk the walk and not just talk the talk”. Part of the point is that God’s Wisdom is an alternative to worldly sense as we are tempted to practice it. The diverse Corinthian congregations struggled as we do to understand mission as a corporate function.
MATTHEW 5:13-20 continues with the Sermon on the Mount, which addresses two fundamental questions: Who are we? and What are we to do? Here is presented the famous “You are the light of the world”. But being this Light is only preparatory to SHARING this Light! Jesus is calling those who would follow him into a stature of righteousness, that is Justice & Mercy. He’s attempting to form a community based on the reality of the Law & the Prophets–but as God would see this reality, better than human nearsightedness would have it. The Light of which we speak is that which illumines even the dark corners and presents the monsters that live there as what they really are.
Charles James Cook writes in FEASTING on the WORD (A 1:336), “In order for the light to be seen, we must be willing to go where the darkness exists.” East side? West side? All around the town?
In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King
Every Tuesday the lectionary scriptures for the upcoming weekend are lifted up here: come join us at horacebrownking.com
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