A Great Light Shines in Our Darkness
A great Light shines in our darkness.
Text: Matthew 4:12-23 for 1/22/2017 by Pastor Bolwerk
12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— 14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: 15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” 17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” 18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. 23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
Time and again the Bible speaks aboutlight verses darkness. But what is God really telling us when he makes thatcomparison? God is showing us the difference between good and evil: what good is like and what evil is like. Light represents good and darkness represents evil. To understand what God is telling us we need to understand exactly what goodness is and where it comes from. Jesus once said, “No one is good—except God alone” (Mark 10:18). Only God is truly good, and his goodness is pure and perfect.
The “light” that the Bible speaks of is that goodness of God. So then how evil like darkness? Just as darkness is the absence of light, so evil is the absence of God. Where God is not there evil is. The less God is a part of a person’s life the more evil that person becomes. Remember, only God is good. So the only way a person can have goodness in their life is if God shines that goodness into a person’s life. As God works to be a part of a person’s life God’s goodness starts to have an effect on that person. Just like light drives out darkness, so the presence of God’s goodness drives out evil.
In our Gospel reading for today we see Jesus beginning his ministry in the northern part of Israel, in Galilee. Matthew tells us that as Jesus does this he was fulfilling prophecy. Matthew writes that Jesus went to Galilee“to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: ‘Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned’” (vs. 14-16). The people in Galilee had been living in darkness because God was absent from their lives. The Jews who had lived in the Northern Kingdom of Israel had been carried into exile by Assyria, and other people moved into the land around the Sea of Galilee. Eventually some Jews returned. When they did they intermarried with the people who were now living in the land, and what little the Jews remembered about the true God was soon watered down by the religious beliefs of those they married. The true God was not a part of their lives. Without his goodness these people were “in the dark.”
Matthew tells us that when Jesus comes along he shines his light, his goodness, into this sin darkened place. Well, that light of Jesus was not just for those living in Galilee. We also see that …
Theme: A great Light shines in our darkness.
1. It helps us see what is truly deadly.
2. It helps us see what is truly important.
Jesus shines the light of his goodness into this world by calling people to repentance.We are told that “Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’” (v. 17).Repent: it meansto change the way you think so that you change the way you live and act. Let me give you an example of what that looks like. Think of someone who smokes cigarettes. This person’s friends are always telling him he should quit because it’s bad for his health, but he doesn’t believe them. One day a friend shows this person a medical study that proves how deadly smoking is. After reading the article the person says “I did not realize how bad smoking really is for my body. If I keep smoking it’s going to kill me.” Having learned the truth this person now tries to do everything they can to stop smoking. That is what repentance is like. It is a change in the way you think about sin and that change in your thinking gets you to change the way you live and act. True repentance moves a person to see sin for the death trap that it is, and to trust God for the help they need to keep sin out of their lives.
Jesus calls us to repentance because just like those people living in Galilee we are “people living in darkness [;] living in the land of the shadow of death” (v. 16).The world we live in is darkness because the world hates God. The world works to push God and his light away because the world loves sin. The sinful nature sees sin as something good and it sees God as bad because God works to get people away from sin. This is why the apostle Paul says, “the sinful mind is hostile to God” (Romans 8:7). Our sinful nature does everything in its power to keep God out so it can keep on sinning.
The problem with sin is that it is like a landmine. The purpose of a landmine is to kill. Landmines bring death. Sin brings death. The Apostle Paul says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).Now, sometimes when a person steps on a landmine it does not kill them. But even if it does not kill them it does a tremendous amount of damage. Sin is no different. Every time we sin we inflicthorrible damage both on ourselves and on others.
Every time we choose to sin we walk into the darkness of a minefield. Every time we choose to sin we walk away from the light of God’s goodness, and without that light we cannot see those landmines in our path until it’s too late. Sadly, we so often keep going down that same sinful path, stepping on one landmine after another and doing more and more damage to our souls.
We may try to justify our sins by saying they are not as bad as the sins of others, or that the damage from our sin is really not all that bad. But the more excuses we make for our sins the further we walk away from God. We walk further into the darkness and take one step closer to eternal death.This is exactly where Satan wants us. He wants us in the dark so he can get us to step on more “landmines.” He wants us to keep on sinning until we blow ourselves straight into hell.
That is why Jesus keeps shining the light of his truth on sin. It is why he keeps saying, “Repent!”ChristusesGod’s law to show us just how deadly sin is. Jesus opens our minds and our hearts so we can understand how sin is going to kill us eternally. Then Christ calls us to repent: to change our minds about sin.Jesus works that change of mind in us by shining the light of his salvation before us.
That light of Jesus’ salvation shows us a path on which there are no “landmines” of sin because our Lord has done his work of removing those sins. The one who had the power to perfectly avoid every sin took every one of those sins on himself. On the cross Christ felt the explosive torment of each one of those sins on his soul. Jesus paid the price of his holy, perfect life to defuse those deadly weapons that Satan uses against us. By his death Jesus cleared the path to heaven of every sin. And by his resurrection Christ triumphed over sin, and Satan, and even death itself. Now our Lord Jesus stands before us lighting that narrow path that leads to his heavenly home. We can only walk that path by his power. We can only follow that path by his light. Only in Christ do we have forgiveness for our sins. Only in Jesus do we have healing from the guilt, and pain, and suffering that our sins have brought up us.A great Light shines in our darkness. It is a Light that helps us see how truly deadly sin is. It is a Light that creates in us faith, a faith that lives in the light of God’s goodness.
Now we know light not only helps reveal things to us that our bad or dangerous, but light can also reveal to us what is good. Imagine walking into your home at night when it is dark. At first you only see the general outline of rooms and furniture. Then you turn on the light. Suddenly, you see a room full of your family and friends shouting, “Happy birthday.” Before the light was on you could not see these people that you love. But with the lights on now you can see those who are so important in your life. God’s goodness works the same way. A great Light shines in our darkness. That Light helps us see what is truly important.
Jesus uses that light to help us get our priorities straight. We see Jesus doing this as he calls his disciples. Matthew writes, “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. […] ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him” (vs. 18-22).
Notice the response of these men: “At once they left their nets and followed …” (v.20). “Immediately they left the boat …” (v. 22). When Jesus calls these men there is no hesitation in their decision. They immediately get up and leave everything: their jobs, their friends, their families.
But what about those jobs? How would they provide for themselves? What about their families? What about God’s Fourth Commandment which says,“Honor your father and mother” (Exodus 20:12). James and John just walk away from their father and leave him to take care of the fishing business by himself. Does that mean these men had just sinned? If sodoes that mean Jesus led these men to sin?Of course not. You see God also says, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). That includes our families, our jobs, our friends, our possessions, and even ourselves.
Jesus shines the light of his goodness into our lives to help us see what is truly important. Jesus helps us to keep God’s two greatest commandments in the right order. God commands that we love Him above everyone and everything else, and he commands that we love our neighbor as ourselves.What is important is that God should always be first in our lives.
Of course we need to Jesus help to do that because we want to be first in our lives. Our sinful nature is always working to convince us that we should be first above everyone and everything. It tells us that our needs and desires should be satisfied before anyone else’s.
But when Jesus shines the light of his saving work into our hearts and minds he helps us to understand how he has taken care of our needs: our need for holiness, our need for righteousness, our tremendous need to have our sins forgiven. Having fulfillment of those needs Jesus now opens his hands to provide the basic needs of our life here in this world. He provides food, clothing, and shelter. Yet, so often in his kindness he blesses us with even more. With the light of Christ’s goodness shining on our lives we are aware of his loving hand providing all that we need, soul and body. That knowledge fills us with joy and helps us to trust in Jesus even more.
As the light of God’s goodness shines on our life of faith it also helps us see opportunities to share that Light. When Jesus lights up our lives with his gospel we become very aware of just how dark the world is around us. We see the darkness that evil brings into this world because we see the pain and sorrow and suffering of those who walk in that darkness. That is when we realize we have a light that can help these people walk through this life so that they don’t have to step on those landmines of sin.
Whether it’s a fellow Christian, or someone who has never heard of Jesus, we can use the light of Christ to show people the danger of sin. We can make clear to them the landmine they are about to step on, and the destruction it will cause in their lives. Then we can use that light show them their Savior. We can use the good news of Jesus salvation to lead that person away from darkness and into the light of eternal life.
When you have had to endure the long dark gloominess of winter how good it feels to bask in the light of a warm, sunny spring day. Well, no matter what time of year it is there is a great Light shines in our darkness. It is a light that helps us see the deadly sins that lie on the path of our lives. It is also a light that helps us see what is truly important. We see the light of our glorious God who willingly gave his all so that he could illuminate for us the path that leads us to his eternal paradise. Amen.
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