Advent and Christmas take us on a journey of increasing light: each week another candle was lit on the Advent wreath, until we reached the birth of Christ and the central white candle shone out. Jesus, the light of the world, was born! Then, on 4th January, we began the season of Epiphany, a season which has had a strong theme throughout. Our very first reading in this season, from Isaiah 60, begins ‘Arise, shine, for your light has come’.
Through these weeks, our readings have been run through with the image of light; the light of Christ, shining first on Mary and Joseph and the animals in the stable, and then beyond that small circle to the shepherds – the people on the margins of society – and the magi, representative of all the people of the world.
We prayed, in words written by Walter Brueggemann, the American theologian and pastor,
We are — we could be — people of your light.
So we pray for the light of your glorious presence
as we wait for your appearing;
we pray for the light of your wondrous grace
as we exhaust our coping capacity;
And we have ourselves, along with the first disciples, been drawn by that light of Christ transforming the darkness.
Last Sunday, we recalled the presentation of Jesus in the temple, when he was 40 days old. We heard the glorious words of the old man Simeon, who recognised Jesus as ‘a light to bring revelation to the gentiles’, and we received blessed Candlemas candles to shine with the light of Christ in our prayer and in our lives.
And so this morning, we arrive and hear today’s readings. In our first reading the prophet Isaiah tells us in clear terms how one who is light in the world will live: loose-ing bonds of injustice, setting the oppressed free, breaking every yoke, sharing bread with the hungry, bringing the homeless inside, clothing the naked. ‘Then,’ Isaiah says,
‘your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly’
And in today’s Psalm too, we have
‘They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright;
they are gracious, merciful, and righteous.’
Until finally we arrive at Jesus’ words in today’s gospel … ‘You are the salt of the earth; the light of the world’. Jesus is speaking to all people, and with these words we too are called into the circle of light. Jesus speaks to his listeners in 1st Century Galilee as he speaks to us in Edinburgh today, saying ‘You are the light of the world’.
As I say this, I am aware of a sense of this being an overwhelming demand. It feels like too much; how can I become a light shining before others; the light of the world? Light of the world is the name we give to Christ, fully human, fully divine. And I am not this.
So I went searching for examples of people who might be called ‘light in the darkness’, and I came across the story of George Chavez from Colorado.
George lived a childhood of extreme neglect and abuse. His older brother, his role model, was a member of a gang, and George soon followed him. At the age of 15 George was involved in stealing a car, but things went awry, and his friend shot and killed the car’s owner. Along with his friend, George was convicted of felony murder – a sentence given when a death occurs during a dangerous crime, in this case car robbery. George, though not the one who committed the murder, was nevertheless convicted, and sentenced to life with no possibility of parole.
Through his early years in prison George continued a life of gang violence, killing another prisoner, and receiving a further 22 year sentence. Not only imprisoned, in all he spent 13 years in solitary confinement. Somehow, in the time spent alone, removed from gang culture, and a period during which his mother died, something changed for George. Long days and nights left him filled with remorse for the pain he had caused his Mum, and with a determination to change. He renounced his membership of the gang – a dangerous thing to do in prison – and determinedly sought opportunities to access education and ways of being of service inside the prison, knowing this was his life until he died.
A change in US law in 2016 opened the door for those convicted under the age of 16 to be eligible for parole. So, in October 2024, George, convicted at 15 years, stood in court, and spoke of his new life mission to be a positive force for those around him whether those days be inside prison or out. Testimonials from family, university teachers, prison officers, and those who had been inside with George repeatedly spoke of the man George had become.
Certain words kept being repeated about George: empathic, compassionate, wise, and … a light to those around him.
George remains in prison. The process of release is complicated. But I understand (and when I become fearful, I hope) that he continues to shine, to be a light of the world, shining with love, and compassion, in a place that is so often filled with darkness.
In our Gospel reading the symbols of salt and light are very cleverly chosen by Jesus.
In order for light to be effective it must emerge in a poorly illuminated place. In places of darkness, those things which are present are only discernible once the light shines. Light is a means by which the world around the light can be seen, and be transformed.
Salt too … the usefulness of salt is in its effect on other things. Salt transforms, flavours, preserves and purifies that to which it is applied. Again, salt is a means by which the world that comes into contact with the salt can be altered, can be transformed.
Throughout his life, Jesus affected the people and places around him, bringing them into deeper truth, and more fully lived lives. He is light of the world. And this is what we are asked to be.
Returning to the words of Isaiah, we may begin to recognise that our calling as followers of Christ is to work for healing of all that is broken in our world. What is broken in our world today? You may find yourself thinking of Ukraine, as we approach the fourth anniversary of the war, and the terrible suffering endured. Or of Palestine, and Israel, and the conflict in that region that can be traced back through many generations, most recently intensified in the humanitarian crisis in Gaza of the last two and a half years. Or of any number of other people and places of suffering. The darkness in our world can feel overwhelming.
It is part of our being the light of the world, that we are called to hold the light, to hold onto hope when someone else, or somewhere else, is overwhelmed.
When my neighbour, my family member, or an unnamed person we may see in a news broadcast is suffering, I can be, by the grace of God, light in their darkness; hope in their hopelessness. And when you or I am in need, by the grace of God may there be those to whom we can turn, whom we can rely on to be the light, and the hope, for us.
In being this, the world is never overcome by darkness.
In being this, the light of Christ can shine.
In being this, we too become the light of the world. Amen