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Darkness and Light

Isaiah 6: 1-8 = &nb= sp;

John 3: 1-17

At th= e very beginning of the Hebrew creation story it was darkness that covered the fac= e of the deep, over which the wind from God swept as God spoke the first words of creation. The resulting light created boundaries for the darkness --- the mythic origin of day and night.

There= are things we can do by the light of day that cannot be done in the darkness of night. At this time of year we enjoy the extended hours of light which enab= le evening picnics, softball games and even lawn mowing. On summer mission tri= ps to Alaska many of our young people through the years learned they could play “Frisbee” even at midnight. On mission projects in urban areas, they learned there were places in a city where we could safely go by day, b= ut not at night.

Day a= nd night not only describe the reality of what we experience in the course of 24 hou= rs; they are sometimes metaphors for things very different from one another. I’ve heard many parents through the years express their wonder at how kids born of the same mom and dad and raised in the same environment can ha= ve personalities ‘as diffe= rent as night and day.’

In th= e bible, light and darkness are often used as metaphors for Good and Evil. In the Go= spel from which today’s reading comes, the Word which becomes flesh and dw= ells among us is described as the light of all people . . . a light that shines = in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. John the Baptizer is sp= oken of as a witness to testify to the light because the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

The lectionary for today includes the best known verses in all of holy writ: Go= d so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in= him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the son = into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. And yet the verses following that grace-filled proclamation indicate that God’s love --- the light [which] has come into the world --- can be rejected or ignored, thereby becoming a judgment for people [who] loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.<= /span>

We sp= eak of people who are “in the dark” about things, meaning they donR= 17;t know what’s going on . . . they’re not informed . . . or if the information is out there for them, they can’t connect the dots and ma= ke sense of it. Nicodemus in today’s gospel story seems to be one of the latter.

It= 217;s noted that Nicodemus was a Pharisee, perhaps a member of the Sanhedrin --- the governing council of the Jews. Biblical scholars believe he was likely a se= cret follower of Jesus not only because he risked being seen with the carpenter-turned-preacher, but farther on in John’s Gospel he helps Joseph of Arimathea, himself described as a “secret disciple,” = to prepare and bury the body of our crucified Lord in that tomb which was to b= e so dramatically found empty a few days later.

At a = time when leaders of the religious establishment were expressing skepticism, if = not outright hostility, toward the itinerant preacher/healer from Nazareth, Nicodemus thought it best to visit Jesus under the cover of night, hoping t= he darkness would avoid any recognition that could prove embarrassing. The sto= ry reads as if their encounter was a private audience and the tone suggests th= at this wise elder of the Jews was genuinely interested in what wisdom Jesus c= ould share with him about things pertaining to God.

̶= 0;Dark times” are what we call those days, weeks, even years when things aren’t going well in our lives or in the world around us. Such darkne= ss is particularly felt when the bad things happening are not caused by the ebb and flow of Nature but by the evil deeds of humankind. When the shadows of = fear overwhelm the brightness of hope, “dark times” are the result.<= o:p>

̶= 0;Dark times” in our personal lives can include grief at the loss of a loved one, the loss of health . . . or a job . . . or a house. There have been pl= enty enough of these experiences in our congregation and community of late. What comfort and guidance might Jesus give us if we, like Nicodemus, sought him = out and brought to him the darkness of our grief?

Those= with hearts of darkness have inflicted hurt on our nation and the human communit= y in recent days. Last Sunday morning a man carrying a gun walked into a church = and killed an usher as he was helping to collect the morning offering. The usher was George Tiller, a Kansas physician who was one of a relatively few docto= rs around the country who performed late-term abortions for women whose lives = and health had become threatened by a continued pregnancy, or had learned that = the fetus they were carrying had severe abnormalities. In the name of a ‘right to life’ this doctor had his snuffed out in an act of violence that is, unfortunately, condoned and even supported by a segment within our society. Such violence comes from minds and hearts that are not = only “in the dark” but create darkness for others. It’s a darkness, perhaps, not unlike the death penalty which kills people who kill people to show that killing is wrong. It’s a darkness not unlike wagi= ng war in order to end wars. . . . What wisdom might Jesus give us if we, like Nicodemus, sought him out and brought the darkness of our violent nature in= to the light and peace of his presence?

A wel= l-loved man from Kalamazoo’s medical community committed suicide several weeks ago, an act I know was deeply disturbing to some of you here who knew him. = One wonders what darkness troubled his soul and led him to such despair and its tragic consequences. But there were two other suicides in recent time that = you also need to be aware of: two 11-year old boys ended their own brief lives,= and we do know something about the darkness of ignorance and hatred that snuffed out the light of life in their troubled souls.

An ar= ticle about them, written by a New York City elementary school teacher begins:

If yo= u were taunted with words like “fag” and “dyke” daily in school, to what extent would this affect you? Perhaps the experience would = keep you hiding in the closet for years, send you into a depression, or lower yo= ur academic achievement. Maybe the homophobic culture of your school would convince you that gay people are inferior, and you might start using the ubiquitous phrase “that’s so gay” to describe every unfavorable person, place or thing. Or, if the bullying were unrelenting, perhaps you might do the unimaginable: commit suicide.

The a= rticle goes on to talk about a 6th grader for whom anti-gay bullying became too mu= ch to bear, who hanged himself with an extension cord in his Springfield, Massachusetts, home while his mother was cooking dinner downstairs.

Less = than two weeks later a fifth grader in Atlanta who was a regular target of anti-gay bullying also decided that the only way he could stop the harassment was to hang himself. Both boys and their families had appealed to their schools for protection, but in some schools and other institutions --- including the ch= urch ---even neutrality, to say nothing of acceptance, is considered too risky to promote and enforce.

It= 217;s not surprising that 86% of youth who are known or thought to be gay, lesbia= n, bi-sexual or transgendered experience verbal harassment and almost half of = them have been physically harassed. What measure of love might Jesus give to us = if we, like Nicodemus, sought him out and brought to his healing presence the darkness of our prejudice and our intentional hurting of others by word and deed?

As Ni= codemus came to Jesus aware of a darkness within and around him. The learned Pharis= ee came away with no easy answers but was given directions as to where answers might be found. That’s all God usually gives us. Those who seek easy answers to the questions of life and faith --- and those who presume to give easy answers --- are likely closing the doors of their hearts and minds to = the new things God said God would always continue to be doing in our midst.

Nicod= emus came to Jesus with some measure of faith seeking understanding. He was a scholar and teacher and recognized the same attributes in Jesus. He believed that the power exhibited in Jesus’ teaching and healing could only co= me from God. But he had not risked coming to Jesus, even under the cover of darkness, to simply be a cheerleader for Jesus’ ministry. He was “in the dark” about some spiritual matters and needed to take s= tock of his soul.

What = you have seen are signs of God’s present Kingdom, Jesus says to him, and those= who catch on and consequently find their lives re-oriented are those of whom it= can said have been “born from above” --- meaning they have become a dwelling place of God’s Spirit. We pray for that to happen in every b= aby we baptize. . . .

Nicod= emus responds to Jesus’ words as if they were meant literally, and he miss= es the point. Biblical literalists often miss the point of metaphorical, poeti= c, prophetic and mythological material that have many layers of spiritual mean= ing. “Born anew” and “born again” are other possible renderings of the Greek phrase, and the Pharisee’s seemingly silly question about climbing back inside his mother’s womb provides Jesus = the opportunity to clarify that the coming kingdom is a spiritual, not a materi= al matter.

The m= ovement of God’s Spirit in the world isn’t as obvious, perhaps, as the world itself. But like the wind we know is present when tree branches shake= and leaves are rustled, when God’s Spirit is present it moves not just ov= er the face of the deep, as the creation story tells us; it also moves over the faces of the people we meet and changes our sense of relationship to them.<= o:p>

It= 217;s by that Spirit “from above” that we are “born anew” to think and act in new ways, to understand ourselves and others with a new perspective. God’s love ---- revealed to us in Jesus --- saves us from the darkness within and around us, the sin with which we hurt others and ourselves and thereby fail to acknowledge our Creator’s image in one another.

The s= tory is told that in the darkness of night a Zen master was asked by his student, “When will morning come?” The wise sage answered him: “Morning will come when there’s enough light that you can look = into the eyes of other people and see that they are your sisters and brothers.&#= 8221;