Do not sit in darkness
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Lectionary: 67
“The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,”
“on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen.”
We do live in darkness, and under the shadow of death.
- Last week, we observed the sad anniversary of the unjust Supreme Court decision to deny the protection of law to the unborn. Politicians even talk about extending the so-called right to abortion to include the right to kill babies after they are born.
- We observed a week of prayer for Christian unity, sadly necessary because Christians have divided ourselves, despite Jesus’s prayer that we be united.
- Many ignore the message of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was murdered for calling us to end racial inequality and economic injustice.
- Al-Qaeda terrorists were arrested in Columbia on the way the US.
- Firefighters died fighting fires that people set intentionally in Australia. People in Puerto Rico protest because they discovered politicians hid supplies they needed in the aftermath of natural disasters. Over one thousand were injured and more than twenty killed by an earthquake in Turkey.
- We heard of a new and potentially deadly virus in China.
But it is more than living in a dark world.
Our translations are not very good. In English, it says the people sit in darkness, and dwell in the shadow of death. In Spanish, it says the people lived in darkness and live in the shadow of death. In all of the original versions, whether it be Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, or even St Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, it says the people were sitting, and sat.
We sit. We sit and allow news of this darkness and death to overshadow us as it streams over us via television, the internet, and gossip. What do we do about it? Do we do anything?
Jesus came into this same land of darkness. He did not sit. He went. He went, and he said to the fishermen, “come.” He said to the people, “repent.”
He has come to find us too, and says the same to us. He says “come, and I will make you fishers of men.” He says “repent,” because his kingdom is here.
The light has come. Jesus is calling us to bring people to him, who is the light. He is calling us to show them the light.
The world is dark, but we do not have to sit in darkness. We do not have to focus on the darkness.
We have a choice. We can choose to follow him who is our great light. And we can not only follow him for ourselves, but we can find people who are longing for light, and bring the good news that their desire is fulfilled. The light of the world is here.
Jesus is THE light, and he invites us to look upon the light.
- A President of the United States attended the March for Life for the first time. Closer to home, Pro-Life America bought out the billboard on the Highway north of Slaton, where Planned Parenthood was advertising.
- Christians all around the world prayed for unity last week.
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream of racial and economic equality, and the same banks that would not give him a loan because of the color of his skin were closed last week in his honor.
- Colombian law enforcement arrested the terrorists before they could cause harm.
- People of good will are sending aid, and even risking their lives to assist their neighbors in Australia, Turkey, and Puerto Rico.
- Doctors have promising new treatments in testing for Parkinson’s, Cancer, and Alzheimer’s Disease, and are cooperating across the world to prevent the new coronavirus from causing widespread harm.
It’s all the same news, but somehow it is entirely different. The enemy of our souls wants us to sit in darkness – hopeless and despairing of the human condition. The enemy wants us to focus on the darkness.
There is darkness. There is death. But, Jesus has overcome both.
I invite you to look up from the darkness around us, within us, and even ahead of us. Come, look at the light that is around us, within us, and ahead of us through Jesus Christ.
Jesus offers us the light of faith, of hope, and of love. He offers us the opportunity to repent of the darkness, hopelessness, and despair that can so easily overshadow us.
Come, follow him who is the light. Look upon his light. Shine his light upon the world around us.
The darkness cannot overcome us.
