Vision, Being the Light to the Nations

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Isaiah 60:1–6
Ephesians 3:1–12
Matthew 2:1–12

Today is the Epiphany of the Lord. The easy route to take today would be to tell you about the Wise Men who visited Jesus, Joseph and Mary and show how the Isaiah and Matthew text can be tied together. I am not going there, other than what I just said, for now. I hear these scriptures today, calling us to something, something that God tells us about in Isaiah, Paul confirms we are part of and what the wise men saw.

A prophet, such as Isaiah is to see what the future holds for God’s people and what God is telling the people to be, do, expect, etc. etc.  A prophet is a visionary that can cast a vision, although the vision is not always rosy, but a vision that is based upon what God wants for God’s people in the overall story of God’s love for humanity.

To get a real feel for what Isaiah speaks about; we need to read on further in the chapter.  It is verses 10-22 that the bigger picture reveals its self, one other than just the gold and frankincense tied to the Gospel of Matthew that we read today.

In verses 1-4, Isaiah casts a vision of God’s Light shining upon God’s people, a beacon in the darkness that will attract other nations and kings.   The people have God’s light and it is the light upon and in the people that there is an expectation of a response when Isaiah says, “nations shall come to your light”.

The people are not to hide in the light; it is there for others.  The light is to shine in the darkness; it will be like a dawning light.  There is an expectation that the Jews are also to be the light.  The Jews are to live differently, being the light and the people of the law.  They live and set an example for all to come to.  The law required them to minister to the least, last, lost…the widows, orphans and poor.  They are the light for those in need.

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In our baptism, we as Christians are a changed people.  By God for God, who transforms us to carry out the mission of Christ, here on earth. Changed to be a light to the nations, freed from the law in the death of Christ and born anew in the resurrection of our Lord.  Paul says in Ephesians today, that the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body.  We are therefore adopted into the family of God.   We are no longer bound by the law, but freed from the law to respond and be the light also.  How have you responded to your baptism?  How are we being the light of God?  What are you being called to do….to be part of….beyond worship but outside of the four walls here.

HopeLutheran

Verses 4-6 tell of the people of Israel being joined by their sons and daughters.  It also says to lift your eyes; see what is beyond, not what is in front but what God will bring.  In faith in the promise of God, respond to the calling to see beyond today and step out in faith.  What more can you do?  What more can Hope Lutheran do?  With God, with church, through faith we build it, and they will come.  We reach out as the light in faith, looking beyond the horizon and in doing so see as the prophets do, and we can live as God intends for us.

There will be rejoicing and abundance and all shall proclaim praise to the Lord.  Christians grafted into the vine, adopted into the family of God, brothers and sisters with Christ Jesus will be among those that are described coming to the kingdom in Israel.  Some of you may have already seen a connection here, something new, people gathered, plenty and all praising the Lord are just a few of the correlations of what we are told in the book of Revelation, chapter 21.

I have included all of Chapter 60 of Isaiah for you today in a handout.  I invite, in hope and faith, that you will take the time to read this.  Read what more God has in mind for the Jews and for Christians, adopted into the family of God.

As Christians, then we have the opportunity and duty to walk faithfully in the light.  In campus ministry, each and everything we do is about stepping out, being a faithful people, looking beyond the horizon and be part of what God has planned.  Next week, the students and I will depart to Houston TX, to partake in a variety of urban ministries.  For some of them, including myself, we have not been on a mission trip before.  This is an opportunity to walk in the light of God.  The majority of the students planned on this trip, expecting to go, walking in faith, with no real idea on how they were going to afford the trip.  They planned to do ministry, in faith that if they build it, God will provide.  Some are fully funded; others are still looking for funding today.

My supervising pastor and I are building in faith and we have fronted the money for the trip, in faith that God will provide a way for them to pay for the trip.  We are confident that this is where our eyes have been directed, the vision that God wants us to see and partake in.

I know a retired pastor who always pushed our congregation to have a vision based in faith.  I never really understood it.  It never made sense to me. Each year the council wanted only to make a commitment of 5% towards benevolence,  back to the synod.  Each year he convinced the congregation to make the commitment to a vision of 10% plus.  The congregation lifted their eyes to the horizon to see the vision and walked in faith.  God provided each and every time, despite it not making sense to me.  It must have made sense to God.

Decisions to expand, invest, to spend money is always difficult.  First and foremost, everything we have, everything we are is from God for God and we are only the stewards here on earth.  As we look to the horizon, decrement is key to the vision.  The slave, who buried the talent in Matthew 25, did not lose the money but he had no faith that God would provide.  His decrement prevented a vision of walking in faith of what God would provide.  The other slaves took risk and increased their talents for the master.  They had vision and faith in what would be provided by God.

The vision cast by Isaiah, to be the light of the nations is what the wise men also followed.  They followed the light to the place of the birth of our Lord, Christ Jesus.  These wise men were overwhelmed with joy, brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Having been warned not to return to Herod, they left by another route.  Jesus and His parents escape and we will celebrate the baptism of our Lord next week.

It is after Jesus’ baptism his ministry starts and so does ours in our connection, adoption by Christ into the family of God.   It is there; we receive the light, step out in faith and carry out the mission of Christ, being the light to the nations.

One Comment

  1. Dominic Joseph Radanovich

    I am so glad that in your last paragraph you have mentioned the Baptism of Christ. To all Eastern Rite Christians, Orthodox and Catholic, those who follow the Gregorian calendar, this is the Feast of Theophany. It is the showing of Jesus to be the Christ the Son of the Living God. We all know the story of His Baptism in the Jordan River by His cousin John the Forerunner. The Voice came from the heavens declaring Him to be the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit appeared above Him.

    This also becomes to us the day of the revelation that the One God, Creator of all that is, is the Triune God, One God in Three Persons, co-equal, co-eternal, co-divine. We celebrate this the vigil and the day of Theophany. The Ukrainian and Russian Churches call it the Feast of Jordan.

    Since many of the eastern churches still use the Julian calendar, today, the 6th of January on the Gregorian calendar is the 24th of December on the Julian calendar. That makes today Christmas Eve, and of course tomorrow the 7th of January is Christmas Day. It gets a little confusing but such is life.
    Those same churches that use the Julian calendar for religious events use the Gregorian calendar for commerce.

    The Feast of Theophany or Jordan was celebrated by the early Christians before the date of Christmas was established. In other words it predates the Christmas Holyday.

    But can you imagine in this sub-zero weather taking a procession of vested priests, deacons, acolytes, and a whole congregation down to a frozen over river or lake, cutting a large hole in the ice and doing a complete blessing of the water service? And then taking that same frigid water that has been blest and sprinkling on the people. This has always been the custom in Russia, Ukraine, Finland, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland. Where ever one finds the Orthodox and eastern Catholic Churches this is the age old tradition.

    Here in Milwaukee we bring into the church a large tub, fill it with water and do the service in relative comfort. It loses something though. I think we should go down to the Milwaukee River or to Lake Michigan and enjoy the great outdoors!

    Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

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