03.19.2023 - Light and Life - Sunday Evening Sermon

03.19.2023 – 6 pm

Milkshakes

Sometimes our eyes lead us astray. Without the light of God giving us a clear picture and direction of what is ahead of us, we rely on our desires and memory of the past to guide our steps, and we can get tripped up.

In the summer of 2001, I worked at Living Springs Church Camp in Illinois. I helped in the praise band, worked maintenance, and led some of the devotions for the week. It was very rewarding and exhausting work. The kids came on Sunday evenings, and we probably worked 12-15 hours a day until Friday afternoon when their parents came to pick them up.

Most of the counselors went home on Friday evenings, but several of us stayed on-site Friday nights and traveled to lead worship services in different churches on the weekends. So Friday evenings were a time of letting go of the week’s anxieties and celebrating the ministry that God had done through us.

One of our favorite ways of celebrating on Friday nights was raiding the kitchen. I remember one particular Friday, early in the evening, when my friend Justin and I got the idea of making milkshakes. We were very excited about it. We were not going to make them in cups or even the tall glasses you get at diners. No, we planned to get the big mixing bowl out and ladle milkshakes into bowls! Lack of sleep and low blood sugar can make you think goofy thoughts.

The cabins were about 200 yards from the kitchen, and they had a single fence with two posts that kept cars from driving around where the kids were. As soon as the last family left, Justin and I bolted for the kitchen, running as fast as we could. The sun had not entirely set, so I thought I could see well. I knew I needed to avoid that fence, so when I caught sight of one of the fenceposts, I swerved to the left. The next moment, I felt something hit my legs, heard a pow, the world spun around, and my vision went dark. The next thing I knew, I was fifty feet from the fence, still running but with a limp. Somehow I had swerved right into the fence and lost about 10 seconds of consciousness while my body kept running to the promise of milkshakes. The milkshakes were excellent, and I barely felt a thing. It was a miracle.

Until the next morning. It took me several days to recover from my collision with that fence I hit dead on because my eyes and memory failed me in the dwindling light.

In our scripture this evening, Jesus shares that although we walk in darkness, we are called to walk in the light until the light lives in us.

Darkness and Light

I shared some about the light and darkness this morning from Ephesians, and it is a significant theme in the Bible, especially in the writings of John. So tonight, I want to read to you part of a passage from John’s gospel.

John 11:1–11 NRSV

1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6 after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. 10 But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” 11 After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.”

This story becomes one of the most famous miracles that Jesus ever performed and would eventually be the final straw that led to his persecution and arrest by the leaders in Jerusalem. However, at this moment, before the miracle happened, Jesus taught the disciples about light and darkness again.

It was not unusual for Jesus to share messages in cryptic and almost coded language rather than teaching things outright. For example, in this passage, Jesus referred to death as sleep, which he had to clarify a few verses later because the disciples were confused. Sometimes it is almost comical reading about how often people had trouble understanding Jesus.

But this week, Jesus caught my attention with the comment He made to the disciples leading up to this incredible miracle. In verse eight, the disciples warned Jesus about those trying to kill Him in Jerusalem and ask if Jesus intends to go back to the same area. Jesus responds,

“Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk in the day do not stumble because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble because the light is not in them.”

The Time of the Light

There are a couple of things to unpack here.

First, Jesus refers to the light of this world with a time limit. In the Gospel of Matthew, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says we are the light of the world. But in John’s gospel, where our passage today comes from, John says Jesus is the light from the beginning. That’s not a contradiction. It clarifies that Jesus is the original light, and all our light comes from Him. So Jesus gave them a subtle warning that He would not be with them forever on earth. There was a limited amount of time that He would walk with them and guide them, just as there are usually about twelve hours of daylight each day.

Perhaps it was as if the sun S-U-N dropped out of the sky and walked among us. If our eyes were working well, we would be blinded and overwhelmed. For example, there was that moment when Peter caught so many fish that he could not haul them into his boat. He dropped to his knees and told Jesus to go away because Peter knew he was a sinner and he could not stand in the presence of the holiness of Jesus. But that moment was short-lived. Time after time, the disciples defaulted back to a business-as-usual mentality.

So, Jesus alludes to the idea that He is the light and adds that He will not be with them forever. While He is with them, they will not stumble, but the night is coming when He will be gone. How will they walk then?

Walking with the Light in us

We might think about the song from Annie, reminding ourselves that the Sun will return tomorrow. A new day will dawn, and the light will return. And that is a common motif in many different religions. There is good and evil, light and dark, and they take turns conquering the world. Not with our God, though. Jesus does not tell us that we need to stand around waiting until He returns to be able to walk confidently again. Instead, Jesus says,

“...those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.”

Jesus says the problem is not that the light is not around us but that the light is not IN us. So rather than be tossed and turned like pieces of driftwood on the tide by waves of light and darkness, Jesus, who IS the light, invites us to become light IN Him.

Perhaps Jesus saw the disciples as candles, waiting for the flame to light them on fire and allow them to carry the light. I don’t think it was a question of worthiness or even innate ability. I think where they saw impossibility, ending, and death, Jesus saw things differently. They were not too broken, sinful, or feeble to be Godly men and women. But, they were missing the flame that would allow them to fulfill their true purpose.

As if to give the most extreme example of this, Jesus chooses to start with his disciple and friend, who was the furthest from living a fulfilled life. John tells us:

“After saying this, [Jesus] told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.”

To us, Lazarus was dead. He was less helpful than a lifeless stone and made anyone unclean near Him because of the lingering death around His corpse. He was beyond hope of anything in this world. But Jesus saw Lazarus differently. He was just asleep and needed someone to come and wake him up. He needed the light put in Him again to walk in Christ.

If Christ can do that for Lazarus, stone dead for four days in the tomb, what can He do for you and me, who come to Him willingly? Just as Jesus claimed, He is indeed the Resurrection and the Life. Without Him, we walk in darkness, but WITH Him, we have the light, His light, alive in us. And that light makes us come alive.

Lazarus heard Jesus call His name, came out of the tomb and was born again. That must have changed his perception of everything and everyone. But, for the disciple that died and lived again, would he view anyone as too far gone? Would he fear the dark ever again after being swallowed by it and being brought back whole? I wonder if some of the first flames of Pentecost were kindled inside Lazarus that day.

Will you carry the light of Christ in you today? Will you hide it away and walk, trusting your own eyes? Or will you blow it out entirely and make your way through life based on your memory of what you think you should do?

Our eyes will fail us, and our memories may fade. But the Holy Spirit stands ready to rekindle that fire in you if you are willing to receive it and allow that light of Christ to guide your steps until His final return in glory. Then, and only then, will we be able to be the light that Jesus calls us to be.