Light

 

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

September 27, 2020

21 Proper A 

        On my morning walks and in my car, I listen to a lot of country music.  The song that has caught my attention lately is titled “Be a Light” sung by Keith Urban and Reba McIntyre.  The song was written this year and is clearly meant to address the current situation in which we find ourselves.

The refrain is this:

          In a world full of hate, be a light

When you do somebody wrong, make it right

Don't hide in the dark, you were born to shine

In a world full of hate, be a light.

There are a number of verses to the song which spell out what is meant by “Be a light” such as “in a time of war, be peace” and “in a time of doubt just believe.” The words of the last verse are

“Yeah, it's hard to live in color,

when you just see black and white

In a world full of hate, be a light.”

The message of the song is clear and is a gospel message whether the author of the song intended that or not.  In a world full of hate, be the light.

          I don’t find a lot of light in our gospel lesson this morning, though.  First, the religious authorities are challenging Jesus’ authority, to which Jesus replies with a question.  “Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?”  This is a trick question because if the authorities say from heaven, then they should have believed John, which they did not.  If they say of human origin, they will have the crowds mad at them and could have a revolt on their hands.  Either way they answer, they lose.  Not much light there.

          Then we have what is, in my humble opinion as the mother of two sons, Jesus’ best parable.  Which son does the will of the father?  The one who says “yes” but does “no” or the one who says “no” but does yes?  And does it matter since the work in the vineyard got done? 

          Which son did the will of the father?  The chief priests and elders say that the one who actually went and worked in the vineyard did the will of the father. And on one level, that is true.  What the father wanted was for the work to get done and the work was done.  But Jesus’s response to their answer is “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are going into the Kingdom of Heaven ahead of you.”  That does not sound like “right answer!” to me.  The chief priests and elders will still get into the Kingdom of Heaven, but they will be at the back of the line.  There’s not much light in this parable either.

          There is not much light in this parable because neither son did the will of the father.  The will of the father is not a choice between right words or right actions.  The letter to the Philippians describes the relationship with each other and with God that we are called to have, and it does not look anything like the relationship either son had with the father in the parable.  The apostle Paul writes “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.  Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.  Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”  Does that sound like either of the sons in the parable?  I think not.  The one who does the will of God is the one whose actions and words match, and whose actions and words look to the interests of others and match the words and actions of Christ.  That is the person who does the will of God and that is where light is to be found.

God wants our words and our actions to match.  Last week at the 9am service, we baptized little Charlotte Rankin.  At every baptism, we are asked to renew our baptismal covenant and we are asked five questions about how we will live out our faith.  We are asked if we will continue in the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers.  We are asked if we will proclaim the good news by word and example, if we will resist evil, if will seek and serve Christ in all people, and if we will respect the dignity of every human being and work for justice and peace.  Our responses to those questions are always an enthusiastic “I will with God’s help.”  I’ve never heard anyone say “I’m good with the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, but let me think about respecting the dignity of every human being.”  For our words and actions to match, we are called to build our busy lives, including the use of our time, our skills, and our financial resources, around those promises.  We are called to make our political decisions, our philanthropic and charitable decisions, and our decisions about how we respond to hate and intolerance match the words we profess with our lips.  In a world full of hate, we are called to be a light.

While country music may make being a light sound easy or at least simple, we know that light sometimes shines on things we would rather not see.  Light can blind us as we move from darkness to light and our eyes, and our souls, take time to adjust.  Light is not always popular as the light illuminates the darkness of fear, hatred, and prejudice that we may claim do not exist.  But country music is not the only call to be the light.  Earlier in Matthews gospel, Jesus said to his followers “‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” 

 

We are the light when we live with our lives the promises we make in baptism.  Don’t hide in the dark.  You were born to shine. In a world full of hate, be the light.

                                                                             Amen.