The Light Shines Within

A sermon by Rev. Rod Sprange on Mark 1:1-8

One evening a Chiropractor was working late in his office, when a moth flew in. The chiropractor looked up, smiled and said “Well hello, what can I do for you?” Surprisingly the moth replied, “I need help. I am feeling so depressed and stressed. I don’t think my wife loves me any more, she barely speaks to me, and everything I do seems to irritate her. My kids are at the stage where they no longer want anything to do with me, they see me as an embarrassment, and I worry about them. Then I go to work and my boss is on my back the whole time. I think he hates me. I get all my work done, but he is never satisfied and he criticizes me in front of the others. I am feeling so down, I just can’t take much more of this”.

After a moment the chiropractor said “I am so sorry, but it seems to me you really need to talk to a counsellor or psychologist. Look, I am a chiropractor, so why did you come into my office?”

The moth replied “Well, the light was on”.

You are probably wondering why I would tell a joke about a moth tonight, and not a good one at that. You see its not only moths that are drawn to the light, people are. People have been drawn to the light of Christ for over two thousand years. This season of Advent is about the darkness surrounding us and our progress towards the light of Christmas.

But, before we remember, once again, how we were there on that hilltop in Israel, tending our flocks of sheep and being terrified when the Angel of the Lord came and gave us such astonishingly good news. And, before we remember how we left the sheep and hurried down to the village and found, just as we had been told, that special little child wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in the feeding trough. Before we remember that remarkable night and with great joy, celebrate the birthday of our Saviour Christ, and while we wait in hope and anticipation of the coming again of our saviour and King, we have preparations to make.

I’m not talking about the preparations of buying gifts, planning family dinners, bringing in special food, and putting up decorations. I’m not talking about all the hustle and bustle of the frantic consumer driven holiday season. I’m talking about quiet, reflective personal preparation. About self examination and prayer. Its about looking for the light of Christ within you.

The church liturgy and lectionary provides us with a wonderful rhythm through the year. In Advent, the liturgy takes us through a journey from darkness into light, gently, quietly, reflectively. We need this time of preparation if we are to experience the true meaning and wonder of Christmas.

Today’s excerpt from the Gospel according to Mark is about preparation. Preparing the way of the Lord, clearing a path in our self-created wildernesses for a new exodus. An exodus from slavery to idols, like greed, avarice, lust, hatred, violence.

Mark’s Gospel is believed by many to be the earliest of the canonical Gospels. Mark has an urgent story to share. He is passing on earth shatteringly Good News that must be shared immediately with anyone who will listen. Mark’s narrative leaves us breathless. The message is so urgent that Mark doesn’t take time to provide the backstory to Jesus or John the Baptist, he gets right to the urgent need to act. According to Mark, John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. It’s fascinating that in Mark’s account, John just suddenly showed up in the wilderness. Mark tells us nothing about who he was or where he came from. Perhaps the story of John was already widely known and Mark felt it unnecessary to provide that part of the story. Or maybe he just didn’t think that information was important and he really wanted to get to the meat of the story. As we read Mark’s account we learn that John the Baptizer was convinced that It was urgent that people turn around from their sinful ways; that they received forgiveness while there was still time. They needed to be ready for the one who was to come. This meant they needed to be sincere in their repentance and begin to follow a new pathway in right relationship with God. This message of the urgent need to change, together with God’s forgiveness for what was past and the prophecy of the coming Messiah really attracted the people, it was a call towards the light and hope. The people came in great numbers to be baptized and made ready by John.

John the Baptizer told the people that he was just a messenger sent to prepare the way for one far greater than he. He was clearly speaking of the long awaited Messiah, the saviour of the people of Israel. As St. John wrote in his version of the Gospel, “The true light which enlightens everyone was coming into the world.” John 1:9

In the next part of Mark’s story he tells how Jesus himself came to be baptized by John and how God revealed his true identity.

I have pondered the phrase that begins Mark’s Gospel, “The beginning of the Good news of Jesus Christ”. Yes it’s true, this is the beginning of the book he calls Gospel or Good News, but that seems to be too obvious and unnecessary to be included in this compact, fast-moving story. The answer, I believe is that the whole of Mark’s Gospel is only the beginning of the Good news. This opening sentence acts as the title of the whole book. The first sentence is clarified by the original ending of Mark, with the women at the tomb. Here is the original ending of Mark’s Gospel:

“But he [the young man dressed all in white] said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’ So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” Mark 16:6-8

Clearly, the women did go and tell the disciples what they had seen and had been told. The Good News had just begun to be shared. With the resurrection of Jesus the Disciples receive the commission to carry on Jesus’s mission and to take the Good News into the whole world. In Mark, the beginning of the Good news ends with the resurrection. The sharing of the Good News continues through the disciples as we read in Acts of the Apostles and the letters of Paul.

The continued proclamation of the Gospel, the Good News, has been passed down to us.

 In our Baptismal covenant we promise, with God’s help, to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ. Advent may be a good time to think about this particular promise. During Advent, as in Lent, we are offered a special time to pause and reflect on our lives, and to do our best to sincerely repent our sins, those things we have done and those which we have left undone. Repentance of our sins, as John the baptizer taught, is more than just being sorry for them, and asking for forgiveness, its about acknowledging them and then putting those behaviours behind us so that we might walk in right relationship with God through Christ. For this we ask God’s help.

As we enter the third week of Advent may we be drawn to the light and renewed in our desire and commitment to share the remarkable, astonishingly Good News of God in Christ,

Amen