There is an old liturgical prayer that leads the people to pray to God, “Let Your light scatter the darkness and illumine your church.”
On a night
like this, in the cold and dark, a little light can be comforting. On our
drives home, I’m sure we will all notice houses decorated with lights; perhaps
a simple candle in each window, twinkling sparks of color strung along a
roofline, or maybe a light show set to music, like a house I pass every day on
Young Rd.
For us, as
Christians, we are mindful of light in the dark, and it reminds us of our Lord
Jesus. In John 1:5, we read that Jesus is the light of the world and “the light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” His very coming
is like light which scatters the darkness and illumines everyone who trusts in Him.
A cosmic
struggle is playing out in our world and our lives, a struggle between the
darkness of sin, death, and the devil set against the light of Christ. For us,
the darkness feels ever-present and over-powering, tugging and tempting us to
hide our sinful behaviors while we continue to indulge the desires of the
flesh. With that, there is a permeating presence, like a shadow hanging over
us: a shadow of death, sorrow, and grief. And sometimes, it feels like the
darkness is winning.
But in
truth, there is no competition in this struggle. Light drives away the dark.
Darkness cannot extinguish the light. And Jesus has overwhelmingly overcome
sin, death, and the devil for you.
But our sin
continues to darken our hearts, our minds, … and our lives. So, as we
experience that darkness that seems to creep upon us, Psalm 80 challenges us
with a difficult truth and leads us to pray.
The
difficult truth is that sin brings consequences into our lives. It damages us
and brings us under God’s discipline. Discipline is never fun, but it brings
healing and health to the sinner when it is done in love. That is how God
operates upon us.
Did any of
you ever get grounded? Did your parents ever get really angry with you? (O, me
neither then.) These things happen when sinful parents raise sinful children.
When we were on the receiving end of that anger or did something that violated
our parents' trust and love, we got in trouble, and we may have wondered, “How
long is this going to last? Will my punishment last forever?” And maybe your
friends mocked you the whole time. (Again, not that anything like that ever
happened to me.)
That’s
where the psalmist sees Israel in their relationship with God. They’ve sinned.
They’ve broken his commandments. They’re suffering under God’s discipline. “O
LORD God of hosts, how long will You be angry with Your people’s prayers? You
have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full
measure. You make us an object of contention for our neighbors, and our enemies
laugh among themselves.”
They needed
their savior to come. They needed to be rescued from their sin and enemies, but
when they prayed, they just felt like God was angry with them, like He didn’t
want to hear them.
Perhaps you
can relate? Sin often makes it hard to pray.
So, what do
we do? What do we do when it’s hard to pray and we feel the weight of God’s
discipline on our shoulders? We lean into the prayer even harder, because God
not only disciplines His children, He relents, He forgives, and He promises to
hear and answer our prayers. So that’s what the psalmist does. Listen, “Give
ear, O Shepherd of Israel, … shine forth … stir up Your might and come save
us!”
That is an
Advent prayer. It is a prayer that God scatter the darkness and come. He did
that once in humility in Jesus’ birth. Jesus, the light of the world, was born
to live in a world darkened by sins and under His Father’s discipline. He bore the
brunt of the anger, ate the bread of tears, and drank the cup of tears in full
measure. He was an object of contention on the cross, and His enemies laughed
at Him. But we know how that turned out. Having borne our sins to the cross, He
left the sins nailed there while He rose in glory and then ascended into
heaven.
We still
need the comfort of Jesus’ salvation so we pray, “Restore us, O God, let
your face shine, that we may be saved!” And the light of Jesus’ presence
shines in the Word and the Sacraments as He makes Himself specially present to
drive back the darkness of your sin by giving you His forgiveness. He also
places His light in your heart, and He calls you the light of the world – as
though you were a mirror reflecting Jesus’ light on the people in your life.
And as time
rolls on, we grow weary of the darkness of this world, and we long to dwell
with Jesus in eternal light. Again, we pray: Restore us, O God of hosts
– The God who is the general of an army of angels – let your face … shine … that
we may be saved. And the day will come when Jesus will rend the heavens and
come with an army of angels to restore us to the perfect people He intended us
to be when He created us.
The story
of Advent is the story of the light scattering the darkness to illumine you. We
see how God’s people have sat in darkness waiting for His salvation, and their
waiting ended when Jesus, the light from above, entered our darkness as a sweet
little baby.
The story
of Advent is the story of light scattering the darkness to illumine you, which
Jesus will do when He returns in glory to bring you to a home that needs no light
from lamp or sun because Jesus Himself is its light.
The story
of Advent is the story of light scattering the darkness to illumine the world
because the light of Christ – the presence of Christ – is in you. He shines His
light on and in and through you to draw others to Himself.
On the way
home, notice the lights: how they shine so beautifully in the darkness. That’s
you because God shines His face upon you in love. Amen.
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