"To Testify to the Light"

“To Testify to the Light”
John 1:6-8; 19-28
Advent 3, Year B

Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, come. Take my lips and speak with them. Take our minds and think with them. Take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you. In Christ’s name, we ask it. Amen.

Today’s Gospel lesson begins with an image of light. Jesus is the light of the world…coming among us in the most unexpected of ways through the womb of a teenager in the presence of a carpenter on the floor of a stable in an inconsequential corner of the Roman world. Light shining in the darkness in the most unexpected of places.

A year after college I had an experience where a light shining in the midst of deep darkness perhaps saved my life or certainly saved me from what would have been one of the longest and most frightening nights of my life. I was traveling in Costa Rica with a few friends some of whom where down there on an extended stay studying Spanish…or really buying as much time as possible before their parents made them find a real job! One afternoon, we decided to venture into the jungle to find a beautiful waterfall and pool that created a sort of swimming oasis…hidden several miles deep in the jungle foliage. One of my friends who had been in the country for a while had visited this waterfall once before with a local and felt confidant that he new the way…and more or less he did.

It took a little longer than we planned to arrive. We made a few wrong turns, but once we did it was as amazing as I had hoped. The waterfall was several stories high and the water rushed into a bright, clear, blue pool of cool water…the pool was surrounded by lovely flowering plants and plush green vegetation. The water was a welcome refreshment after our long walk. We could even climb up the waterfall about half way and jump into the pool from far above. Other than the water clambering into the pool in a cacophony of foam and bubbles there was no sound other than our own voices. It truly felt like we were totally alone in the world sheltered in a peaceful garden paradise.

Well we were enjoying ourselves to the point that we lost track of time and the afternoon quickly slipped away. It was getting to about an hour or a bit longer before sunset and we realized we had to begin our hike out of the jungle immediately if we wanted to do so before dark. But with dusk settling in, it seemed that the landscape began to change and we could not find familiar markers to help point the way out. We realized that we were perhaps lost and what had felt like a jungle paradise was feeling more and more like an ominous and unfamiliar wilderness filled with creatures who might be licking there lips at the thought of disoriented prey. I have heard the expression of walking in circles…and I never really believe in it…I mean just walk straight for goodness sake…but on this adventure I was pretty sure I passed the same tree on more than one occasion.

Darkness was coming…and when it gets dark in this part of the world…it gets real dark, real quick. Well we admitted we were lost, and honestly we were really afraid. So this is what we decided to do. We looked for the highest and clearest spot we could find so we would not be up against trees in which creepy crawlers or slithering reptiles might call home and we sat down…back to back…determined to stay up through the night and keep watch for any unwanted visitors…like a jaguar or wild pig or what every else my imagination could come up with…I was imagining scenes from “The Lord of the Flies”. And the darkness did come, in an instant, and we began to be aware of a complete silence, not even the wind was rustling past.

As our humor began to wane at what at first seemed a laughable situation…a bunch of frat guys lost in a jungle…sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, our unfortunate plight began to settle in. We were going to spend the night in the jungle without a tent, blanket or any means of protection. And then most unexpected of things happened. As our eyes began to adjust to the darkness…there it was. A light…perhaps it had been on even while the sun was up…but we could not see it till the darkness had fully enshrouded the world around us. About a quarter of a mile away just above the treetops in a valley below the clearing we were sitting in shown a single bright light. We couldn’t imagine what it was doing there, as any sort of civilization seemed a long way off, but sure enough there it was, so we decided for good or ill…not knowing what we might encounter along the way or what the source of the light even was…to walk…toward the light. We moved quickly and arrived at the source in what seemed an instance…and there we found a wooden cabin. The welcome light was a front porch light.

The cabin, and I use the term loosely, it looked to be a hastily thrown together box of two by fours and ply wood, had more light coming from around the one door that allowed entrance…so we hesitantly knocked. The door quickly opened and a single, small man came out. He seemed as surprised to see us as we to see him…can you imagine a bunch of white guys…lost in the Costa Rican jungle showing up on your doorstep. We explained our predicament, in our broken Spanish, and he let us in with a smile on his face, I am sure he was rightly thinking, silly Gringos. He walked to a radio receiver in the cabin, as there was no phone, and from the receiver he radioed into the local town from which we had begun our journey, to send someone out with a truck to pick up this rag tag and woefully underprepared group of adventurers.

It was time to celebrate and we did! A single point of light had saved us from a lonely and frightening night in the jungle...or perhaps worse. A light shining in the darkness…the most welcome light I have ever seen.

In our Gospel lesson, we heard about John the Baptist. And what those few verses tell us is that John’s whole ministry, his whole purpose in life, as he understood it was to testify to the light. To point people to the light…to the single point of light that illuminates our lives with love and meaning…Jesus the Christ. John lived a jungle like existence in the Judean wilderness. He lived in a world, just like our own, full of soul darkening sin…born of our own moral fragility and external powers of darkness, like the ones so evident in this season that tell us that if we just have more things and the best things our holidays will truly be happy. And in the midst of this nighttime, jungle-like existence…he points people to the only source of light that has the power and potential to cast off the works of darkness in whatever forms they take…Jesus the Christ.

Likewise in Advent we are called to share in John’s ministry by being people who testify to the light…to Jesus the Christ. Just as in John’s day, there are people all around us living a nighttime, jungle-like existence…lost, lonely, sad, fearful, hungry, bored, restless, tired, deeply unsatisfied…and they likely don’t expect to find in the midst of their dark experiences…the light. But it’s there…just as it was in that stable in Bethlehem…just as it is in this place, St. Julian’s…just as it has been in our own jungle-like, nighttime moments in life. The light is there…most especially when we need it most and don’t expect it at all. So with your loving words and good-deeds, and even in the midst of your own jungle-like, nighttime moments, like John, please point others to the light…Jesus the Christ…and the best way to accomplish this holy task of testifying to the light…of pointing people to the light…is to be light yourself. Through your loving words and good-deeds, be light for everyone who crosses your path…whether friend, family or stranger…be light. Amen.