The reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (4:12-17)

Long ago, many hundreds of years before the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, the prophet Isaiah gave the people these words: “the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”

We might say to ourselves, “why were the people in darkness? What can this saying mean?” In fact the meaning of it is clear from the previous verse: “The land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, toward the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles..” The Holy Spirit, speaking through the prophet regarded the gentiles as people who sat in darkness. It means that they were people who spiritually speaking had no light. In our own day we have a tsunami of pluralism within the culture. We are afraid to offend anyone and we are afraid to take a strong stance that might make us look different than others. But in fact that is part of what it is to be of the Church, of those who are called out and set apart by God. We aren’t meant to blend in at all times. We must say that not all religions or beliefs are considered true. This is the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. And not all practices are good or moral. To say otherwise is to trivialize our faith and to diminish and make void the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross. Not that it can ever be made void, but that we somehow void it’s power in our lives by rejecting it.

What set the Jews of the day apart from the gentiles was that the Jews possessed the books of Moses, they had the law of God and the teachings of the prophets. They had received spiritual light and were not in complete darkness. They had received some illumination from God. Yet for all that they had, they still did not have the fullness of the light, the fullness of the truth because they had not yet seen the Anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ. Yet all of that changed when Our Lord heard that His cousin John had been arrested and He withdrew into this gentile region. The prophet tells us that something changed that day that Christ entered this region. Like a powerful light in a pitch black room, His presence completely disbursed the overwhelming darkness.

Christ changed this place and made it a place of light. And there is another place which was full of darkness and which Christ overcame by His presence…our hearts. On the day in which we were baptized and received into the Church, Christ took possession of our hearts. He made us the abode of the Holy Spirit. He allowed us to be vessels of light, vessels of His light. He took lives that were full of darkness and He brought them into His glorious light.

In the reading we hear not only these words “the people who sat in darkness” but also “those who sat in the region and shadow of death…” In fact, we understand that the whole world, the whole of creation, all of mankind was under the bondage and slavery of this shadow of death. It lingered and hovered over everything. Because darkness and death go together just as light and life go together. They point to one another. Darkness and death go together with a life of sin. Light and life are always together in lives of godliness and sanctity. Our Lord Jesus Christ says “I am the true light. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness.”

So it is the presence of Jesus Christ and our faithful pursuit of His commandments that becomes a light for our lives. Indeed, when we fully embrace this way, our lives radiate this light and grace to others. This is the witness of the saints and holy ones who have been well pleasing to the Lord throughout every generation.

Yet we are reminded that before someone can make friends of the light, he must first do something else. He must cast off the darkness. He must repent. We’ve mentioned before that in the gospels the very first word of preaching from John the baptist is this word “repent.” We’ve mentioned also that this same word is the very first word preached by Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the foundation and basis of a proper spiritual life. All of the men and women who were received into the Church last week first came and repented formally with confession. Each and every one of us is encouraged to do likewise. When do we repent? Once in our lifetime? No! Rather we repent every single day of our lives. Read the lives of the saints and you will see that their repentance is an ongoing, living, dynamic repentance. St. Symeon the new theologian writes, “Through repentance the filth of our foul actions is washed away. After this, we participate in the Holy Spirit, not automatically, but according to the faith, humility and inner disposition of the repentance in which our soul is engaged. For this reason it is good to repent each day as the act of repentance is unending.”

The saints show us that the more one grows in holiness, the more he or she will realize their own fallenness and the more one will strive in their spiritual struggles. Why? Because the grace of God is like a light that shows our own faults and imperfections. St. Isaac the Syrian writes, “think of the heavy sins of those who fell and repented; and of the praise and honour they received afterwards, so that thou mayest acquire courage during repentance.” He is telling us that courage is required. It is not easy work. But nothing worthwhile is easy.

As the light increases, we see more of the dirt and grime around our souls. This is not a bug, but a feature of life in Christ. The more we turn to Christ, the more He brings our darkness into the light and burns it away by His presence. Another interesting thing happens as we strive to repent and know Christ. We begin to minimize and ignore the sins of others because we are so focused on our own. St. Ignatius Brianchaninov writes, “It is worth noticing that, after acquiring spiritual understanding, the defects and faults of one’s neighbor begin to seem very slight and insignificant, as redeemed by the Savior and easily cured by repentance—those very faults and defects which seemed to the carnal understanding so big and serious….The carnal mind sees in others sins that are not there at all.”

This is the path laid out for us as children of God, as Christians. Daily repentance, daily prayer, daily obedience to the teachings of Christ, daily love for God and for one another. In this way we continue to push back the darkness of sin and we overcome death through the One who opened for us the gates of His kingdom. Let us joyfully walk through those gates together with God’s help. AMEN.

Source: Sermons