Are you waiting for something that seems to be too long coming? Maybe it’s a job promotion or a raise. Maybe it’s just employment of any kind! Perhaps you’ve been praying for someone’s salvation, and you don’t see any sign of God’s working in that person. It’s difficult to wait. People in Jesus’ day were waiting for a Messiah. It seemed to many that His coming was long overdue, but Paul writes in Galatians 4:4-5, “When the time had finally come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive full rights of sons.” Our waiting is over! The Light has come into the world!
Simeon was one who knew that “the time had finally come,” and “moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts” (Luke 2:27). There he saw the Child Whose parents brought him there to fulfill what the Law required of them. Simeon knew Jesus was the light. He proclaimed, “For my eyes have seen Your salvation…a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to Your people Israel” (Luke 2:30, 32)
Unfortunately, not all who were waiting for the Messiah recognized Him when He came. In John 1:4-5 we read, “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” Still today the darkness misunderstands the Light. Yet He continues to shine, and, as He shines, He dispels darkness. And He calls upon us to shine also. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, described a lamp that is put on the stand so that it lights up the whole house. Then He said, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
The only way to dispel darkness is to fill it with light. As disciples of Jesus Christ, it is our joyous task to be reflections of Christ’s light. So we are “prepared in season and out of season: [we] correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2). We are always prepared “to give an answer to everyone who asks [us] to give the reason for the hope that [we] have.” And we do so “with gentleness and respect keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against [our] good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander” (1Peter 3:15-16). In this way we proclaim that the waiting is over! Jesus, the Light, has come into the world!
That’s what Epiphany means and is all about – letting our light shine, sharing the good news of Jesus with Gentiles (those, not yet, part of the people of God), revealing God’s truths to a sin-darkened world lost without Him. May each of us “shine for Jesus” that St. John’s may truly be the Church Shining on the Hill!
Yours in Christ - Pastor Haupt
