Let your Light shine
This Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday. In our gospel reading we read about Peter, James, and John standing atop a mountain where Jesus was transfigured before them, that is, His appearance was altered, changed, transformed before them. What really happened was the glory of the true God was peeking through the humility of the true man. Peter, James, and John were getting a sneak peek at who and what Jesus truly was and is.
The event must have had a significant impact on the three men. Because even though Luke tells us “the disciples told no one at that time what they had seen”[1]. After Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, they must have eventually told their friends and fellow disciples what they saw atop the mountain. One of their friends, Luke, describes what Peter, James, and John saw like this, he says, “the appearance of his face (that is Jesus’ face) changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.”[2] Another friend, Matthew, tells us what his friends saw. He writes, Jesus “face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as light.”[3] A third friend, Mark, describes what his buddies saw with these words, he says, Jesus’ “clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.”[4]
That had to be an awesome sight and it sounds like Matthew, Mark, and Luke were a little jealous of what Peter, James and John saw, I know I am. I would love to be able to see Jesus like that, to see His face shining like the sun and wearing clothes that were as bright as bleach or a flash of lightening. It sure would be nice to gaze upon a transfigured Jesus instead of all the pain and suffering, hate and hostility, tragedy and turmoil that surrounds us on a daily basis. I get why Peter wanted to stay on the mountain with the light of a transfigured Jesus shinning upon him, I would too, wouldn’t you?
I know one day I will, you will, and all who believe in Jesus as their savior will. In the book of Revelation, we are told one day we will be carried to a “mountain great and high”. And we will see not temporary tents, like Peter wanted to set up, but rather we will see the eternal city; a city that “does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb (that is Jesus) is its lamp.”[5] And the nations (that is you, me and all believers) will “walk around/bask” in that light.
One day we will stand before a transfigured Jesus and we will get to bask in the light of His glory. I just wish a little of that light could shine on us today. Don’t you? Maybe it is all the rain we have been lately, it’s entirely possible that my mood is being influenced by grey skies and dreary days. I haven’t seen the sun shining in the sky, I mean really shinning in, I don’t know when. It feels like it has been raining for a solid month, doesn’t it? I have to remind myself, the sun is still up there. It is still shinning as brightly as it ever has. Just because I am having a little trouble seeing the sun does not mean the sun has stopped shinning. I may not be as optimistic as little orphan Annie, I hope the sun comes out tomorrow, but even if it doesn’t, I know above the grey skies and storm clouds, the sun is still shinning. Likewise, even if there are spiritually dreary days, weeks, months even when you are struggling to see Jesus shining in your life, that does not mean He has stopped shinning.
Let’s take a closer look at our second reading for today. There the apostle Paul reminds us that even though Jesus may no longer be shinning from atop a mountain, even though we may not yet bask in the light of the Lamb in the eternal city, Paul reminds us Jesus, the light of the world, still shines in us and He shines from us.
In verse 6 Paul writes, “6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” There was a time when there was no light in us. Because of sin that we inherited from our parents, because we were conceived from a sinful man and a sinful woman, we were born into spiritual darkness. There was no glimmer of goodness, no flicker of faith, no spark of spirituality inside of us. I know there are people who believe there was, I know there are people who preach about man’s inherit goodness, but I am telling you those people are wrong. God compares the darkness of our natural spiritual condition to the formless, empty darkness that originally engulfed the universe.
By nature, our hearts were full of darkness and they would have stayed that way if it were not for the God who said, “let there be light.”[6] Just as the creation of light in the universe was an amazing miracle of the omnipotent (all-powerful) God, so also the omnipotent (all-powerful) God caused an equally amazing miracle to occur inside of you. It occurred by the same method or means as were used to bring light into the universe. Only inside of you, God did not command, “let there be faith!” Rather, He chose to call us by the gospel; He chose to invite us to believe with words like, “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[7] Or “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”[8] Or the ever popular, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”[9] God used words like these to make the light of Jesus shine in you.
The light of Jesus shines in us. However, that does not mean that we always see the light shining brightly. Sin sometimes prevents us from seeing Jesus shining in our lives.
I remember the last time my dad took my sisters and me camping. It was a bright sunny day, so bright my dad had his sunglasses on. As the afternoon waned, my dad began to get anxious that we were not lighting the camp fire in preparation for supper. But it was only three in the afternoon and no one was hungry. We had just finished lunch and we all wanted to go back to the beach. But my dad started to insist that we had better hurry up and lite the fire before it got too dark. We probably would have been eating supper at three in the afternoon if my sister didn’t point out to my dad that he still had his sunglasses on. After he took off his sunglasses, he had to admit things did not look as dark as he thought.
Sin is like a powerful pair of sunglasses. When pain and suffering, hate and hostility, tragedy and turmoil come into our lives, sin can cause us to become anxious about the future because sin makes it difficult for us to see Jesus shinning in our lives. Thankfully, God uses people like saint Paul to tell us to take our sunglasses off so that we can see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” God directs us to His word; earlier today in bible study, here now in worship, and throughout the week in your home as your read your bible, so that we can see the light of Jesus shining in the way that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, so that we can see the light of Jesus shining in the way that He protects us from harm and danger and abundantly provides for all our needs, so that we can see the light of Jesus shining in the way that He sacrificed His life for our salvation and is at this very moment preparing a place for us in heaven. God directs us to His Word so that we can see Jesus shining in our lives.
Just because you cannot always see the light does not mean that light is not still shinning. By the grace of God, the light of Jesus has shone and continues to shine in your life. And not only does the light of Jesus shine in you and it also shines from you.
It is a good thing that light shines from you, because there are a lot of people in this world who are still walking around in darkness. In verse 4 Paul tells us why that is. There he writes, “4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” The god of this age is a poetic way to describe the devil. The devil works hard to ensure that the unbeliever stays in the dark. Paul says the devil goes so far as to spiritually blind people so that they cannot see the light of Jesus shining. This explains why there wasn’t a traffic jam in the parking lot and a line to get into the doors of our church this morning. It explains why you just can’t seem to get through to your humanist classmates, agnostic coworkers, atheist neighbors and skeptical family members. They have been blinded by the devil.
It is discouraging to think the devil is blinding people of the world so that that they cannot see the light of Jesus shining from us. But remember, just because a blind man cannot look up into the sky and see the sun shining, even on the clearest of days, that does not mean that the sun is not shinning. Likewise, just because your classmates, coworkers, neighbors, and family members cannot see the light of Jesus shining from you does not mean the light of Jesus is not shinning.
So even if it feels like you are banging your head against a wall trying to get people to see the light, Paul would tell us, “1 do not lose heart”. Instead, Paul encourages us to do for the spiritually blind what was once done for us. Namely, let the light that shines in you shine from you. In verse 5 Paul writes, “we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” The only way the people of this world are going to see “the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ” is if you preach “Jesus Christ as Lord”. Do not preach a distorted message; do dismiss doctrines you do not understand, do not compromise teachings that conflict with your culture, do not accept falsehood under the pretense of ecumenicalism. A distorted message will not bring sight to the blind. Rather, preach Jesus Christ as Lord, lovingly, but plainly and truly. Have confidence in the same method or means that were used to bring light into the universe, have confidence in the same method or means that caused the light of Jesus to shine in you. Preach Jesus Christ as Lord, let your light shine, and try not to act too surprised if one or two of those blind people don’t eventually start to see. But even if they don’t, don’t be discouraged, regardless of what the people of this earth see, I see and more importantly your God sees the light of Jesus shining from you.
By the grace of God, the light of Jesus shines in us and It shines from us. Because that light shines in us, one day we will see what Peter, James, and John saw and God willing because that light shines from us so will many of our classmates, coworkers, neighbors, and family members. So, no matter how dark and dreary it may be out there or in here (your heart), always remember to let your light shine. Amen
[1] Luke 9:36
[2] Luke 9:29
[3] Matthew 17:2
[4] Mark 9:3
[5] Revelation 21:23
[6] Genesis 1:3
[7] Romans 6:23
[8] 2 Corinthians 5:21
[9] John 3:16