2024 July 21 - Sermon - Christian Education Sunday
Old Testament reading: Exodus 14:19-25
19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”
New Testament reading: John 8:12-20
12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
13 The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”
14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. 18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”
19 Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”
“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.
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Good morning everyone and welcome to our Christian Education Sunday service. Our theme is, “Jesus is the light of the world.” Let us pray. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be acceptable to you, O Christ, our Strength and our Redeemer, amen.
Thesis Statement: Today’s scripture readings teach us that Jesus is the light of salvation that humanity must choose to follow.
Old Testament analysis: Everyone who went to Sunday School learned how Moses parted the Red Sea, it is one of the most stunning miracles in the Bible and has been depicted in many movie productions. The story of Exodus states that, despite knowing that God loved them, the Israelites were still afraid of the Egyptians and did not believe God would save them. But God came down between the Egyptian army and the defenseless Israelites in pillars of fire and cloud. The pillar was a source of darkness to the Egyptians but a source of light to Israel. This is a vivid picture of how the glory of God or work of God can be light to one person yet seem dark to another. An Old Testament scholar, Professor Walter Kaiser Jr. said, “Thus the double nature of the glory of God in salvation and judgment, which later appears so frequently in Scripture, could not have been more graphically depicted.” Of course, the Word of God has a dark side to sinners; as do also the Gospel and even Jesus Himself, because sinners live in fear of the judgment to come.
In the same way that the Israelites were very stubborn and self-sufficient people, the modern world is also quite stubborn and self-sufficient. Modern society has developed marvelous machines and medicines and terrible weapons that they believe in. However, no amount of scientific or technological advancement will ever address the problem of sin. In the future, we may harness the fusion energy of the Sun and thereby gain an unlimited power source that will let us do whatever we want, but even that great cosmic fire cannot compare to Jesus, Light of the world. He is the only hope given to us for the salvation of our souls.
New Testament analysis: The Gospel reading takes place during the Feast of Tabernacles. In this event, light was an important symbol; during the feast, many emblems and ceremonies remembered the pillar of fire that gave light to Israel during the Exodus. An English theologian, Henry Alford, described one of the ceremonies known as “The Illumination of the Temple”: “It was the custom during the first night, if not during every night, of the Feast of Tabernacles, to light up two large golden chandeliers in the court of the women, the light of which illuminated all Jerusalem. All that night they held a festal dance by the light.” Now, Jesus took this important symbol and simply applied it to Himself: “I am the light of the world.” What a statement!
Jesus, being the light of the world, brings light to those who follow Him. When we follow Him, we stay in the light of salvation and do not walk in the darkness of sin. Naturally, the Pharisees were offended by this concept and challenged him. In response, Jesus stated that He was His own witness, testifying that He was Messiah and God. Now, if the Pharisees couldn’t kill Jesus the witness, they hoped to intimidate Him. If they couldn’t intimidate Him, they hoped to show that He was an unreliable, untrustworthy witness. Though the religious leaders protested, Jesus was absolutely settled and secure in His identity, despite all the voices that told Him otherwise. After all, the second witness was God the Father, who also testified that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God and God the Son.
Despite all the evidence presented to them, the teachers of the Law of Moses remained in the darkness of sin. They looked at Jesus and saw nothing but a blasphemer who threatened their way of life. So they plotted against him and got what they wanted; the so-called blasphemer was arrested and all of his friends abandoned him. Then Jesus was crucified, died and was buried. But unlike everyone else who suffered this fate, it was not the end of his story. The resurrection of Christ proves that he is still, to this day, the light of the world, and that everything he said about himself is true. The resurrection demonstrates the reconciliation of God with humankind, the Good News that nothing and no-one else is capable of accomplishing.
In contrast, during the Old Testament days, in the time of Moses, the nation of Israel believed that God’s love was selective love and that he did not love sinners. Deuteronomy 7:9 - “9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.” This was written in the Law of Moses, also known as the Torah, around 1,400 years before Christ was born. It says that God only loves those who keep his laws, but that was a limited human interpretation of God’s nature. According to the New Testament, we as Christians believe that God fully revealed himself in Christ. Jesus reached out to sinners, lifted them up and loved them unconditionally, telling them to “Go, and sin no more.”
So what are we to do with his divine light? Go out into the world. The purpose of the light of salvation is to remove the darkness of sin so that we can go about doing God’s work in this world. Without the Risen Christ guiding us and showing us the way, we would be the blind leading the blind. Thankfully, we know that our future is living in the Kingdom of God, and that none of our work in this world will be in vain.
So let us remember our role in all of this: Jesus said that we are the salt of the Earth, we are the ones who give life its savour and flavour. We follow the light of Jesus because we are not capable of saving ourselves. We are also light-givers because the Holy Spirit is actively transforming us from within while we serve others. The beautiful thing about light is that even the smallest candle can light up an entire room, so do not be ashamed or afraid if your light is dim. Helping other people a little is better than not helping at all, and we are comforted because we know that our small, flickering light will join the great heavenly host one day, in the Kingdom where there will be no more shadows. Amen.
Let us pray. Lord, show us the way forward. You are the Sun in our sky because without you life is not possible. Let your light shine out of us and banish the sins of the Earth in preparation for the establishment of your Kingdom in Heaven. Amen.