“THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS”
John 1:5
PART II – THE LIGHT OF JUSTICE
December 7, 2013
Westmount Park United Church
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… In that Word was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” [John 1:1,4-5]
We are now at the second week of Advent with the days growing shorter and the nights longer as we move closer and closer to the very depths of winter’s darkness when we will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the light of the world, who shines as an unquenchable light which no amount of darkness can ever extinguish.
Our Old Testament readings throughout Advent are taken from Isaiah and it is the hopes expressed by that prophet for God to bring light to the darkness of this world which I am using as a framework for sermons in these four weeks of Advent. Last week we heard the passage from Isaiah in which he envisions a world where all nations beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, and live in peace. [Isaiah 2:4] That’s why, when we lit our Advent candle last week we called it the candle of peace, and we prayed for the light of Christ to bring peace to our world which, two thousand years after the birth of the Prince of Peace, still finds itself plunged into darkness by the destructive power of aggression and violence and war.
We have called today’s Advent candle the candle of justice, and as we lit it we prayed for Jesus to bring light to a dark world of poverty and oppression of the weak. Isaiah had hope for a world in which the poor and the meek would be treated fairly. Because the people of Judah had a special covenant relationship with God it was supposed to be a land in which the poor and meek, the weak and oppressed, were protected by the Monarch who sat on the throne of David. But the successors to David’s throne had for generations forsaken their covenant with God. The kings of Israel and Judah abused their power and pursued personal advantage, rather than acknowledging God’s power and ruling like good shepherds who care for all the sheep. The kings of Israel and Judah, like rulers in any place or time, found it more expedient to cater to the rich and powerful than to defend the weak and powerless. The house of David was like a tree that had been cut down leaving only a lifeless stump. So to restore that royal house to what it once was, or more accurately to what it was meant to be, would take a miracle such as Isaiah describes in today’s reading with a living shoot coming up out of the stump of Jesse. Jesse was David’s father so the stump of Jesse is the royal house of David which has been so degraded and corrupted that it is now no longer a vibrant living tree but a lifeless rotten stump.
In Isaiah’s vision of hope for the future there is a miracle of regeneration in which a worthy and true successor to David keeps Israel’s covenant with God. This ruler of Judah, who springs from the dead stump of the house of David, will have the spirit of God resting upon him, so that he rules with wisdom and understanding and above all with respect for God and for God’s ways, which means in particular that there will be justice for the poor and meek. “With righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.” {Isaiah 11:4] This just and fair king would, for instance, never balance his budget by reducing the living standard of those who are already at the bottom. When the righteous ruler governs with the spirit of God resting upon him the poor and the meek are not cared for as an act of charity but because it is just and fair that they be granted their share. It is not merely unfortunate that some people are desperately poor while others are fabulously rich, or that some nations are crippled with debt while others wield huge economic power, it is unjust, it is an affront to the spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, with which a true monarch of Israel would rule.
In Isaiah’s vision of the way it will be when a new and righteous branch springs up miraculously from the dead stump of the royal house of David, the rule of justice is so complete that all aggression ceases in the whole of creation. Even fierce animals which would normally live by hunting their weak and powerless prey live in peace and harmony. “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion,.. the cow and the bear.” [Isaiah 1:6&7] Even humanity’s sworn enemy, the poisonous snake, is no longer a threat. “The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.” [Isaiah 1:8] In this vision all motivation to hurt or destroy is removed from the earth, from human beings and animals alike, because those who rule the earth do so with righteousness, with wisdom, with justice, and the supreme test of the righteousness of a ruler is whether or not the poor and the meek are treated with equity.
For the second week in Advent we always read about the proclamation of Jesus’ coming by John the Baptist. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near… Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” [Matthew 3:2] God’s rule of justice for all has come near because the word of God has taken flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus Christ, the light of the world, illumines our darkness by leading us in the way of God’s justice, a justice that is fair and equitable because it cares for the poor and oppressed. Jesus of Nazareth, the one on whom God’s spirit rested in just the way that Isaiah had hoped, taught his disciples that they should commit themselves fully to being a part of God’s rule which he called “the kingdom of heaven.” Isaiah’s vision of how the earth finally realizes complete justice works from the top down. There is justice in the land because the king rules with wisdom and righteousness and equity. When the righteous branch did finally spring up from the long dead stump of the house of David the Messiah did not take upon himself alone the task of bringing in God’s kingdom. Instead he invited all his followers to assume that task, that ministry of acting as agents of God’s true justice in the world. When the longed for Messiah did come he engaged all his disciples in the work of bringing in God’s rule of justice for all, not because they had special leadership talents, certainly not because they were strategically placed powerful leaders, but because the spirit of the Lord would rest upon them also.
Isaiah’s dream of a king who rules with such wisdom and fairness to all that there is absolute peace in the whole of creation may seem hopelessly naive and out of touch with the hard reality of this harsh and uncaring world, which would rather blame victims for their own misfortune than defend the weak and confront the oppressor. But it is a vision to believe in, to work for, and to pray for, because it is no more fantastic a miracle than that which happened two thousand years ago in Bethlehem, when the word of God became flesh in the birth of Jesus Christ, the light of the world, who has come to rule with the sort of justice and righteousness which brings peace to the whole earth.