Isaiah 60:1-6

Sunday January 6, 2008 Rev. Robert Lee Clark II Isaiah 60: 1-6

Isaiah 60:1-6 60:1 Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 60:2 For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. 60:3 Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. 60:4 Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses' arms. 60:5 Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. 60:6 A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the LORD. Today is the day we call Epiphany Sunday. It is the day that the church traditionally celebrates the arrival of the Magi, those wise men who followed a star, a celestial light to the home of our infant savior. God’s presence is often associated with light. John the Evangelist talking about Jesus’ coming into the world uses images of light. “In the beginning was the Word, and the

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Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (NRSV John 1:1-5)

The text we read this morning from the prophet Isaiah begins with a double imperative. “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.” “Arise, shine”. In context these words are directed toward the people of Israel. Israel has just come through a time of great darkness, a time of exile. Jerusalem lay in ruins and God’s people have spent seventy long years in exile. But the fortunes of Israel are about to change. There has been great darkness covering the land and a thick darkness enveloping the people, the darkness of despair, of hopelessness, of oppression, of defeat. There has been great darkness but now the light has come. The Glory of God has risen.

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“Arise; shine, for your light has come.” Notice that this verse does not say, “Get up, and seek the light”. It does not say, “Come, bask in the light”. It does not say, “Rise up and see the light.” It says ‘Arise and be the light’. Shine, for your light has come! God chose the people of Israel to be light in a dark world. God chose the people of Israel to shine with the truth of God’s loving presence. God chose the people of Israel and commissioned them to shine, to shine as a beacon of hope in a world of despair, to shine as a torch of justice in an unjust world, to shine as a flare for freedom in a world that was not free. Arise, shine. “Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”

God did not make Israel a large powerful nation and send them out to subdue and conquer the world. God chose the people of Israel filled them with the Divine Light and commanded them to shine, just shine. Shine and the world will be drawn to you. Shine and the nations will beat a path to your door. Arise, shine. “Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.” 3

Through Christ we have become heirs to the covenant God made with Israel. We who were not a people have become a people, chosen to be God’s light, blessed to be a blessing. Matthew 4:16, “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.” Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (NRSV Matthew 5:14-16)

Arise; shine, for your light has come. The wise men looked to the east and there they saw light, a star, shining more brightly than ever a star had shone. “

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”

(NRSV John 1:1-18) and they were drawn, irresistibly drawn, to it as a moth to a flame, as lemmings to the sea. They were drawn to the light of Christ. These men who were not Jews, who did not look for the messiah, these gentiles were captured by the light and drawn to it. They came to the light not 4

empty handed, not with a hand stretched out to receive, but with hands filled with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They came, they worshipped, and they left; left with empty hands; left behind their gold, their frankincense, and their myrrh. Merely to have been in the presence of the light, the true light, the light that is Christ, they considered sufficient return on the investment of both their time and their treasure.

‘Arise; shine for your light has come’ is in a sense God’s command. In another sense it is God’s invitation…God’s invitation to Israel...God’s invitation to us. It is an invitation to the light, the true light, to Christ. It is an invitation to come to the light but it is also and perhaps more importantly an invitation to become the light. God invites us to shine, to shine in the darkness, to shine like the moon. The moon is not the light. The moon generates no light. Yet the moon shines, shines with borrowed light, reflected light; shines brighter than any other object in the night sky. In the same way you and I do not, cannot, generate light from our own resources, yet we can shine. In a dark, dangerous world we can shine, shine not with our own light

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but with the light of Christ, with the light of the Holy Spirit, shine with reflected light, the reflected glory of God. We can and in fact do shine. When we pray for others, when we visit the sick, when we give to those in need, we shine. When we buy Christmas presents for children we will never see, when we provide food for the hungry, we shine. When we love one another, forgive one another, live with one another, we shine. When we bring our gold, our frankincense, our myrrh to lay before the Child King, when we worship for worships sake, we shine. Isaiah tells us to lift up our eyes and look around. The people of God are gathering, from the four corners of the earth the people of God are gathering. In China, in Korea, in Africa, the Children of God are Gathering in unprecedented numbers. From Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, Peru, Columbia, Mexico, the sons and Daughters of God are coming. God tells us to lift our eyes and look around, then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.

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A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the LORD.

Arise, shine for your light has come. God has covenanted to be our God and we to be God’s people. God has covenanted to be our light and we to shine. God has blessed us to be a blessing. Today we will, as a community, have an opportunity to renew our commitment to the covenant that God has given us. As individuals I urge you to give serious consideration to your personal commitment to the Covenant. God blesses. Are you willing to be a blessing? God provides the light. Are you willing to shine? God commands. Will you obey? Will you bring your gold, your frankincense, your myrrh? Will you lay it at the feet of Christ, expecting nothing in return? “Then,” in the words of the prophet, “you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice”

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