Epiphany 3
Isaiah 9:1-4
If I were teaching a class called “Scary Story Writing – 101,” the very first thing my students would learn is how to write the beginning sentence of a scary story. I would have them use the classic line: “it was a dark and stormy night.” You see, darkness sets the tone for a creepy account. Maybe horror movies aren’t really your thing, but we all know enough about that kind of movie to be able to see the connection between darkness and fear. The scariest parts of horror movies almost always take place at night. The most chilling time in one of those movies is when the character is walking though a darkened house, not knowing who is around the next corner, not able to see the danger hidden in the darkness.
We learn from an early age to be fearful of darkness. That’s why nightlights are so popular in little children’s bedrooms: because that little 4-watt bulb is able to chase away just some of the darkness and bring a huge measure of comfort to a little one afraid of the dark. And even as we grow up, there is still an inborn fear of the dark. If you hear a strange noise in your house while it is the middle of the afternoon, you might think, “that’s a little odd,” and not even give it a second thought. But if you hear a strange sound in your totally darkened house at 3:00 in the morning, there is going to be considerably more fear. Darkness is uncomfortable. Darkness is confusing. Darkness is terrifying.
Part I
Our text begins with a land that was living in a scary darkness. “In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali…” and then a little later Isaiah describes these lands as “walking in darkness.” That leads us to two questions: 1. What were the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali? and 2. How were they in darkness? Zebulun and Naphtali were two of the 12 sons of Jacob, a.k.a. “Israel.” Zebulun and Naphtali were brothers of more well-known sons like Judah, Rueben, or Benjamin. When the Israelites conquered the Land of Canaan, each of these 12 tribes received part of the former Land of Canaan. The tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali got their land way to the North. And that’s why they were in darkness, not because they didn’t get as much sunlight as the southern tribes, but because danger often came from the North. When the Israelites would sin, God would let foreign armies attack Israel, and the weakest point in Israel’s defenses was to the North, in these lands of Zebulun and Naphtali. If someone like the Assyrians would try to get to Jerusalem, they would have to go through Zebulun and Naphtali first. These two tribes were the first to be attacked, they would be the last to be rid of an invader, and they would suffer longer than any other tribe. Even the personality of these two tribes contributed to their reputation of being pushovers. Zebulun and Naphtali never had powerful armies; pretty much anyone who wanted to conquer them could.
It was a dark and stormy night living in Zebulun and Naphtali. In fact, often it was scary living under a gloomy cloud of uncertainty. The people in these lands must have constantly worried, “Am I going to actually harvest these fields I have planted, or will an army come and strip away my crops and leave me to starve to death? Will my family be safe, or will some invader come someday and murder us or carry us off into slavery?” I don’t think we in the US can even imagine that stress and apprehension of living in a land that could be invaded at any time. What if your house could be destroyed at any time? What if your work and employment and savings could just be gone one day? What if your family could be taken hostage at any time?
The underlying reason why these lands were so dark and scary had little to do with geography and much to do with their spiritual condition. It was a dark and stormy night, not just in the political scene, but mostly it was a dark and stormy night in their hearts. Gold had left no place for God. Pleasurable living had crowded out the Lord. The political darkness was only a symptom of the spiritual darkness that had gobbled up and light in their hearts. Our text begins with the idea that God had humbled these lands, literally, God “made them nothing.” God took everything away from Zebulun and Naphtali, their honor, their dignity, their treasures, their freedom, their lives.
But after this dark and stormy night, God was going to once again give them light. Isaiah wrote about these humbled lands, “in the future, [God] will honor Galilee of the Gentiles…The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.” What these people had done was to exchange the light of God for the darkness of the world, and so God had taken everything away from these lands: all the honor, all the joy and pleasure, and left it in total humiliation and darkness. But the Lord took all this away because he had in mind to replace it: replace it with the brightest light the world had ever seen: the Savior, Jesus Christ. We read in the Gospel for today that this region with its dark and stormy past was honored: honored to be the home of Jesus Christ for a great part of his ministry. The people who lived in war-torn Zebulun and Naphtali were going to be the first to receive the everlasting peace and rest.
If it had been a dark and stormy night for these lands, then also our personal histories could each start off with the words, “it was a dark and stormy night.” When I see stories in the Bible of people worshiping idols, it is quite easy to put myself into that small minority that remained faithful to the Lord. But the Bible would have me and you view ourselves as the ones who have broken the covenant, and who have been assigned to the darkness of a life without God. Because that is reality. Like the rich young man who asked Jesus what he needed to do to be saved, God exposes that you haven’t followed his commands. God exposes your idols. God exposes your wicked deeds. What if what happened to the people of Zebulun and Naphtali happened to you? If all your wealth and honor and family were gone just like that, would you be able to say like Job, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away: may the name of the Lord be praised.”? Or, when things don’t go your way, do you grumble and whine about how hard your life is? The dark part of you would like to think that you have some good things coming from God. That because you haven’t been as bad or as wicked as so-and-so, God should give you better health, more wealth. And that is a dangerous game to play with God. Don’t ever ask God to give you what you deserve. Empty yourself of the idea that you bring any to God’s bargaining table. Examine your heart and admit that it is dark and stormy and completely void of any good.
Ask God to give you not what you are entited to, but ask the Lord for what you aren’t entitled to have: a Savior. God has given us what we don’t deserve. The light of the Lord’s forgiveness illuminates guilty consciences. So when the devil throws your sin back in your face, tell him this: “I admit I deserve hell, what of it? For I have one who has made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ. Where he is, there I will be!” (From the “Luther” Movie, MGM) That’s what it means when Isaiah writes: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.” That light for your sin-darkened soul is none other than Jesus, your Savior from your sins.
Part II
This light not only lights up our spiritual outlook, but it gives us joy even in this life. Isaiah speaks of that happiness of the Christian as he writes, “you have enlarged the nation and increased their joy.” “The nation” is the Holy Christian Church, which enlarges, which grows every time the Word is proclaimed. The Christian nation is being enlarged right now as the Holy Spirit increases our faith. Our joy as Christians is increased as we kneel before the Lord’s altar and hear the words, “Given, and poured out for you!”
Isaiah compares the joy of a Christian to the joy of a farmer who is paid for his crops. “They rejoice before you as people rejoice when dividing the plunder.” My sister’s husband used to get soybean money from his dad. Craig would work on the farm with his father, and when the harvest was brought to market, Craig would get a percentage of the soybean money. You could tell he was always just a little bit happier when that soybean check came in. And to hear about the Savior week after week, considering and pondering the depth of his love for you, marveling at the love of God the Father who would rather kill his own Son than to see us end up in hell, we reap the harvest of spiritual awe and happiness. Why would God love a sinner like me so much? I don’t know, I don’t understand, but he does. To have such a generous God on our side fills the Christian up with inexplicable joy.
Then there is another metaphor for happiness, “men rejoice when dividing the plunder…as in the day of Midian’s defeat.” You might recall a Bible character named Gideon. It was a dark and stormy night for this judge of Israel. He led a measly 300-man army against an enormous force from Midian; outnumbered something like 500-1. How did 300 soldiers of Israel fight this overwhelming army? With light! Instead of swords, they carried torches. These 300 men surrounded the enemy camp, and at the precise moment, they all lit their torches, giving the enemy the impression that they were being attacked not by 300 men, but by 300 divisions. Midian’s army panicked, and turned their swords on each other. God turned this dark and stormy night into Israel’s greatest military victory in their history!
Christian, don’t worry about the odds. We too-easily focus on the dark and stormy nights of our lives’ problems and think we face overwhelming odds. Sometimes at night you see someone driving a car with their lights off. “How foolish they are!” you think. If they had their lights on, they would better be able to see the road ahead of them, they would be able to read the gauges on their dash. And how foolish we Christians are at times, when we fail to turn on God’s light and let that govern the course of our lives. Your life is going to look pretty dark if you fail to turn on the light of Christ. Your predicaments are going to seem insurmountable if you believe that you have to deal with them yourself. But that isn’t how the Lord designed things for Christians. He has worked it out so that we are like that judge Gideon. We don’t fix the problems: we simply flick on the Lord’s light and watch him deal with them in his stunning, miraculous way. God has yet to let a Christian down, and something tells me that you will not be the first person that God fails.
Conclusion
In dark and stormy nights, a little light always helps. In Jesus, God gives you a lot of light. The Lord’s light chases away the guilt from your sinful heart; the Lord’s light shows you that whatever you are dealing with right now, it is but a small matter for the Lord. A dark and stormy night? Never for the Christian! Never for the one who places their full trust in the Lord of light and everlasting and never-failing love. Amen.
sdg
