Deep Darkness
Isaiah 9:1-7; Matthew 4:12-23[1]
Most of us who have any experience with life know that hardship
comes to us all. We all have our share of suffering. It may appear that some
are spared that common lot of humanity, but the reality is that everyone
carries some kind of burden. But there is one kind of suffering many of us have
never known: systemic injustice. That’s what people experience when they don’t
have opportunities, or they aren’t treated fairly, or their rights as human
beings are denied them. And it happens not because of anything they have done
wrong, but simply because of who they are: their gender, their race, their
ethnic background, their faith. I think it may be difficult, if not impossible,
for many of us even to imagine what that’s like. I know it is for me.
But make no mistake about it: there is oppression all around us.
Working people who simply don’t make enough money live in their cars with their
families, or in worse conditions out of sight of most of us. Young women are
abducted and made into slaves by human traffickers. Students whose whole lives
are ahead of them become convinced that they have nothing to live for, in part
because of the constant pressure. And people who don’t happen to be of European
descent are judged to be suspicious and even dangerous by those of us who are,
simply because of the color of their skin or the country of their origin, not
based on the quality of their character. We live in a land of deep darkness!
The prophet Isaiah spoke of Judea as a “land of deep darkness.”
His people faced threats all around them—most immediately from the northern
kingdom of Israel and their allies in Syria. But more significantly at home
their leaders—kings and priests and prophets alike—ignored God’s justice and
ruled the people based on their own self-interest. And the end result was that
the people lived under the yoke of oppression. They lived in a world where
might made right. The wealthy and powerful were the ones who called the shots.
On a whim they could have anyone thrown into prison without any kind of fair
trial. Rather than looking forward to their “day in court,” the most likely
outcome was that would simply be forgotten, left to rot and die. They lived in
a land of deep darkness.
But Isaiah did not face this darkness with the resignation of
despair. He saw a light on the horizon. He knew that God is above all faithful
to his people. He also believed that God had promised to send one who would
lift the burden of oppression and the yoke of bondage from his people, just as
God had once before done for the Jewish people enslaved in Egypt.
Unfortunately, in our day we have missed the point of this promise. Like many
Christians before us, we cannot read this passage without thinking of
Christmas, and the birth of Jesus. Now I will be among the first to agree that
Isaiah’s beautiful poetry is a fitting description of Jesus and his ministry.
But speaking 700 years before Jesus was born, it’s unlikely that Isaiah was
thinking in the first place about Jesus. He had in mind someone who would
deliver the Jewish people from the oppression they suffered in his day. He was
looking for light that would help those living in darkness at that time.
While we may not be able to know whom Isaiah had in mind when he
first spoke these words, we can certainly know what he had in mind. The “light”
that Isaiah saw shining in his land of deep darkness was the coming true peace
and true justice to his people. They would be delivered from their oppressors
and set free from their chains. And the end result would be that they could
live and thrive and rejoice like people gathering an abundant harvest. They
would live without the fear of violence or the fear of injustice or the fear of
the heartless cruelty that could at any moment strip them of all they held
dear. They would be free. And the hope of that freedom was a light shining for
them in the midst of the deep darkness they had endured.
Again, I have to say that many of us cannot even begin to
imagine living in this situation. And yet, right now, right here in this
community, there are people who live in that kind of darkness. As hard as it is
to admit it, a part of the story of the founding of our society is about
violence and systematic injustice that persists to this day. [2] Many believed they had a
God-given right to take the land from the nations who were here before us. They
justified that blatant injustice with an ideology that they were “savages.” And
that ideology was applied to Africans who were enslaved against their will. And
to people of other ethnic backgrounds who came to this land seeking freedom.
And in our time we see it in the way we can still assume that those who are
different from us are suspicious and possibly dangerous. Whether we see it or
not, whether we want to admit it or not, we still live in a land of deep darkness
What does our faith offer us in the face of such overwhelming
suffering? The light of hope. We have the hope that one day God’s name will be
hallowed on earth as it is in heaven and God’s kingdom will come on earth as it
is in heaven and God’s “fair, merciful, and loving” purpose will be done on
earth as it is in heaven! And that means a day when all cruelty is undone and
all violence is banished and all injustice is removed. In the face of the
darkness that can be very deep indeed for many in our world today, we have the
hope that “the zeal of the Lord of hosts” will continue to bring light into our
world, until there is no more darkness. But in order for us to experience God’s
freedom and light, we have to first acknowledge the darkness that still affects
those whose voices we have long ignored.
[1] ©
2020 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 1/26/2020 at
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2]
Among other sources, these thoughts are in part based on an interview of Brian
Stevenson by Terry Gross on “Fresh Air,” January 20, 2020.
