January 9, 2011
Isaiah 60:1 & Matthew 3:13-17
January Sixth was Epiphany Day. The appointed Bible reading was Isaiah 60:1, "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you." At the womenfs Bible study, we talked about how we should shine. This light is not our own light that is out from us, rather it was the light of Christ that is reflected from us. The light has come to us because of the love and grace of God. As we live our lives, that light of God is reflected off of us and other people should see the light of God. That becomes evangelism when people see that our love and service and kindness and peace and joy come from our faith in Jesus Christ. It becomes evangelism when we explain the source of our peace and joy. Individually and as a church, we shine the light of Christ.
If it is reflected light, then we are like mirrors. We reflect the love of God. Or as the First Letter of John says, "we love because he first loved us" (4:19). A mirror reflects light, but if it is dirty, the image will be dark and hard to see. You have to wash the mirror. If the bathroom mirror is foggy with steam, you have to wipe it dry in order to see the reflection. If a mirror is not used for a long time, it becomes dusty if you do not clean it. You can use window cleaner to clean a mirror. But how can we clean our spiritual mirrors?
What makes our spiritual mirrors dirty in the first place? Why isnft the glory of God reflected clearly in our lives? Why isnft our love perfect? Why do people look at us and rather than seeing the grace of God, they see what comes out of our sinful hearts, rather than the reflection of God? Sometimes the mirror is covered with sadness or grief, maybe anger or hate, or selfishness or greed or stinginess. Our sinful actions blur the image of God. Because of our distorted life, the image of God is distorted. For example, when Christians hate others, God is seen as a hateful, wrathful Being. When Christians cheat and steal, God is not seen as someone others can trust for life and salvation. When Christians use and abuse other people, God is seen as someone who does not love and care for people. And so because of sin, our Christian witness is less than perfect, it does not reflect the true image of God.
But how can we clean our spiritual mirrors? We cannot do it ourselves. But God can do it. He wants his love and grace shown to the world, so he cleans our mirrors. That is called baptism. The word baptism in Greek means washing. Our sins are washed away. They are forgiven. It is not just a onetime event, whenever we remember our baptism, whenever in faith we ask for forgiveness, our sins are washed away again. And since we sin daily, the power of our baptism is given to us anew every day.
Letfs have a short grammar lesson about the difference between "I was baptized" and "I am baptized." The first is simple past tense, like a photograph of an event in the past that is finished and over. The other is present perfect tense, which means that the past event continues to the present. For example, I moved to Tokyo and then I moved to Okinawa, so I no longer live in Tokyo: simple past tense. I have moved to Okinawa?and still live there: perfect past tense. I am baptized, I have been baptized: and I am still baptized. Godfs grace and forgiveness are still with me. God keeps on forgiving me and making me clean.
In ancient times, before modern glass mirrors were developed, mirrors were made of polished metal, like bronze. But metals rust and tarnish, so they need to be polished once in a while in order to make a good reflection. Sometimes when we talk about our skills, we say that we have to polish them. We say "I am a little bit rusty at this." To polish our skills we study and practice and train. Sometimes that can be hard work. It can be much harder than trying to polish the brass candle stands so that they will shine. How about our spiritual mirror? Can we polish it? We can try. But it is hard work. It is very hard to get rid of old, bad habits. It can be hard to get rid of the sins we enjoy. The Bible word for this is "repentance."
The only way to clean our spiritual mirrors so that we can reflect the glory of God is when we first see the glory of God. We can see that glory in Jesus Christ. He reflected the glory of God. In Jesus we see the love, grace, and mercy of God. We see that love when Jesus was on the cross. Here we see the love of God which loves us and forgives us and reconciles us to himself. It is the death and resurrection of Christ that polishes our mirrors, as our sin is forgiven. In baptism we are washed clean in the blood of Christ that was shed for us on the cross.
And so our Christian lives reflect Jesus Christ. Our lives become like his. There is love, sacrifice, kindness, and the power of the Holy Spirit. That should shine in our lives that other people can see the glory of God. It is the glory of love and peace and forgiveness.
You "have been" baptized. The grace of baptism is with you all your life. "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you."
Amen.
Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church