As we continue to play with the concept of light this week, the Isaiah text brings to mind a Longest Night service (sometimes called a Blue Christmas service). Services like this are a way to recognize that not everyone is filled with joy as we enter the Christmas season. For some people, loss, anxiety, and other painful feelings overwhelm the happiness and joy we are bombarded with both in church and in our culture.
In the northern hemisphere, Christmas falls during the darkest days of the year. Coming only a few days after the Winter solstice, when the hours of darkness are at their longest, those of us in the northern hemisphere are literally living in the longest darkness of the year as we approach the day we are told to be filled with joy. As we consider everything from loss to the more depressed feeling many have due to the extended periods of darkness, it is no wonder many feel overwhelmed this time of year.
And so we offer a way from them to acknowledge their feelings and to bring those feelings to God. We recognize that not everyone is filled with joy, and we remind them that God sits with us even in the lowest periods of our lives.
This is part of the baggage that we carry with us as we eventually come to Christmas Eve and hear these words from Isaiah, words that are also alluded to in the opening verses of the Gospel of John. Then in year A of the lectionary cycle, we hear a portion of these words again just after the Epiphany. Matthew quotes a portion of Isaiah 9 also as we are again reminded of who Jesus is and what it is he is here to do.
Isaiah 9 starts with the reminder that “those who were in distress won’t be exhausted” (Isaiah 9:1a). The verse continues by reminding us not only of God’s judgement but also God’s mercy.
Then we come to the poetic reminder of the feelings of darkness that sometimes threaten to overpower us. Sitting in a darkened room can become disorienting and can make us feel alone and anxious after a time. Those who explore caves can easily become disoriented and lose their way in the darkness. Lights help them to see and can lead them out of danger. So we associate the light with guidance, with being able to see our way through whatever it is we are facing.
And so Isaiah writes about the one to come: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in a pitch-dark land, light has dawned.” For Isaiah, this one will guide us and bring to those who have felt lost and alone.
As we continue through the season after Epiphany this year, we continue to be reminded of this light in the world and all that it means to us. The Gospel writers continue to point us back to Isaiah as they speak of who Jesus is and what he came to accomplish in the world. As a people who continue to find ourselves sitting in places we describe as dark, it is good for us to have these reminders now.
The feelings of loss and loneliness that we may feel are very real. These feelings we describe as dark can affect how we approach life, how we interact with others, may even affect our ability to climb out of bed and face the world in the morning. When we think of being surrounded by darkness, we feel alone, anxious, and, sometimes, unworthy of anything more.
This is why these words from Isaiah resonate with us. We want our world to be a little bit brighter. We want a light that will banish the shadows that we feel surrounding us. For the Gospel writers, this is what we are meant to know about Jesus in the world -- Jesus is the light dawning in the world and pushing back the darkness.
I am reminded of the opening sequence from the Star Wars movie Rogue One. Young Jyn Erso has just watched her mother gunned down and her father being kidnapped by agents of the Empire. She flees and hides in a literal dark hole in the ground. She hides in a confined space, locked in with the horror of what she has just witnessed. She is surrounded by darkness surely hoping that someone or something will come along to lighten the darkness within and without. And then, after we don’t know how long, Saw Gerrera lifts the lid on the dark space in which she has been locked away and floods the darkness with light. The loss and pain are still there, but now she can see a way through it.
This is a good example of how so many of us feel when faced with these sorts of memories and feelings. We feel alone surrounded by darkness as if we are buried in a literal hole in the ground. It can feel overwhelming. It can make us want to give up. And it is exactly these feelings that Isaiah is confronting. The people feel separated from God. They feel oppressed, forgotten, and lost.
But what Jyn Erso failed to understand, Isaiah points us toward. What we often fail to understand in the darkest places of our lives, the Gospel writers remind us of. God does not leave us in the darkest places of our lives alone. God is there with us in the darkness. God is also making plans to flood our world with light once again. It doesn’t make our darkness less real, but it does remind us that we are not alone in our thoughts and fears.
This is what Isaiah is suggesting in the words we have before us this week. Yes, the darkness is real. Yes, it feels overwhelming. Yes, we experience periods of loneliness and pain. But God is working to bring about good in the world. God does not want to leave us isolated and in pain. God’s light shines into the darkness to give us a way through.
And so Jesus comes into the world. Jesus comes to give us an example, a light to lead us out of darkness, a light to show us the way forward. Jesus offers us freedom and release. Jesus offers to lift our burdens and to free us from oppression.
The light of Jesus shines as hope in the midst of the darkness we find ourselves in.
Jesus reminds us that we are not alone, that we do not need to be isolated.
Jesus offers us a way through and out.
Jesus lights the way.