Luke 8:16-18
In the early years of the 1940’s my parents bought a farm. We moved from a home that had electricity to a home without electricity. It caused some big adjustments in our lives. We had kerosene lamps, but they were dim compared to electric lighting. My parents bought a special type of kerosene lamp. The Aladdin lamp had a chimney that glows with a bright light when you have it on. I would study in the light of this lamp. Sometimes the light would grow dim if the flame was too high which caused the chimney to get covered with soot and grow dark. Then you had to turn down the flame and let it burn away the soot and darkness. The brightness of the lamp would then return and you could see to read again.
The Great Light-Maker, God, in his master plan knew that life would need light. “Then God said, ‘Let there be light.’ And there was light and God saw that it was good. Then he separated the light from darkness. God called the light ‘day’ and the darkness ‘night’”.
The Great Light-Maker added light to his plan. “God made two great lights; the larger one to govern the day and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set these lights in the sky to light the earth to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.” With his first action, his first law, the Great Light-Maker prepared his world for his family. Us. He gave us the beautiful light and colors of our winter sunsets and sunrises.
From our beginnings in the Garden of Eden, however, God’s children have rebelled against the Great Light-Maker’s plan. We that have had our own children rebel against us know the pain and darkness rebellion brings into our lives. Even if we do not have children, we have all started out as one. We know the dark side of rebellion — we know the experience of living life on the dark side. And when we are living on the dark side, we long for the light of love to bring a new daybreak for us.
Rebellion has always brought deep darkness in the life of God’s family. The darkness of murders, stealing, lying, and cheating (as well as many other forms of evil) have dimmed God’s light for his family. But, God, the Great Light-Maker, gave his family the Law that would illuminate his plan for us, including our relationship with him and with each other. The Law was, and is, that we must not have any other god but God, the Great Light-Maker.
The Old Testament shows our continued rebellion, and how and darkness was growing as God’s family chose to follow their own plans — including following wicked leaders and kings. The darkness was growing because the so-called religious leaders had made their own plan. This plan wanted God, the Light-Maker, out of their way so they would be in charge. The darkness grew out of their lust for power and control over God’s family.
In this growing darkness, it was hard to find the Light-Maker’s plan — because the darkness of human evil shuts out His light. But only for a short duration.
God, the Great Light-Maker, would bring a new light into the human darkness. “Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from the eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem asking, ‘Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.’”
The Good News of a newborn king was not good news to the King or other leaders and the people living in the darkness of evil. So — these wicked people and leaders would try and kill the light of the newborn Savior.
The dark side of evil never stops its efforts to stamp out the light of the Great Light-Maker.
The Great Light-Maker came to heal and forgive His family so they could return to His life-giving light. The Great Light Maker came out of love for us, his family. “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only son, so that everyone who believed in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world but to save the world through him.”
The time came when the forces of darkness (that included the so-called religious leaders and government rulers) would think that they were going to lose power if they did not shut out the Great Light-Maker. So, they lied to the people about him, and they thought that would make the people turn against His light. They put the Great Light Maker on the cross.
“At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. At three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?’ ….. Jesus shouted out again and he released his spirit. At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, and went into the holy city of Jerusalem and appeared to many people. The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, ‘This man truly was the Son of God!’”
The forces of darkness buried the Great Light-Maker in a tomb. The forces of darkness said: this would take care of the Great Light-Maker. But the Light of Easter came and the tomb was empty. The people of the Easter light formed the church so they could worship, and we can worship, the Great Light-Maker that gives us light on the darkest nights of our lives. The forces of darkness are still trying to stamp out the light of life. We Easter people must walk in the light of the Great Light-Maker — or the forces of phony religious leaders and the wicked people in government leadership will try to impose their darkness on us. The Good News always was, and is, that the Easter light of the Great Light-Maker lives in the heart of any person who seeks it.
A storm had knocked out the electrical power in our neighborhood several years ago. My wife got a candle and lit it in our den. Our telephone soon rang. It was one of our neighbors calling to see if we had our power turned on. We told them, “No, we have just lit a candle.” Walk in the light as one candle, and God’s love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace will give you the strength that will overcome the darkness of evil. His light will defeat the forces of darkness and death. May we, the Easter People, stand in the shining light and life of the Great Light-Maker’s cross.
