Darkness Dispelled
- davidwperk
- Sep 19, 2023
- 6 min read
Daily Office Devotional, Tuesday, September 19, 2023
Proper 19, the week of the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrase for reflection from today’s reading:
16the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.' 17From that time Jesus began to proclaim, `Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.'
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 984)
AM Psalm 61, 62; PM Psalm 68:1-20(21-23)24-36
1 Kings 21:17-29; 1 Cor. 1:20-31; Matt. 4:12-17
Today we celebrate the Feast of Theodore of Tarsus. (See below.)
David's Reflections
Matthew's introduction to the beginnings of Jesus' Galilean ministry presents us with powerful, poignant images of the plight of those without faith. They are like people sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death. Those images call to the imagination the picture of someone condemned to execution, sitting in a dark prison cell with death drawing near.
People without faith actually do live in a land of darkness. Caricatures of Christianity and poor expressions of genuine discipleship deepen that darkness that prevents their seeing how the Good News of salvation in Christ effects forgiveness, connection with God and others, and transformation and deliverance.
We whom Jesus has managed to find are beginning to see, but we have much more darkness that requires dispelling. That darkness goes beyond mere intellectual ignorance. Rather, we have much more of the divine to see with our hearts and to experience. Our ignorance of experience is our darkness.
Jesus' coming was for Matthew like a light coming into that darkened place, allowing the eyes to see and the heart to turn to God in faith. To repent is to turn to God and to seek deliverance from our past and from what has us caught and bound. The light of Jesus' coming can open eyes and generate a response of faith.
In our community and in your worlds of work, play, and neighborhood, how does the light of Jesus shine? It shines forth in our acts of mercy, in our conversations, in our living with growing consistency in harmony with our faith and our core values and in countless other ways, both interpersonal and through the natural world. What a remarkable and exciting possibility that Jesus might actually shine something of his love and light through my life and yours.
As we remember that people are at risk apart from faith and that they are sitting in that dark space, God's love will flash forth out of that remembering and energize us to be more sensitive to the needs of those around us and to share our witness and ourselves with those near us but sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. They are powerless to find God in the darkness. The light must find them. That light is the presence of Christ, present in us and working through us and shining from so many other sources.
And, we can feel compassion for their ignorance of the divine love because we, too, have lingering darkness that hungers to know God’s love more fully.
Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 4 regarding God’s dispelling of our inner darkness of experiential knowledge may be an allusion to his own awakening to Christ. “The God who said, ‘Out of darkness let light shine,’ has shined in our hearts to give the light of the revelation of of the experience of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)
One more note. We will sell God short if we assume that this saving light only shines where Jesus actually is named. John 1:9 says, “This was the true light, enlightening everyone, coming into the world.” God’s missionary efforts reach beyond where the church’s mission extends, seeking all people. Dennis Nineham said it well when he observed that when Christ makes his appointment with us, he does not always give his name.
That does not mean we slacken our efforts at witness. Quite the contrary. If God’s light penetrates the darkness seeking all people, that kind of seeking love spurs us to even more diligent witness. Otherwise, we are out of synch with our seeking, illumining God.
Poetry so often opens windows for me into texts like today’s Gospel. Consider Mary Oliver’s poem, “When I Am Among the Trees.”
When I Am Among the Trees
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And, they call again, “It’s simple, they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”+
+Mary Oliver, Thirst, (Boston: Beacon, 2006), p. 4
Collect of the Day, Proper 19, the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP 233)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 19 Sep 690 CE)
Collect of the Feast of Theodore of Tarsus
Almighty God, who gave your servant Theodore of Tarsus gifts of grace and wisdom to establish unity where there had been division and order where there had been chaos: Create in your church, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, such godly union and concord that it may proclaim, both by word and example, the Gospel of the Prince of Peace; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Peace
Most holy God, the source of all good desires, all right judgments, and all just works: Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, so that our minds may be fixed on the doing of your will, and that we, being delivered from the fear of all enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through the mercies of Christ Jesus our Savior. Amen. (BCP, 123)
For the Unity of the Church
Almighty Father, whose blessed Son before his passion prayed for his disciples that they might be one, as you and he are one: Grant that your Church, being bound together in love and obedience to you, may be united in one body by the one Spirit,
that the world may believe in him whom you have sent, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 255)
In the Order of Worship for Evening
Almighty, everlasting God, let our prayer in your sight be as incense, the lifting up of our hands as the evening sacrifice. Give us grace to behold you, present in your Word and Sacraments, and to recognize you in the lives of those around us. Stir up in us the flame of that love which burned in the heart of your Son as he bore his passion, and let it burn in us to eternal life and to the ages of ages. Amen. (BCP, 113)
A Collect for Mission
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (BCP, 100)
Daily Office Gospel, Matthew 4:12-17
12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 15`Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles-- 16the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.' 17From that time Jesus began to proclaim, `Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.'
Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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