2005AFC02323 – Who aren’t you?
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Isaiah 58:6-7 –
6 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Psalm 112:4 – 4 Light shines in the darkness for good people, for those who are merciful, kind, and just. (GNT)
1 Corinthians 2:2 – 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
Matthew 5:14 – 14 You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.
John 8:12 – 12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
For today’s key verse marker, I probably should have used one of those images with a big bunch of keys because today the passages just keep landing on my heart and sliding out over the keyboard. For starters, I need to reference a song from the past by The Who. The song has “explicit lyrics,” so we won’t link to it today, but the opening chorus was “Who are you? Who? Who? Who? Who?” It’s been the theme song for CSI Vegas, and Crucita loves to sing along with it when the show starts. But that’s not what we’re asking today.
We’re asking “Who aren’t you?” What’s bubbling up inside me as I write is being affected by the work I’m doing while studying The Catechism of the Catholic Church presented by Ascension Press (and featuring Fr. Mike Schmitz) called The Catechism in a Year (↔ Click Link). Some of you are familiar with his rapid-fire, ebullient, and exciting teaching style. The program is similar to The Bible in a Year (↔ Click Link) Today I want to start with a startling statement made by Jesus: You are the light of the world. “Hang on! I thought Jesus was the light of the world!” Let’s try taking a Deep See Dive on that idea. I hear the best place to start something is in the beginning, so …
Genesis 1:1-5 – 1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. The Hebrew word for light used in this passage is אוֹר (or) {ore}, and in Greek it is φῶς (phos) {foce} and describes anything emitting or showing (reflecting) light. The first command spoken in Creation generated LIGHT. And who was with the Light, in the Light, and of the Light? It was the Light of the World – Jesus. Now, let’s look at the first five verses in the Gospel of John:
John 1:1-5 – 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. That’s the Light of Christ (↔ Music Link) the living, flesh-and-blood Son of the Father. God’s beginnings always start with Light. Before the Light there was darkness, but also there was God. God parted the darkness with the Light, and he did that with his Word. We have stated here many times that God is community, and recently (↔ Click Link) we said, “In the beginning there was only a formless void … and God!”
God’s Spirit moved over that void like a mighty wind tearing through the darkness. Then God spoke the Word as Light. There, in that moment, we see the Love of God who is the Lover of Creation, we see the Word of God who is the Belovéd of Creation, and the 
Relationship of the Community of Love as the Spirit of God, the Lord, the Giver of Life.” I’m borrowing from Fr. Mike Schmitz here when I tell you that the most sacred surprise in the nature of God is found in 1 John 4:16b – God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. The reason we can say, “God is love” is because of the community, the fellowship, the koinonia (Grk: κοινωνία) shared eternally among the three persons in the Trinity. We attest to that every time we proclaim the Nicene Creed:
“I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father. Through him all things were made.” This is also why we often say here …
(Music Link ↔) LIGHT ≡ GOD ≡ TRUTH ≡ WAY ≡ LIFE ≡ ETERNAL ≡ LOVE
I am, you are, we are created in the likeness and image of God, so guess what: His Light is in us. God is Light, so wherever God is, there is Light; wherever Light shines, there is God. How do we get that Light in and around us? We’ve been here before, so give a listen to Alan Jackson again as he sings Turn your Eyes Upon Jesus. (↔ Music Link). Yes ʻŌmea, it is Jesus who will Light up our lives, (↔ Music Link) and how bright is that Brightness! IF we are in God, then we are in Light, certainly; but also, if God is in us, then we are the Light of the World, a light that can shine brightly enough that those who walk in darkness may truly see the great Light of God as Jesus himself told us in John 8:12 – 12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” What shall we say then, that we prefer the darkness or that we spurn the Light? Absolutely not because we have the Light in us and on us. We are Children of the Light and we walk as such. Well, if that’s who we are, who are we not?
We are not darkness, we are not without Truth, we are not lovers of the World. We are the People chosen, and choosing, to be Good because as we read in Psalm 112:4 – 4 Light shines in the darkness for good people, for those who are merciful, kind, and just. (GNT) [A] When we are surrounded by those who walk in, work in, live in darkness, we have Light to help us to see – and it also help them to see! Those people whom we love even in their darkness are also created in the image and likeness of God. They just don’t know how to flip the switch (or is it more like switch the flip?) and let their Light shine (↔ Music Link).
What am I not? I am not afraid. (↔ Music Link) I’m not afraid of the dark because HE has overcome the dark. I’m not afraid of dying – I’m getting there a step and a stop at a time. I’m the sinner who wants to give God back his rainbow, but not the sinner who wants to take back my heart from Jesus. Belovéd, we are not the ones who lay down our armor because it’s too heavy, or toss our cross because it’s too painful. We are not of this World although we are in it. We are not the people who are encumbered by the yoke of sin. We are not unjust or merciless. We are not walking in darkness. We are not abandoning our families, friends, neighbors, enemies, or whichever strangers are seeking our help. We are not spoiled salt. We are not the Devil’s amusement – we are his dread. We have the freedom of Light and Love because of who and what we know. As The Apostle Paul told us in 1 Corinthians 2:2 – 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
It is important for us to know who we are not. We are the people who acknowledge our sins and repent, confess our sins and do penance, we avoid sin and the desire we have of being tempted, and we seek and accept God’s forgiveness because Jesus said he would do that. God is Truth, and we have known that from Days of Old:
Numbers 23:19 – 19 God is not a human being, that he should lie,
or a mortal, that he should change his mind.
Has he promised, and will he not do it?
Has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
We aren’t the ones expecting God to behave like us. He is expecting us to behave like him. That’s the Power of the Absolutely Perfect Plan.
Sirach 1:8 –
8 There is only one who is wise,
and we must stand in awe before his throne. (GNT)
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
[A] Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
