Can I have a Light?

Reading: 1 Kings 19.9-15a
"Can I have a light?" he says. And what does he mean? He wants to "light up". The craving for another cigarette has grabbed him, but he has no matches. He needs my help. But non-smokers like me just don't carry matches, so I tell him, "Sorry, I can't help you!" and he goes looking for someone else.

Can I have a light? I'm polite and caring about him and genuinely can't help him with his craving. But I'm sorry for his craving too. A strong addiction has got him. Perhaps he has tried to give it up and hasn't, advises his sons not to be stupid like he was - "don't begin!" - but continues the habit in spite of messages on the boxes warning him that "Smoking is a health hazard", that "Smoking causes lung cancer"... I've buried a number of people who died of lung cancer and, believe me, it's one of the most unpleasant ways to die! In an odd kind of way he wants a light so he can fog up his mind a bit - and the atmosphere around him!

"Can I have a light?" he says. His legs are sticking out from under the car. He's trying to find out what's wrong. He's fairly certain where the problem is, but can't see quite well enough to work on it. He needs me to climb under with him and hold a torch, directing the beam on the place where he is working. The light will clarify the issue by bringing accurate knowledge, enabling true interpretation and correct action. He wants the light so he can see and so he can act on the basis of what he sees.

The Light Rejected

Everyone in the world needs light, but not everyone wants it! Jesus said that many people prefer darkness to the light - "because their deeds are evil". They don't want to be exposed for what they are. This is sad because God can change what we are into what we are meant to be so that we don't have to hide from hm - or from ourselves - any more.

That was the situation in Elijah's time. Ahab was the son of Omri, of whom it is recorded, "Omri sinned against the LORD more than any of his predecessors. Like Jeroboam before him, he aroused the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, by his sins and by leading the people into sin and idolatry" (1 Kings 16.25-26). Of Ahab it is recorded that he was worse than his father, adding to those sins this - "he married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon, and worshipped Baal. He built a temple to Baal in Samaria, made an altar for him, and put it in the temple. He also put up an image of the goddess Asherah..." (vv.31b-33a).

Can you really imagine the life of a prophet at such a time? to have a message of truth when people don't want it? to be the representative of light when darkness is popular?

So we find Elijah in chapter 17 making his prophecy of the coming serious drought - and disappearing - hiding by the brook Cherith - fed by ravens and later by a widow in Zarephath - reappearing for the great confrontation with the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel, in which the Lord showed his power by the fire that consumed Elijah's altar - but on the run again, because Jezebel isn't pleased - all the way to Mount Horeb, the mount of God, better known to us a Mount Sinai, where the Lord gave the law to Moses.

Lord, I am here alone. I have been standing up for you, zealous for you. The other Israelites have rejected your covenant, tried to extinguish your light by tearing down your altars and killing all your prophets with the sword. Lord, I'm here alone, the only one left - and they're out to kill me too!

Alone - a rushing mighty wind - cold comfort - no sign of the Lord's presence in it. Alone - an earthquake - frightening, alone, the Lord's not here. Alone - a fire, searing the sparse bushes - the Lord had answered him by fire on Mount Carmel - but today - cold comfort - all alone! But then - a gentle whisper, the voice of quiet stillness!

What are you doing here, Elijah? You're not alone - and back home there are seven thousand who haven't bowed the knee to Baal nor kissed him!

It's not easy to bear the light when most people seem to prefer the darkness!

The Light has Come!

But the Light is not just an idea that people have had - you know, hold up the light, pass on the torch... - and the Light is not just God's truth that is somehow over there when we seem to be over here!

Listen to the incredible claims of Jesus - "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me" (Jn 14.6) "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness" (Jn 8.12).

God's Truth has come here to us! God's Light has come into this world! God himself, in the person of his Son, has come here! I've had people say to me, "I'm not religious. I don't go for all that religious stuff!" But is the world flat or round? There is a Flat Earth Society. We regard them as a quaint group that denies the truth of common observation, proved centuries ago in the circumnavigation of the earth and confirmed by modern jet flight. What people are trying to say is that religious belief is a matter of option, of preference - and they are opting not to believe. Yet, just as surely as the earth is round, Jesus the Son of God was born in Bethlehem, lived among us, died on a cross at our instigation, is alive again!

The Light has come! And that Light shines on our human life, our values, our lifestyles, our institutions... Like so many today, the people of that time didn't like the Light, rejected the Light, tried to get rid of it because it made them uncomfortable... But it's God's Light - you can't do that! God took that rejection and turned it to redemption! The Light still shines!

You are the Light of the World

Very strikingly we find Jesus, the Light of the world, turning it around to his disciples. "You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead he puts it on the lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven" (Mt. 6.14-16).

In Jesus God's light focuses on us in revealing, redeeming and cleansing power. When we accept that revelation of our human condition, that redemption from what we have been and done in rejection of God and the cleansing that transforms us into what we were always meant to be, then his Light will shine through us to others too.

Can I have a light? Many fellow Australians are searching for meaning and fulfilment. Something has got very empty about our life. Sure, Mate, here's the Light - for you and for the whole world!


© Peter J. Blackburn, Buderim Uniting Church, 25 January 1994
Except where otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Good News Bible, © American Bible Society, 1992.

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