4 Lent B
Sermon given
March 18, 2012
By Rev. Valerie Ann
Hart
At St. Barnabas'
Episcopal Church
John 3:14-21
I’d like you to imagine a story.
Imagine that twenty or forty years ago a group of tourists were being shown
around a great cave. The guide had taken them all the way down to the lowest
chamber where there was a river that went through and had shown them the fish
that didn’t have any eyes that lived in it. The guide showed them another
section where there were all kinds of resources stored. There were blankets,
cans of food and dried meat. He said this used to be a hide out for people who
didn’t want to be caught by the law, and they stored things here so they could
live there for months and months, maybe even years at a time. And just when he
finished telling them about that there was a great earthquake and in the
earthquake a piece of granite fell down and covered up the entrance to the cave
The people who were there were stuck in this lower chamber and they couldn’t
get out. Now they had enough oxygen coming in to live, and they had water from
the river, and they had food that was stored and they had fish in the stream
but they couldn’t get back out into the world. Of course as time went by things
got more difficult.
Meanwhile, outside, after the earthquake
the people saw that they couldn’t get down to this group that they knew was
down in the cave. They tried everything they could to get through but they
didn’t have the technology to go through solid granite. There was no way to
reach the people who were trapped down below. They worked for weeks to try and
get through. After a few months had gone by people began giving up, but the man
who ran the guide service knew that down at the bottom there was water and
there was food and that they could survive. And he cared deeply for all his
guides including the guide who had taken them down there, and the people that
had come to see the cave. He never gave up hope for them.
Decades went by, and the people
underneath learned to survive. Of course it wasn’t too long before the
batteries in their flashlights burned out and the candles that were down there
had been used up. Then they were
in total darkness.
Human beings are amazingly able to
adapt. They had what they needed; food, water, air and community. And they did
establish their own community. It wasn’t the life that any of us would choose,
but it was a life. And in fact it was and existence they got used to, adapted
to. There were even children born there. They had blankets. They didn’t have
rain. The temperature was always moderate. And they had all agreed at the
beginning that the way they were going to survive was that whatever someone
found that was helpful would be shared with all of the group.
As time went by some of the
people, the older people who were trapped originally, always remembered what it
was like to be outside and would tell the children about what it was like to be
in the light, although some of the children in their rebellious teenage years
thought that was just a story made up by the parents.
Time passed. And the people on the
outside forgot, except for the one man who knew there may be people there, and
who told his son about his love for the people who were trapped in darkness. He
made his son promises that as soon as it was technologically possible he would
go in and see if anyone had survived. So the son grew up to be an engineer and
he studied mining methods. Finally when they came out with lasers that could
cut through solid granite safely, they made a hole big enough for one person to
go through. The son took a bright flashlight and went down into the cave, searching
for where he might find anyone who would be alive.
You can imagine what it was like
down there for the people who were living out their lives in darkness. They had
no real idea of how much time had passed and they had totally adapted to the
darkness. They were used to being in the dark and suddenly they saw a light
coming. Some of them thought it was an illusion. There couldn’t possibly be a
light down here. Others who had remembered what it had been like recognized it
for what it was and went to greet the person who was coming. But there were
some who pulled back. Who didn’t want to be seen by the light. They didn’t want
the flashlight aimed at them. That didn’t want to have anything to do with this
one who had come in to disturb their lives.
Why would anyone not want to go to
the light and leave the darkness? You see there were a few people there who had
been hoarding food and not sharing it. And even though most of the people were
very thin and just getting by there were a few who were well fed. Also some had
found things and put them aside for themselves, or had found some clothing and
not told others so they were better dressed then everyone else. When it was
dark, no one knew, but if the light were to shine on them then the truth of
what they were doing would come out. So they preferred to stay in the darkness.
Now the man who came down with the flashlight to lead them out had no desire to
condemn anybody who tried to survive down there, certainly understanding that
you do whatever you could to survive. He had no concern about what people had
done down there, all he wanted was to show them another life, to show them the
light - to give them some new hope, new life.
So most of the people followed the
flashlight out, but some chose to stay because they had developed a comfortable,
secure life in the darkness and they didn’t want to acknowledge how they had
lived their lives. Now the person who came in to save them, the son, was not
going to force anyone to leave. So he left a rope and he said if you ever
decide to come out, just feel for the rope and follow it out. You are always
welcome out in the light.
That’s what Jesus came for,
because we live in darkness. There is a lot of darkness in our world. Like the darkness
of lying, and doubt and selfishness. We know what the darkness is. And Jesus
came to say that you don’t have to stay in darkness because I can show you the
way to the light. A light that is full of life, and joy, and hope, and freedom.
And is it says here in John 3:16, (and I’m sure we have all seen those signs
that get put up or held up that say John 3:16) it says, “For God so loved the
world that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him may not
perish but may have eternal life.”
He came out of love for the world,
or another way to translate this is the cosmos, or all of creation. God’s
incredible love for all of creation especially for human beings, for each
person, sent Jesus to show us a new life. And it says very clearly here that
God did not send the son into the world to condemn the world but in order that
the world might be saved through him. Jesus did not come to condemn the world
but to save the world. But it says later, “The light has come into world and
people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” That’s
one thing about light, when it shines it sees everything. When we have things
that we don’t want others to know about, when there are parts of ourselves where
we have guilt, or doubt or resentments, we don’t want others to see it. And if
we open ourselves to the light of Christ’s love then we know that that will be
seen. If we open up to Christ he sees it all. And so sometimes people choose to
not open themselves rather than to be truly seen.
We all have bits of darkness
within us. We all have things we would rather not have shown on TV. I don’t
understand the reality TV shows because there are things I would not want to
put out there. We all have those little secrets, those things we are not proud
of. That’s why we have confession, because if you have darkness, if you have a
secret, if the light shines on something, if you shine a light on a dark place
it is no longer a dark place. It is seen. And if you have darkness inside of
you and it is spoken out loud and it is offered into the world it is
transformed. It is transformed from darkness into just what happened. That is
the power of confession. That’s really what we do during lent, we try to do
that looking honestly at ourselves and taking those things about ourselves that
we are not comfortable with and bringing them out into the light so they can be
transformed by God’s love. That’s what confession is for.
Every Sunday we have a confession
where we all speak together. Usually that is sufficient. Sometimes we still
hold onto things inside of us. We have things that bother us and we can’t let
go of. That is why we have the option in our church of what they call
reconciliation of a penitent. Some might call it confession. We have the option
of going to a priest and saying out loud what is on our hearts and being told
by the priest that God has forgiven us. That can be a powerful healing of a
burden that we might carry.
Richard Cranmer who was the person
who put together the first Anglican Prayer Book said about the office of
reconciliation of a penitent, “All may (anyone who wants to do that can go to a
priest any time and ask for it), None must (it was not required. No one has to
go to confession.” Then he added, “Some should.”
It is a wonderful and powerful
tool, especially for times of transition in your life. There are some people
who like to do it during lent or during holy week in preparation for Easter. It
is an option that is available. Just call me or you can contact Jeremy, or some
other priest.
Sometimes if you have something on
your heart you are not able to let go of, to shine the bright light of Christ’s
love upon it transforms it, and then we are invited to a new life, a life of
freedom, and joy, and hope in the light of God’s love.
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