(Isa 60:1, 3 NRSV) Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
The word Light appears 236 times in the Bible, mostly in reference to the inner light – that which is the source of wisdom or vision and results in action. In the time after Epiphany, light is the metaphor for God’s presence and for our mission.
In the eastern traditions, light is a predominant theme. Eastern spirituality is experiential. In the west, we depend on rational thought more than experience and I wonder sometimes if we have lost a sense of the holy in our daily lives. The biblical references to light not only invite us to be aware of the holy in our lives but to act as light in the world.
The on-going struggle in Palestine to resist the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, as well as the peaceful protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and now Syria are strong examples of failure of empires to maintain peace by force in the face of non-violent resistance. Are these events signs of the Light overcoming the darkness?
John Dominic Crossan, in his lecture in London before Christmas, spoke of the world’s vision of peace as victory with force. Jesus taught that God’s empire is a non-violent Kingdom of peace, in opposition to the Roman empire of peace by force. Perhaps we are witnessing the power of the non-violent peace in the global movements.
In answer to the question about what we as the church and individual Christians can do to change the world’s determination to use violence to achieve peace, Crossan said the church must understand its mission is to collaborate with God in his kingdom of non-violence. Epiphany reminds us the light still shines to overcome the powers of darkness – the Empires of this world – and that our mission is to bear that light.