12-11-17 - Ministry of the Moon

We’re going to spend another week with John the Baptist, as the lectionary appoints a second passage about him. But we shift perspective to John’s gospel, which often offers a different angle on familiar bible stories and characters.

John’s gospel begins in the cosmic realm, “In the beginning was the Word… and the Word became flesh and dwelt among humankind, full of grace and truth.” But it soon narrows its focus to the human sphere, zeroing in on John:

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

John the Baptist was so integral to the revelation of Christ, and such a focused and holy man, people wondered if he were the long-awaited Messiah. He made it clear that he was not – that his mission was as the advance man for that revelation, to prepare people’s hearts and set the stage so people would recognize and receive Christ when he came. He was not himself the Light; he bore testimony to the Light that was coming into the world.

I said last week that we all share John’s ministry to prepare people for Jesus’ coming into their lives. We also share this aspect of his ministry: to bear witness to the Light, that others might believe. We are not the source of light or truth or life – we bear witness to it, and at our best we reflect it. Any time we draw people’s attention to our own goodness or faith or opinions or holiness, we in a sense usurp Christ’s light. We are meant to be mirrors, not light fixtures, and for that we need to keep our glass clean.

One might say we share the ministry of the moon, which is not itself light, not the light generator, but bears witness to the sun, reflecting light that can be seen in the darkness. In our current dark times, our ministry as those who reflect God’s light (Son-Light?) is all the more urgent.

Think about the worlds in which you are being called to testify to the Light. Are people seeing God’s light, or your own? What cleansing needs to happen so that we reflect God’s light even more powerfully?

In an odd bit of free-association, U2’s song, Mysterious Ways, makes me think of John the Baptist. Perhaps I read about a link in a book about Christian themes in U2 songs (One Step Closer), or maybe I made it for myself, but there’s something about, “Johnny, take a walk with silver the moon,” that makes me think of John, whose ministry must have been a lonely one. And the lyric,
To touch is to heal, to hurt is to steal/ If you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel
Is one way to render John’s message of repentance and return.

The One whose ways are most mysterious is the Spirit of God, who can make the Light of Christ visible even in moons as pale as we sometimes are.

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