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[This sermon is also available in MS Word format]
The True Light
John 1:1-9
Easter Sunrise
April 11, 2004
Rollins Chapel
Richard R. Crocker, College Chaplain
Well, here we are, gathered early in the morning – very early in the morning. And no one made you come. You are here because you wanted to be here. Why? Your presence here may be a mystery to some people who know you. What could be important enough to make you get up so early on a Sunday morning?
The answer, of course, has to do with Jesus. Most of you are here because you, like the women in the story, want to pay him respect, or because you are seeking him, or because you love him. You know the Easter story. You have heard it and you believe it – or at least you wonder about it.
My job as preacher today is not just to tell the story – though that is part of it. And it certainly is not to convince you of the truth of the story. I can not do that. No one can. But I can talk with you about what it means. If we believe it, what does it mean?
I have discovered as I get older that, as families gather, stories are told - usually the same stories – over and over again. And we don’t tell them because we have forgotten. We tell the familiar story because it somehow conveys a meaning that we like to think about – or need to think about. We tell the story because we love it.
The story of the resurrection of Jesus is very simple. He was killed – killed in a painful and disgraceful way. His enemies conspired against him, the government saw him as a threat, and his friends deserted him. So he was killed. He died. He was buried. And yet he lived. Far from fading away into oblivion, as his enemies had hoped and as the authorities had expected, he continued to live – to encounter people, to confront and embrace and challenge and promise. He is alive! Such was the mysterious magnificent message of Easter. And so it remains.
John’s gospel, so problematic for us in some ways, so powerful in others, begins with this Easter message: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
That is the good news: the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
A sunrise service dramatizes this message. Maybe you got up while it was still dark. But as you walked to the hapel, the light shone. And the darkness disappeared, Darkness is never more powerful than light. Oh, it thinks it is, but it isn’t. Ever. And that is what we gather to celebrate today.
Mow there is a lot of darkness in the world. You know that, don’t you? There is darkness in Iraq – in the hatred of Shia and Sunni and Kurd, toward each other at times, and toward the US. And yes there is darkness in every gun barrel and ever bomb that is fired here – no matter by whom. All those people there with guns think they can establish their truth by weapons and killing. It’s an old lie. It isn’t true, no matter who tells it. How do I know? Because Jesus is alive. The true light has come into the world, and the darkness did not can not – overcome it.
There is darkness in the sums of Baghdad and Soweto and Banares and Rio and Chicago. There is darkness in wherever children are going hungry or abused or neglected or taught to hate or despair. There is darkness in the greed or indifference that builds slums and keeps them running. But that darkness will not endure. How do I know? Because Jesus is alive – and Jesus will lead us out.
There is darkness on the streets and in nursing homes, where old people feel neglected and abandoned. There is darkness in their loneliness and suffering and incapacity. But that darkness will not endure. How do I know? Because Jesus is alive, and Jesus will make all things new.
There is darkness in families where people are sick or dying; in hospitals where doctors can promise no hope. There is darkness there, but it is not the final word. How do I know? Because Jesus is alive, death is not the last word.
There is darkness in the religions of the world that teach anybody to hate or judge or kill. There is darkness in churches that spew forth condemnation rather than compassion, but I know, no matter what they say, that compassion will prevail. How do I know? Because Jesus is alive – and Jesus is the one who will be the judge. And Jesus died for us all.
This is what Easter means. The Light has come into the world. And the darkness can not put it out.
Now there will be some who will say, “you know no such thing. You are only repeating what you have been told. It’s not true. Jesus died. The Roman Empire triumphed. The force of violence ruled then and it rules now. Life is power and prestige. Forget Jesus.” To which I respond: “You may be right. I am just repeating what I have been told. But nobody is now celebrating the power of Rome, or the life or Caesar Augustus. No one depends upon the CEO of General Motors to give meaning or hope in life. But I have the testimony of countless people who have endured and prevailed because they believed that Jesus was alive. Some of them sacrificed a great deal to follow this resurrected Christ, in the hope that they were making the world more like him. Throughout the ages, they have tried be faithful – sometimes failing – sometime failing miserably, sometimes behaving disgracefully. But the light has never gone out. The result is a place like this – a place like Dartmouth College, a place give birth by Christian faith, where people are given freedom to learn, to grow, to find faith, or not, to decide how to live. I’ll take my stand with them. I’ll take my stand with people who believe in non-violence, self-sacrifice, hope, and light. And I’lltry to kive in that light.”
Let this be a source of joy and encouragement to you. May it give you strength and hope and determination to live in the light – no matter how strong the darkness seems. May it inspire you to live as people who know never give up – who know and believe that Jesus is alive. that. James Russell Lowell was a poet who wrote before the civil war, in the midst of the Mexican war, when those who opposed war and who opposed slavery were being derided and condemned. In a poem that we sometimes sing as a hymn, he wrote:
Though the cause of evil prosper, yet the truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.
The Lord is risen!
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can not put it out!
Alleluia!
Sermon © 2004 Richard R. Crocker. All rights reserved.
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