Light Before Darkness

a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.

He will not grow faint or be crushed
until he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;

I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,

to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.

I am the Lord, that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to idols.

This passage is one of four so-called “servant songs” in the book of Isaiah.[1] We’ll reflect on one of the others tomorrow and Wednesday. In this song Isaiah announces the coming of God’s servant, a servant whose mission will be to bring forth justice to the nations, to liberate people everywhere from conditions which oppress them, conditions such as sickness, poverty, blindness, and political persecution. This servant will be anointed by God’s Spirit. The servant will act with firmness and gentleness until justice is established in the earth.

The identity of the servant in Isaiah is very complex and much debated. Sometimes the songs speak about a people or a group being the servant, perhaps the nation of Israel, and at other times the songs clearly describe an individual, perhaps the prophet himself, the king, or maybe the Messiah.[2] Christians certainly hear in the servant songs at least an echo about Jesus. This song begins with God saying, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights.” Hearing that, we cannot help but recall God’s words from heaven when Jesus was baptized. “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3.17) So this song is the lectionary’s Old Testament reading on the Sunday called Baptism of the Lord as well as for tonight, Monday of Holy Week.

As we begin this week most holy, a week that moves towards the deepest darkness imaginable when Jesus is crucified, we must do two things. First, we must not shy away from the darkness, as many Christians and churches are wont to do, as if by giving only a passing glance at Jesus’ suffering we can jump to Easter without pain. If we are faithful, there is no shortcut to Easter.

Second, we must not despair as if there were only darkness. This week has a point. God wants for us and for the world justice, holiness, blessing, salvation, joy. Just as John’s Gospel tells us 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,” (John 3.17) so the servant song tells us that “the former things have come to pass, and new things [God] now declares.” (Isaiah 42.9) That’s why the very next verse after tonight’s servant song says this: “Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth! Let the sea roar and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.” (Isaiah 42.10) This week is about salvation and joy.[3] There is darkness but light will come. We know that because there is light before darkness.

So we come to this painting which has been my lens for tonight’s reflection on the text. The painting is called “Daybreak” and it is by an artist in New Zealand named Cornelis Monsma. Mr. Monsma says the inspiration for the painting was Psalm 18.28: “You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.” (NIV)

There is certainly much light in this painting. But what most captures my imagination is the light seems to be coming out of the waters, or at least what I see as water. For me the painting suggests the very first verses of Genesis: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1.1-4) In the creation God brought light out of that which was void and formless and dark. God’s saving work is the same as God’s creating work. God’s purpose through creation, and through Isaiah’s servant, and through Jesus Christ is the same purpose. The purpose is light. Light before darkness and light after darkness.

What also stirred my imagination in this painting was the coming up out of the water. Christians cannot think of coming up from water without thinking of baptism. And remember that while almost all our baptisms are done by sprinkling, the Bible’s experience of baptism is a going down under the waters. The apostle Paul said that when we are baptized, we are baptized into Christ’s death — going down under — so we may be raised like Christ — coming up from.[4] I see all of that in this painting, all of which is also here in this week most holy.

I read a story awhile back that could easily have happened to me when I was a kid. I was never a good or strong swimmer. I’m still not. I read about a boy like me who couldn’t swim very well. So he always swam with an inner tube. One day he was swimming in a creek not far from home and he was getting a little daring. He threw inner tube out in front of himself and then swam to it and held on. But he got in over his head and couldn’t reach the inner tube. With each stroke of his arms to catch up with the inner tube, the water pushed it further and further away. He began to panic. There was no place to put his feet on the bottom or stand up.

He hollered for help but wasn’t sure if anyone heard him. Then he went under. There was no bottom, nothing to stand on. He went deeper and deeper and panicked more and more, which drove him deeper still.

Then he remembered something his father had told him. Relax, and the water will push you up. He didn’t know what to do. Trust what his father said or sink ever deeper into the darkness as he tried to push himself up? It was so dark he couldn’t see even with eyes wide open. But somehow he relaxed and moved nothing.

He felt himself beginning to rise. The water was pushing him up. He did nothing but let the water do its work. He broke the surface into the light and then saw his father running to help.[5]

Decades later, he still remembers every moment of that experience. He remembers going down under the waters. He remembers coming up from the waters — into the light. He had been baptized as an infant. But in that creek he truly experienced the meaning of baptism. Down into the darkness and up into the light.

I find it most compelling in this week most holy that late on Saturday night we will come to the Great Vigil of Easter. We will read the story of creation and salvation. We will renew our baptismal vows. And then in words most ancient, I will say to you, “Remember your baptism and be thankful. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Light before darkness. Light after darkness.

[1] The four “Servant Songs” in Isaiah are: Isaiah 42.1-9; Isaiah 49.1-6; Isaiah 50.4-11; and Isaiah 52.13-53.12.

[2] The servant is corporate sometimes and in other places an individual, at times clearly Israel (41.8-9; 44.1-2, 21; 45.4; 48.20) but also with a mission to Israel (49.5-6).

[3] “The God of creation thus summons the servant into God’s in-breaking, about-to-spring-forth works of liberation and renewal.” Christine Roy Yoder , www.workingpreacher.org, Internet, 13 January 2008.

[4] “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life ” (Romans 6.3-4)

[5] Gerald Rounds, “In Over My Head,” www.goodpreacher.com/backissuesread.php?file=4835er , Internet, 25 January 2008.