December 4

John 1: ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

Dear Jesus, I pray that my life might point to you, that my words might proclaim the joy of knowing you, and that the light that shines through my life and my words might be only and simply a reflection of your Light in me. Amen.

“A witness to the Light”…… I have often pondered these words. In my own life I have asked many times – “Am I a witness to the Light?” John was born for a particular purpose, a purpose defined by God and witnessed to by his father Zachariah. His calling was both announced and confirmed. I sometimes wonder if my calling is not one received at conception, affirmed by family and friends, and that I had little choice but to find myself writing about and reflecting these words on this page at this particular time in my life - “A witness to the Light…….”

In Luke 1 Zachariah begins to prophesy concerning his son. Luke records:

⁷⁶ And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
   for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
⁷⁷ to give his people the knowledge of salvation
   through the forgiveness of their sins,
⁷⁸ because of the tender mercy of our God,
   by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
⁷⁹ to shine on those living in darkness
   and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”  ⁸⁰ And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.

The prophetic role John embraced has been transferred. There is another who points toward the Messiah. We are a light set on a hill, according to Jesus (Mat. 5:14-16). The task first given to John the Baptist has now been given to us. Though we cannot call ourselves the forerunner of the first Advent, we are in fact the Forerunner to every Advent to follow. We have The Truth. We have been given the task of pointing the world toward the Messiah, the same calling John was birthed to accomplish. Our message is the same: to give his people the knowledge of salvation; the forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus; to display and proclaim the tender mercies of God; to point to the Light that ushers us from the shadow of death and shines upon those living in darkness; to guide our feet on the path of peace.
 

How can we insure that The Light we are given does not become a new form of darkness? As a Church we often move toward one of two extremes in our present day proclamation. First, we find ourselves preaching judgment and condemnation. When we do this we are undermining the entire purpose for the coming of the Christ Child. Jesus did not enter this world to condemn us, but to forgive us. If our message communicates anything other than this, we have missed the meaning of Advent. Many Christians today are busy comparing themselves to others, finding ways to feel good about their own piety and morality; they have consistently missed the true meaning of Light. Light is in the world to expose darkness for the purpose of redemption and transformation, not in order that we might proclaim ourselves worthy of God’s love and acceptance. Advent is God’s eternal proclamation of acceptance. John goes forth with a message of repentance not because repentance is needed in order to receive the Messiah, but precisely because repentance is the natural consequence of the forgiveness and mercy the Messiah brings. We do not repent in order to be forgiven, we repent in order to highlight that forgiveness found in Christ is in fact a reality in our lives. Many well-meaning, church going, Bible thumping Christians today have this order reversed. They do not embrace a repentance built upon Advent, but rather an Advent made possible only by repentance. Which comes first, forgiveness or repentance? Which comes first, Advent or new birth? Which comes first, the Love and Forgiveness of Christ, or the change and transformation of those who follow Him? Advent declares forever that God seeks us in the midst of and in spite of our darkness.
 

One example of this occurs each time we witness brothers and sisters rejecting one another. If I break fellowship with you then I have already assumed that my version of faith is superior to yours. There is something about your faith that causes me to fear contamination, which causes me to fear that somehow your beliefs and practices will   rub off on me. The instant I do this I am denying the message of Advent. Advent is about a Savior who came to set the captives free, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable time of the Lord (See Luke 4:18,19) There is little room for condemnation and judgment as Jesus comes to His people offering forgiveness and reconciliation. Many of us are comfortable with this concept of forgiveness, in theory, and we certainly want others to love and accept us just as we are. We are just not so comfortable giving this same “wiggle room” to others when it comes to the gift of grace for them. Instead of making a way for Light to expose, in order that love and forgiveness might transform us, we hide our true selves in the darkness of some form of legalistic righteousness, hoping never to be “found out” by those we work very hard to hide from.
 

Sadly, we are often found to be a dis-fellowshipping people in the midst of a fallen world where each person we encounter is just as close to the condemnation we foolishly pretend does not apply to us. We have convinced ourselves that light is in us, when in fact there is only one Light in this World, and He came to us as a Babe in a Cave. He is not found in the mirror. We need this Light as much as any of those we choose to reject and abandon. John calls us back to the Light for exposure and forgiveness. The Spirit calls us back to the Light for exposure and forgiveness. John’s purpose and the Church’s purpose unite in the prophecy of Zachariah:

Luke 1:⁷⁸ because of the tender mercy of our God,
   by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
⁷⁹ to shine on those living in darkness
   and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
 

Advent is a season of reconciliation, and reconciliation is the very heart of the reason Jesus came to us. Might we find ourselves rising from the “shadow of death” as we allow Jesus to “guide our feet into the path of peace”.