My friends, the theme of the past few Sundays continues again today—if we wondered about being called to be “lights” to our world—whether in fact that is true; we can wonder no longer—because once again it is all over the Scriptures today—as Jesus’ followers, we must walk in his footsteps and shine light into the darkness of people’s lives.

The prophet Isaiah and the psalmist today sharpen our ideas on just what “light and darkness, salvation and refuge,” meant and how all of this instilled great trust in them for a God who watched over and protected them.  The 23^rd psalm in the Scripture translation, The Message speaks well to this notion—of their God “chasing after them all the days of their lives,”

Each of us can attest to times of “light and darkness” in our lives, so we have a sense of what Isaiah meant when he spoke to the people about these concepts.   The Israelites often experienced the attacks of enemies—the Assyrians from the north, for example.  When Isaiah wrote this passage, there had been dark times for the people.  They had watched as their lands were divided up by their conquerors.  And, as with ups and downs in our own lives, the tables turn at one point and the Israelite people come out for the better.  Isaiah reminds them that in all of this, their God was with them.  We sang of this in our opening hymn, “God of Day and God of Darkness.”  The joy the people feel is akin to what they know—the joy of a good harvest—of a job well done. We might add, the birth of a baby, a family member finally landing a job.

For this people there was the sense that one never saved one’s self—salvation or deliverance came out of the goodness of another.  Our faith tells us the same.  Our psalm response today which we sang beautifully, “You are my light and my salvation; of whom should I be afraid?” speaks well to the fact that our God is always with us. For the Israelites, “dark and light” were key ideas.  The dark not only represented an unsafe place, but the forces of evil.  In our day, the dark might still convey such thoughts, especially of “unsafe places” when we are in strange, dark areas, alone.

But “light” was seen as the force that dispelled any danger.  Psalm 27 is all about the overriding theme of trust in God who dispelled all darkness and evil.  All the prophets for years had prophesied that the Messiah would come and that this One would be a “Light” to the Nations.

There is also the aspect of “refuge” in Psalm 27—trust in this good God not only for salvation from evil, but a sense of protection, “May I dwell in your house all the days of my life?”  This statement-question really, not only meant the actual house of prayer, the synagogue, but in the broader sense, the psalmist was asking for an intimate relationship with God. I think we can understand this desire as one that we all share—to know our God ever more completely.  I think each of us has that innate longing to know and understand who God is and in the words of St. Augustine, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

In our own, everyday lives, to know that we are loved and cared for by others is so important and because of this purely, human gift of love, the idea that God could and does love us in the same way is a concept much easier to grasp than for some people who haven’t been loved and cared for in the same way.

This past week, I worked a few days at the hospital and nursing home covering for a colleague who is on maternity leave.  It has been a great joy to step back into this ministry again after being retired for almost two years. Whether in hospital walking with people who are chronically or temporarily ill, or in the nursing home with people facing the sunset of their years; I have always felt that I have the responsibility of bringing them the face of God and if I can do that, then it may be easier for them to believe that God loves them in the same way.

The theme of “light” and “shining that light” continues in the second reading too.    Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is all about helping this people to keep focused on their mission—to live in unity and in love—they can’t do that through petty squabbles he says.  Interesting that Paul gets his information about the strife in Corinth from a woman, Chloe, by name who is apparently head of a household and perhaps an elder in the Church there.  Paul seems to have no trouble taking the word and counsel of a woman—he is also willing to work with women for the good of the Church.  Clerical men of today—take heed!

In essence, the Corinthians seem to have trouble keeping their eyes on Jesus, a problem we all struggle with at times.  Paul sets them straight by basically saying—no one can take Christ’s place—he is the light we need to follow.  Again, we need to think about what Jesus would do in any situation and then do likewise.

This thought moves us right into the gospel message.  Matthew proclaims the establishment of Jesus’ ministry on earth.  With John’s arrest, Jesus knows that John’s time is over and his has come.  We might think that Jesus’ leaving for Capernaum when he hears that John has been arrested is a sign of fear in him, which would be natural, but actually, it’s not fear, only the realization that he needs to begin his own ministry apart from John’s even though his message will be the same as John proclaimed—“Repent, for the kin-dom of God is here, now!”   And in that time there was no better place than Capernaum to begin—a place which was at the crossroads of all trade with Damascus, Syria and Phoenicia.  Capernaum was a seaport town in the region of Galilee.  If Jesus really was afraid, he would have gone to his hometown of Nazareth instead of setting up his residence in a strange place where no one knew him.

It is important for us to understand as much as that is possible, the mind of Jesus so as to get the full import of his actions.  Part of Jesus’ going to Capernaum was to establish his ministry, but also because the people in the region of Galilee were the first to experience the darkness of being overrun by the Assyrians, and it seemed appropriate that this people should be the first to have the “light” shine upon them.  And as usual, Jesus gets right to work—he teaches in the synagogues, he proclaims the Good News, and cures those suffering from disease and illness. In addition, this gospel is a wonderful one for us to look at as we reflect on the whole aspect of “call.”

Diane Bergant, scripture scholar tells us that we should not miss the radical nature of the response of Jesus’ first followers. She reminds us that they were not beggars, but gainfully employed in one of the most stable businesses of the time—fishing. They gave up a great deal to follow him.  The gospel tells us that brothers, James and John left their father to follow Jesus and in their culture where family ties were everything and loyalty to one’s father, so important; this was quite a gift!

We have to believe as we consider this scenario, because Scripture doesn’t do a psycho-emotional review for us, that Jesus must have been such a compelling presence to make these first followers realize that this was all they could do—all, in fact, that they wanted to do—to leave everything and follow him.

When I think of my call to seek ordination to priesthood in a Church that does not see women as legitimate nor acceptable in this role, I find myself and other women like me in the same place as those first disciples. Knowing that there would be opposition and those who wouldn’t understand, I/we knew we must do it just the same—we couldn’t say, “No” to the Spirit of Jesus, calling. And it is also good for us to remember that Jesus’ first followers didn’t go to him—he went into their lives, their space, and called them there, as he calls us!

Jesus calls each of us, friends, not all as radically as these first ones or others since, but yet each of us has been called; that is why each of us claims to be a Christian today.  We are called from something to something else.  For some the call is very clear– others perhaps have experienced an un-ease in their life and ask—“What do you want of me God?” They may have a sense of God tracking them down.

Each call is individual—our God calls us as we need to be called—we are called from something, to something. Most of us are called to live within our life situations, with the call being more about leaving pettiness, meanness, backbiting, absolutizing the Gospel, behind, and taking on mercy, love, justice—a sense of care for all.

Diane Bergant says, in the long run, it is much easier to leave one’s nets behind than one’s prejudices.  She goes on and I paraphrase; if we can do that, we will live lives of servanthood, we will proclaim the gospel through our lives in public and in private, we will move to heal dis-ease in body, mind and spirit of those that we meet, we will work for peace and justice unrelentingly—as I think we will need to do these next 4 years, we will respect the struggles and commitments of others, we will in fact be a light in the darkness—we will be continuing in our time, the ministry of our brother, Jesus, the Christ.  May we each have the strength and perseverance for this awesome task!

Throughout the Christmas Season and Epiphany time, we have been called upon to be “lights to our world,” and today, once again, Isaiah’s challenge is that we continue “lighting up” our world. The challenge, the reminder, that this is indeed our task perhaps falls on deaf ears—it might be that we don’t need to be reminded as much as we need to believe that we can do it—that Jesus didn’t make a mistake in asking us—to be “lights” to others and carry on his message of love.  Our president’s words of, “Yes we can!” seem apropos!

Our Gospel today shows Jesus being pointed out by John as the “Lamb of God,” the one sent for all of us.  Next Sunday we will read of Jesus beginning to gather those around him who will be the first “lights,” following his lead to continue spreading the Good News that God loves and cares about us and will ultimately save us, to be our best selves.

All of the readings of this past week that the church has chosen for us, give us a good idea of what Jesus, the Messiah was like.  People had awaited this Messiah for hundreds of years and even though the prophets had been quite clear in foretelling just who he would be, and how he would be in this world, many people still had the wrong idea.

Jesus showed them quite clearly that he wouldn’t be a Messiah who would physically go to battle to save them from their enemies as much as he would be one who would conquer ideas that said some are included and some are not in God’s love and care.  He would dispel notions that some are clean and acceptable to come into the synagogue and others are not.

In fact in one of the daily readings this past week from Mark’s Gospel, we see Jesus being berated by his disciples and others for the company he is keeping—they tell him, you shouldn’t be seen with sinners, tax collectors—what will people think?  I for one believe that I can’t control what people may think, so I just have to do what seems right.  “You will lose followers,” his disciples worried, if you are seen with such people.  Another reading of this past week shows him curing a leper.  His followers then say that he shouldn’t touch such people.  But very quickly, we come to see that Jesus does not take his cue from the crowd.    He tells them and us that all the people that the world looks at as untouchable, are in fact the people that they should touch, should be seen with, and should keep company with, if in fact they want to be his followers. In Jesus’ eyes, no one is better than any other.

Our walk with Jesus really challenges us to place ourselves in someone else’s shoes so that we cannot just pity the down-trodden, but truly understand them—who, if we are honest, could be us, there but for the grace of God.    Sometimes the only way we can see how our actions may affect others is to walk in their shoes awhile.  I find myself reflecting on the plight of those who have no homes these days, especially with the new Winona Warming Center just opened.

Earlier, in speaking of lepers in the time of Jesus, we need to remember that they were considered untouchables—they had to live outside the city and were shunned by others.  Any kind of affliction that people didn’t understand, and for which there seemed to be no cure, was treated this way and was generally thought to be, and this is just as bad, a punishment for a person’s sins.  So you can see that it got rather complicated and Jesus had his work cut out for him dispelling ideas that weren’t of God.

This reminds me of our trip to the Hawaiian Island of Molokai where St. Damien labored among the “outcasts” of society for so many years until he succumbed to leprosy himself. Now, there are medicines for this horrid illness, but not then. But we need to remember the harm that is done emotionally and spiritually to those we cast aside—the greater injury, I think.

So, what does all this have to do with us today?  Well, we may not have lepers to shun anymore—but we do have many ailments and conditions that we look down on in our present day and the people who are plagued with them.  We as Christians, Jesus’ followers, are called to do all we can to be helpful, caring, understanding and compassionate, especially of those who are considered different from the status quo.  Many times great beauty can be found if we can get past what we see on the surface that may seem “untouchable,” or something that we don’t want to bother with.

I have had the good fortune in the past to work with groups of mentally challenged individuals.  Sometimes these good people have some physical disfigurement that we have to get past, but I have usually found that what is inside is worth the effort.

This reminds me of a present-day example—on January 20^th the Muslim community in Winona will be sponsoring a gathering for speaker, Dr. Tamin Saidi, who is the Imam at the Plymouth, MN mosque. His topic will be, Let’s Make America Great Together. The talk will be uplifting the fact that the Muslim Community here has always been a welcoming group of people and plan to continue that welcome no matter what our president-elect has to say on the issue.

Friends, alcoholism and other drug addictions, along with chronic poverty are just some of the other conditions that befall people in our midst, and sometimes we are apt to look the other way and say, that isn’t my responsibility.  Thankfully, our country is becoming much more accepting of the LGBTQ community and others whom we may consider, different.  We all have the tendency to label people by their affliction or difference rather than simply accepting them for who they are, our sisters and brothers in this big wide, awesome world! The incidence more and more of bullying in our country is another place where some light needs to be shown. We all need to be in contact with our president-elect and insist that he cease with the bullying rhetoric of the campaign and become a true leader, not so much caring for himself, but for the nation that some elected him to care for.

As Jesus’ followers, we are each called to be of service to others, caring, sharing, speaking up for those who can’t speak for themselves—basically doing the right thing! We won’t always be understood for the choices we make, people may laugh at us—but in our hearts we will know that we have done the right thing—what in fact Jesus would have done. We must on a regular basis, ask, what would Jesus do here? We must be convicted of living out his message!

The gospel given us today stops short of the individual calls of those first followers of Jesus that are recorded there.  There is a wonderful invitation bestowed by Jesus to these first followers when the call to follow him was new. In their excitement at having found him they said, “Teacher, where do you live?”  He then invited them as he does each of us these hundreds of years later—“Come and See.”

Our lives as Christians are about just that—continually coming to know and understand Jesus and his message better, and applying it to our present-day lives.  We are given different opportunities “to touch,”  “to be seen with,” “to keep company with,” those whom our world might choose to throw away or to shun.  We can’t miss them if our eyes, ears and hearts are open.  A concrete way that I see our community doing this is through our commitment to the monthly meals at the Catholic Worker House.  For those of you who stay to eat with the recipients of your food, there is the opportunity to come to know someone different perhaps from those you might ordinarily hang out with.  This isn’t always easy, but it is what we are called to—to be open to.

We are blessed with knowing Jesus who continually shows us the way, giving us opportunities to reach out beyond ourselves to a wider world so in need of the light we can shine.  May each of us never tire of coming and seeing how Jesus was with others and then doing the same.

We all received a wonderful message of hope this past Tuesday night when our president, Barack Obama gave us his final address. Beyond simply being proud of who he is and what he has done for our country in the past 8 years for the weakest among us, from ending wars, to securing healthcare for millions of people who had none, to standing up for equality in marriage for all those who love each other, to protecting the environment, to leading the way in making our world safer from nuclear proliferation, to standing up for women in equal pay for equal work and for women’s rights over their own bodies; to give you just the short list, we can look to him as a model of truly, “shining the light” of Jesus to the world.

As he said, and I paraphrase, we all have a part in this—this is our country—we might add, our Church, and each of us needs to do our part so that it can continue to be great! We all need to lace up our shoes, put our feet on the ground and get going! We have great strength my friends, to make change—don’t ever forget that—exercise your strength, your voices—both will be needed these next 4 years!