Let Your Light Shine

Texts: John 14:1-6, Matthew 5:14-16, Psalm 118:24

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God the Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

          Dear Friends in Christ, and especially Pat, Marcy, Mark, Amy, and all the dear family and friends of our brother in Christ, Jim. The Lord be with you! You all have been in our prayers this past week for comfort and peace as you process the loss of your husband, father, brother, friend, and fellow child of God. We’re all mourning the loss of a saint. Not a perfect man, of course, but a saint nonetheless because Jim was a baptized child of God who loved the Lord and trusted fully in the forgiveness of sins won for him by His Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Today we mourn, but not “as those who have no hope,” as Paul reminds us, but as fellow saints in the family of God who are reminded that we have a great hope. A hope in the resurrection of Jesus, which also assures all who have faith in him that one day, we too, will be enjoying the perfection of eternity that Jim now enjoys.

Because those who follow in His Way know the Truth and are promised abundant Life. Which is exactly what Jesus speaks of in the Gospel that was just read. In John 14 we hear Jesus say, “I AM the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.” These are such comforting words for those who might on a day such as this think that the way has been lost, or that truth is hard to find, or that life is just a fleeting thing. Jesus, who always was and always will be reminds us that He is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.

But before He says these words, Jesus is replying to Peter’s question about where He’s going. He’s speaking to a fearful group of disciples who don’t yet understand why it is that He has to go to the cross, to die, and then to be raised from the dead. They so wanted to be with Jesus, but they didn’t understand what He would have to go through to win for them the eternal life that He was promising them.

Some of my final conversations with Jim were ones where he expressed his greatest fears. Much like the disciples were doing. But these were not fears of being separated from Jesus. Jim was confident in his salvation through faith in Christ. His fear was for those who he would leave behind. His fears were for you Pat, and for his children. I pray that these words of Jesus recorded here in the Gospel of John would be as much comfort for you as they were for Jim as they were read to him. “Let not your hearts be troubled; Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”

You know the Way because you know Jesus. And yet, sometimes we can be an awful lot like Thomas, who says, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” And to each of us who express these fears; these doubts; this confusion; Jesus says to us, as He said to the disciples, and as He said to Jim, “I AM the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” These are words of great comfort because we know the Way to the Father, which is through Christ. Jim knew this Way. Jim knew this Truth. And I know that his most fervent prayer was that you all would know that Way and that Truth as well. Because deep down I know that his fear was not as much about the rest of your lives here on this earth, but rather about your salvation. And his heartfelt desire was that you would all be reunited in heaven on the day of the resurrection of all flesh.

Because that’s who Jim was. A caring and loving husband, father, and friend. This statement of Jesus, “I AM the Way, and the Truth, and the Life” is one of the seven I AM statements recorded in the Gospel of John. One of the others is “I AM the Light of the World.” Jesus says this because He is the Light of the World that entered into humanity to “shine in the darkness. And the darkness has not overcome it.” That light shines on each of us. It shines into the darkness of our lives. Into the reality of our sin. And it overcomes that darkness. What’s more, in Matthew, Jesus says, “You are the light of the world.” Not because you produce this light that overcomes the darkness, but because you reflect the Light of Christ that has come into your life.

Everyone who knew Jim knows that he was a giver. And I am so blessed to be the recipient of one of Jim’s gifts. A couple of years ago he called me up and said he wanted to stop by the office. That he had something for me. When he walked in it was wrapped up so I couldn’t tell what it was. I unwrapped it and was amazed at what he had made. For me. I hadn’t known Jim all that long, but he knew that I love golf, and that I love a particular football team. I hope you’ll forgive me for bringing this lamp with the Buffalo Bills logo on it into this sacred space. I realize that there’s only one team to cheer for here in Wisconsin. But more than that, I hope you’ll forgive Jim for having made it. It was a labor of love for a friend that he knew would appreciate it greatly. And I do.

But not just because of the golf clubs that were used to create it. Or because of the logo that it displays. I’ll cherish this gift because now it reminds me of a man who took those words of Jesus to heart. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

If I were to try to turn this lamp on so that it might give us some light it wouldn’t work on its own. That’s because it’s not connected to anything. It only gives light once it’s been connected to a source of power. In the same way the light that you shine out into this world is only possible because you are connected to the one true source of light. The one who is “The Light of the World.” Jim understood this and was a shining light to all because he understood that Christ’s light, come into this world to overcome the darkness, was reflecting from Him. And his desire was that others would see that light “and give glory to the Father who is in heaven.”

One other thing that you may already know about Jim is that his favorite Bible verse was Psalm 118:24, which says, “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” We used that verse as the gradual earlier on in the service. Marcy mentioned to Pastor Gillespie and me that Jim would insist that this verse be read in the King James version. And I think that in itself was a proclamation of the surety that he had in his salvation and the proper response to God’s gifts. Because in almost all other translations, that verse reads, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” It’s a subtle difference, but “let us” doesn’t hold the same weight as “we will.” “We will rejoice and be glad in it” is a sure and certain response to the gifts of this day, this life, and even more importantly the eternal life that Jim now enjoys. And I am absolutely sure that today, even in the midst of sorrow, in this time of grief, that Jim would want us too to “rejoice and be glad” in the gifts that God has given to us. To grieve, yes. But to grieve as those who have hope in the one who is “the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.” In Jesus Christ, who is the Light of the World and who calls us to be reflections of that light to the world around us. And with the sure and certain hope that Jim is now in the nearer presence of his Lord and Savior, where we too who have faith in Christ will be reunited one day with him and all the saints who have gone before us. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.