The human eye is an amazing sensory organ. Each eye has about 125 million rods and cones, specialized cells that can detect the light of a single candle at a distance of twenty miles.
Not only can we see a very small amount of light, but we can also perceive its color. The traditional rainbow is represented by seven bands of color. In fact we can see millions of variations in light, millions of colors. I once applied for a job as a quality control inspector in a factory that made plastic and vinyl parts for automobile interiors. It's important for the parts to match the specified color. If they don't they're scrap. The interviewers gave me a set of 30 blocks all painted pink. I was to arrange them in a line on order from somewhat light pink to slightly darker pink. The interviewer was impressed when I got all 30 shades in exactly the correct order. I didn't get the job, which is probably just as well, but if pink socks ever come into fashion I'll be able to sort mine with precision.
One of the wonders of our world is that it is full of light, even on dark and gloomy days in January. Yet only a tiny sliver of all this radiance is visible to us. Our eyes select only visible light. That's light of a relatively short wavelength. Those millions of colors we see are just a tiny slice of the electromagnetic spectrum. As amazing as the human eye is, most of the light of the world is completely invisible to us.
Take, for example, infrared light. We can't see it, but every heat-emitting object glows with infrared light. If we could see infrared light we could tell at a glance whether the mug across the room still holds hot tea or was left there yesterday. That would be even less useful than the ability to sort pink socks. Certain species of shrimp can see infrared light. They live at the bottom of the ocean where no visible light penetrates. Their survival depends on volcanic vents of super hot water. In that environment the ability to see heat is a great advantage.
"Arise, shine," says the prophet Isaiah, "for your light has come . . . nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising." Simeon said the baby Jesus was "a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." Magi from the East were guided to the Christ child by a heavenly light. Jesus called himself, "the light of the world" and is described as brilliantly radiant at the transfiguration and again at the resurrection. Clearly, the light of the world which is Christ goes way beyond the visible spectrum. How often did blind people see the "light" when sighted people did not? What might we perceive when we see by the light of the Lord?
Since the horrors of 9/11 angry voices, angry Christian voices have denounced Islam. Pat Robertson declared, "I've taken issue with our esteemed President in regard to his stand in saying Islam is a peaceful religion . . . it's just not." One Southern Baptist leader thundered, "The President is wrong," that Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God. We are rightfully outraged by anti-American diatribes published in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile in the mainstream American press one columnist called for a holy war on Muslims. She wrote, "we should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." These are the Christian voices that dominate the print and broadcast media.
There is another vision. Wise men from the East saw the light and came to worship Christ. The Greek word translated as "wise men" is "magi," the root word for "magician". This is something of an embarrassment. The Hebrew scripture condemns magicians and sorcerers who were not entertainers but pagan priests. The magi studied the star in order to discern events on earth which is another embarrassment since astrology is also condemned by the Scriptures. If they were priests who studied the stars and came from the East most likely they were Zoroastrian priests who set out from Babylon, southeast of present day Baghdad and directly east of Bethlehem. The religious differences between the magi and Jesus were greater than the differences between Baghdad and Bethlehem today.
People of other religious traditions can see by The Light of the World. Our Christian story, from its very beginning, includes people of other faiths. They are shown in a favorable light even though their traditions are condemned elsewhere in Scripture. The magi see what most powerful leaders of Jesus' own faith could not or would not. Then they returned home to their own religious traditions.
These days voices of anger are raging against Islam; voices of our Christian sisters and brothers. Anger is a byproduct of fear. These days we need to respect people of other faiths and our own faith with whom we disagree. We need to listen to one another. We need to pray together. As we resist the dark forces of fear and revenge the Light of the World will illuminate the path that can still lead to peace.
The Light of the World shines, and the inadequacies and injustice of every worldly system are exposed - including our own. Everyone agrees with the basic aim that no child be left behind. Who is going to argue that a large portion of our nation's children ought to be abandoned to the pit of hopelessness and despair and ignorance?
But if no child is to be left behind we need to do more than tinker with the education system and draw up standardized tests. By far the strongest indicator of a child's success or failure in school is family income. No matter what curriculum is used or how highly trained and dedicated the teachers, the less money a family has the further behind their children are likely to be left. Yet we put up with an economy in which a company's top executive is paid 1000 times more than the company's lowest paid worker. Nowhere else in the industrialized world is there such an enormous gap, and it is growing.
I know some people say such a disparity in income is a necessary evil in our phenomenally productive capitalist system. Thing is once we accept a "necessary evil" it comes to look more and more necessary and less and less evil. The Light of the World won't let us off so lightly. Children are being left behind. We need to look at that again.
Sometimes the Light of the World reveals something good where we hadn't noticed it before. Herod ruled Judea when Jesus was born. His reign was an orgy of violence and death. Full of insecurity, Herod ordered the killing of his brother-in-law, his uncle, and his wife. Fearing loss of power, he went on to execute his mother-in-law, a son, and then to be on the safe side two more sons. Dark days indeed!
Yet a light shown in the darkness and the darkness could not overcome it. These are dark days in Baghdad, but there is light over there. Power generation now exceeds prewar levels. Teachers earn 12 to 25 times their former salaries. Doctors' salaries are 8 times what they were under the rule of Saddam. More than 22 million Iraqi children have received vaccinations. There is much greater political and religious freedom in Iraq today than there was a year ago. Those of us who doubted the wisdom of going to war in the first place and grieve the continuing violence must also acknowledge these truths.
Sometimes the Light of the World shines when we're not even aware of it. Last Wednesday Greenbelt threw itself a big party. On New Year's Eve there were bands and games and shows and frivolity and foolishness - free of drugs and alcohol. It was not just a party. It was also a sanctuary. For some of our sisters and brothers home is not a safe place on New Year's Eve. For them the community celebration was a refuge, an escape from chaos and abuse. Spotlights lit up the band. The Light of the World illuminates a deeper purpose. For all the times we fail the most vulnerable in our midst, sometimes we serve them without even realizing it.
Christ, the Light of the World, has come to us. When we see by that light we will be disturbed and gratified. When we see by that light we will be challenged, and we will be given hope. What do you see by the Light of the World?
Amen.