When Things Are Darkest

When Things are Darkest

Matthew 4:12-23

One of the darkest times in all of the Bible comes early in our faith story. We read at Genesis 6:5-6 - “The LORD saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” It was at this time that God chose Noah to build the ark before God would destroy the earth with the great flood.

I recently acquired a book published in 1797, titled “Ben Hafi.” The premise is that Ben Hafi has come into possession of some secret scrolls that were found in a cave. The scrolls tell us the story of Mahal, one of the brothers of Noah. Ben Hafi shares the stories on these scrolls with the Caliph, or the leader of the Muslims, in order to win his favor.

The scrolls cast Noah as a kind of “proto-Muslim,” because he, along with his family, was saved for the purpose of helping God re-create the world. In this book, it is clear that the way of salvation is to submit to the will of God completely and without question. This is in contrast to the way of salvation for Israel, which is to struggle with the will of God, questioning even God so that we can be clear about God’s true will.

And the scrolls rail against a third way of salvation, the way of the nonreligious, which is to struggle in this life to get as much gold as you can, by anyway that you can, because this life and what we experience in it is all that matters. In this way of thinking, a person was good for nothing except to be a beast of burden, unless they had gold.

In these supposedly-discovered secret scrolls that survived the flood because they were hidden in a cave of the sacred mountain, a story unfolds of the descending and creeping darkness across the face of the earth – the kind of darkness that would force God to destroy the world and then start over. Noah, a descendant of Seth, lived in the light of God’s favor, dwelling simply with his family on a sacred mountain, satisfied to have this life and nothing more. In the darkness of the valley, however, lived the descendants of Cain, and it was for their transgressions that the world had to be destroyed.

One day Mahal, the brother of Noah, goes into the valley to see what it is that the people are doing. He hesitates to actually leave the mountain, because he knows in his heart that curiosity and questioning are against the will of God. But when his daughter disappears, abducted by the men of the valley, Mahal is now forced to go into the valley to save her.

As Mahal looks for his daughter, he encounters pleasant people, good food, fine homes, beautiful works of art, and a thirst for knowledge that has led to many comforts in this life. It all seems like a paradise. He eventually finds his daughter, who is not only well and happy, but also married to the Sultan who provides her with every comfort and luxury. It all looks like these people are happy and blessed, these people who have rejected the simple life of the mountain. It all looks as if his daughter has found a better life, and as the father-in-law to the Sultan, he is invited to enjoy these benefits, as well.

But Mahal knows that everything is not what it seems. Mahal knows that while all seems to be light and goodness, it is actually darkness and evil. That which seems to be an advance for the people is actually a moving away from the will of God. Mahal’s anger grows, exactly reflecting the anger of God, whenever anyone tries to learn something new, or whenever anyone questions Mahal’s anger about these things.

This, Ben Hafi tells the Caliph, is why God had to destroy the world. This, Ben Hafi claims, is the darkness that threatens to cover the earth again. And the only appropriate and faithful action is to act on behalf of God with anger that destroys those who do not submit to the will of God.

Remember, this story was published in 1797 – long before our current conflicts between these competing ways of salvation. And depending on the way of salvation you hold dear, it can be easy to see darkness all around us. There is darkness in thinking we do not need God. There is darkness in having gold as our god. There is darkness in persons not living according to the will of God. In all of these traditions, it is easier to point to the darkness than it is to walk in the light.

The people in Jesus’ day knew about darkness. They had struggled with God’s will, seeking what it is that God wanted them to do in even the smallest things in life, but they found themselves under the oppression of the Roman occupation. They had terrible experience in learning that the way of salvation for the Romans was all about acquiring as much wealth and power as they could, since this life is the only one that matters. That is why they enslaved the people, treating them as nothing, so that they could have more gold.

At the time of our reading, the prophecy of Isaiah would not be far from the mind of many of the Jews, particularly in the area of Naphtali and Zebulun. We sometimes forget that names have meaning in the Bible. Naphtali means “my struggle;” Zebulun means “my sacrifice.” It was both a struggle and a sacrifice when the Jewish leaders cooperated with the Romans to the detriment of the people, which is the background of our reading.

Herod’s forces in Jerusalem had arrested John the Baptizer, and he would soon be put to death to silence his criticism of Herod’s evil ways. It was a dangerous time to be a prophet of God. Matthew’s gospel tells us that when Jesus heard the news, he withdrew to Galilee. It almost sounds like Jesus is afraid and is running away; and if we didn’t know any better, we would think that was a reasonable conclusion.

Matthew, in his desire to show that Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies, presents this as a “strategic repositioning.” But there is much more going on here than a simple relocation or an escape from worldly dangers. If anything, Jesus is going to the darkest place he can find.

Capernaum was a little village on the shore of the Sea of Galilee that had been around for about 150 years. It is likely that it was known by another name before the Romans started moving many Jews to this area to be fishermen working to feed the Roman garrison. The houses in Capernaum, known as insulas, housed between 40 and 50 people each – an early version of “the projects.” We know that at least three of the apostles who lived there used to live in Bethsaida just a few miles away – but they had been displaced by the Romans.

So we know that the people of Capernaum are poor, that they are living in crowded conditions, and that they are working under pressure from the occupying army. We can also guess that they were not very happy about it because of the name of the village: Capernaum, or Nahum’s village. And names have meaning in the Bible.

Nahum was a prophet during the occupation of Israel by the Assyrians, during the reign of King Hezekiah. All Nahum did was call for the complete destruction of the occupying enemy by the chosen agent of God, the messiah. You can almost hear the thought process of the villagers: What shall we call our new home? How about the house of the one who calls for our oppressor’s complete annihilation? With that name, the messiah will be able to find us, and know that we are ready to follow him.

Capernaum had the potential to be a powder keg, just waiting for the match to be struck by a military messiah. Anger at the injustice is the strength of the people. And yet, Jesus goes to Capernaum and proclaims to them, “Repent, for the kingdom of God has come near.”

The prophet Isaiah said to the people of struggle and sacrifice, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” Jesus had gone to Capernaum to call the people out of their darkness and into the light of God’s grace. Jesus came to enlighten those who were overshadowed by death, and to guide their feet into the way of God’s life. Jesus went to Capernaum to be the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome him.

It is shortly after this that Jesus invites a few of these people to follow him. The invitation to follow Jesus might not have been received the way we popularly interpret it today. If we had been those fishermen, our first thoughts would likely not have been about evangelism.

When Jeremiah and Amos, Habakkuk and Zephaniah talked about fishing for people, it was in the context of capturing and killing them. After all, when we go fishing today, it is usually not our intent to take the fish home as pets. So, apart from centuries of preachers using this passage as an evangelism pitch, the invitation could have been heard by the people of Capernaum in a darker context. They could have heard a calling to follow a military messiah to begin the war against the Romans.

But these first disciples were soon to learn, since all those preachers were right, is that they are being called out of the darkness in order to go fishing for people to show them the light of Jesus. And when we walk in the light of Christ, we do not strike out at the darkness, nor at the people who live in it.

John Justus, a monk from the early 16th century wrote, “Whatever is present in our intellect, in our will, or in our memory that is not God, or which has not its source in God; that is to say, whatever in us is not for God’s sake, is a barrier between God and the soul – it is darkness. . . . The meekness with which Christ endured hunger, thirst, cold, harsh words, lashes, and wounds, when he was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before his shearer opened not his mouth— that meekness is for us a light.”
Justus continued, “By it we see how useless it is to be angry, how useless to threaten. By it we accept our own suffering, and do not serve Christ merely from routine. By it we learn how much is required of us, and that when suffering comes our way we should bewail our sins in silent submission, since he endured affliction with such patience and long-suffering, not for his own sins, but for ours.”

When we are in darkness, like the people visited by Mahal or the people oppressed in Capernaum, then suffering and sacrifice are sufficient reasons to go and fish for people to hold responsible, and to make them pay for your suffering. Yet, if we are standing in the light that shines in the darkness, then we go fish for people in order to show them the way, the truth, and the light!

Earlier, I mentioned the differing ways of salvation – of submitting without question, of struggling with the questions, and even setting aside the questions to go for the rewards in this life. Jesus, by his going to Capernaum, offers us the true way of salvation. We must repent; we must turn away from the darkness, so that we can walk into the light of the kingdom of God, which comes near to us in Jesus Christ. Jesus still calls us to fish for people, to bring them into the light. Let us stand and listen to him call!

344 Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore