Hear the words of the Collect for the Second Sunday after Christmas:

Almighty God, who hast poured upon us the new light of Thine incarnate Word; grant that the same light enkindled in our hearts may shine forth in our lives.

May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be alway acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. We pray in the name of The Father, and of The Son, and of The Holy Ghost. Amen.

The Collect for today makes the point that the living of a Christian life is one that is supposed to be shown in two ways. The first is that Christ resides within the heart of a person and not just on their lips. And second, that Christ is shown forth through the living of this person just as light shines forth from a lantern. Yet, if this light of Christ is in a heart that, and to use the image from Scripture “is hidden under a basket,” what good does this light do, both for the person and for others? The answer is, of course, no good at all.

What is it that would cause someone not to show the light of Christ in their lives, just like hiding a lantern under a basket? Well in many cases others have hurt us emotionally, physically, and spiritually which may cause us to feel the need to be defensive and protective of what and who we are. Now while it is certainly true that a certain amount of prudence and good sense are indeed necessary in this world, if we take those measures too far we might become paranoid instead of prudent. Like all things good, if they are taken too far or misused, they become harmful instead of helpful.

We need food to survive, yet if we take the need for food too far, we become a glutton. If we take desire for something or someone too far, it becomes an obsession. If we take prudence too far, we become mistrustful of the motives of others and trust no one. And there are many more examples that I could give, and that you may have even experienced in your own lives.

So how do we know when we are in danger of going too far in any of these areas? The first thing that we must understand is that the truth that we bear within us is not diminished if someone else does not believe it. It does not really matter to me if someone says that what I believe is a fairy tale or a myth. If I attempt to answer that comment, and that person does not choose to listen to me, then, for as catastrophic as that decision is to that individual, my faith is not diminished nor is the truth of God diminished.

Second, we do not have to defend God’s honor against every crackpot or jackanapes that comes along. God is perfectly able to defend His own honor. So once you have made your defense known, move on and shake the dust from your feet. We are to be just as the Seventy were instructed to do when our Lord sent them out with the caution of Luke 9:5 ringing in their ears:

And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.

Third, when bad things happen to us, and they will, then learn what is possible to learn from the experience and then forgive the person who harmed us. I did not say we had to trust them, or like them, or socialize with them ever again, but we must forgive them, not for their benefit, but for ours, not for their salvation, but for ours. For if we do not, the harm they have done to us will continue.

What we are called upon to do is to pray for them that God will do for them what He has done for us, saved us from a being separated from Him for eternity. Our Lord tells us this in Luke 6:28:

Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

We can only do this is we forgive them the harm that they have done to us. This is the hardest thing that our Lord calls upon us to do. This is especially true when we know that bad things have happened to us unjustly and intentionally.

There are three reasons why bad things happen to us. The first is that we were ignorant of what the Word of God says and therefore we did something that we should not have done and got into trouble. I don’t really buy this, as even from a very early age we know what we should not do, but it is possible I suppose.

Second is that we knew what the Word of God said not to do and we did it anyway. If we steal something and wind up in jail, it is our fault that this happened. God did not just choose us to have this happen. We were putting our faith in the eleventh commandment, ‘Thou shalt not get caught,’ instead of the Eighth Commandment, “Thou shalt not steal.” Man added the eleventh commandment to help him justify not obeying the Ten Commandments that God created.

The third reason is that even when we are doing everything that we should do and obeying all the rules, as we should, that other people have the free will to harm us for no good reason at all. If another does not seek to live by God’s rules then we may indeed be harmed.

This is no reflection upon us, assuming that we were indeed using the common-sense God gave us. But if we were walking down a dark alley with $20 bills hanging out of our pockets, we should not be surprised or complain when we get mugged.

Yet this third reason for harm is the most devastating to us because we were doing what we should be doing. We were trusting in people and believing the best of them. We were attempting to love them as Christ commands us to do, and we still got burned. Please do not complain to God about this as He had nothing to do with it, and complaining to the person responsible for the harm done to us, which is Satan the real culprit, will only cause them, and him, to roll over laughing.

Yet even in this case, God will use all that others have meant for evil for good, if we will let Him. As I said, we must learn from these events the lessons that it is possible to learn and not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of again. We must forgive and move on to others that we can help and teach so that we may be that lantern which shows the light of Christ and not allow the devil to shut us up within ourselves. I will sum up with a short poem by an anonymous author:

One ship drives east and another drives west

With the self-same wind that blows.

‘Tis the set of the sail and not the gale

That tells us which way it goes.

Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate,

As we journey along through life;

‘Tis the set of the soul that determines the goal

And neither the calm nor the strife.

Amen,

The Rev. Canon John Jacobs