"The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light"

JMJ+OBT
"Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen." Mt4:15-16

This verse has appeared several times in the two Theology courses that I'm talking this semester: Christology and Mariology (a pretty epic combination if I do say so myself). Every once in a while in these course taught by two different awesome, old, wise, and holy Hungarian Cistercians Fr. Roch, and Abbot Denis, I feel like I get a brief glimpse into mysterious unity of just everything. It's like for a split second I see how certain aspects of our faith, of reality all tie together into a complete whole. They never last long and they're never much more than a feeling; I can never fully reconstruct the comprehensive understanding of that moment but still its like for a brief second I'm given the blessing of perceiving a little bit of truth. If it is as the Church says and ultimately Truth finds it concrete reality in the person of Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, then those little flashes are in a way an encounter with God, all be it, one severely limited by our human finiteness and lack of faith. But they are a glimpse of God nonetheless even if as the apostle to the Gentiles says, "At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully" 1 Cor 13:12

Back to the first verse though, this quotation of Isaiah by Jesus has been at the center of a few of these "aha!" moments the last couple weeks. The start of Christ's public ministry in Capernum on the Sea of Galilee and His childhood in Nazareth were a scandal to the Jews. Even one of the future apostles, Nathaniel remarked, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" when Phillip came and told him he had found the Messiah: Jesus, son of Joseph, of Nazareth. Nathaniel's consternation was understandable though for Nazareth a part of Galilee, as the verse from Isaiah says, was the land of the Gentiles, half pagan territory. That God chose to raise up the shoot of Jesse there among the impure was almost inconceivable to the Jewish mind of the time, a true "sign of contradiction." Through his Providence though, God's only son was raised in Nazareth, at least in part, to show from the very beginning that God's plan of salvation was for all people, not only the Jews. There is something so powerful to me in this verse from Matthew: "the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen."

Just as beautiful is the full prophecy from Isaiah chapter 8 that Jesus is quoting:

First [the Lord] degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the end he has glorified the seaward road, the land west of the Jordan, the District of the Gentiles. Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness;/ for there is no gloom where but now there was distress./ The people who walked in darkness/ have seen a great light;/ upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom/ a light has shone./ You have brought them abundant joy/ and great rejoicing,/ as they rejoice before you as at the harvest,/ as men make merry when dividing spoils./ For the yoke that burdened them,/ the pole on their shoulder,/ and the rod of their taskmaster/ you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.

Embracing the Catholic both/and approach I see at least two distinct meanings in these verses. The first is that we are the people who "sit in darkness". I especially like how the verb is in the present tense. It reminds me of Isaiah 65:1, "I was found [by] those who were not seeking me; I revealed myself to those who were not asking for me." In our stupor in the squalor of sin the great light of Christ has shown upon us and his message(the very next thing He says in Matthew after quoting Isaiah), "Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand" has resounded through the night. As the Apostle says, "While we were still sinners Christ died for us." Rm 5:8. We did nothing to seek this light or the message of our salvation. We are powerless to save ourselves.

However this freely given gift of Christ, of Life itself, requires a response and therein lies the second meaning. "You are the light of the world," as Christ tells His disciples in the next chapter of Matthew. We are called to be reflections, images of our God and savior and so not only are we those who walked in darkness (notice the past tense of the verse in Isaiah) but we are now also the light which has arisen in the land overshadowed by death. As part of the Body of Christ, the Church, we are called to make present to whole world the saving message of Christ. As Isaiah says, the the yoke that burdened us, the pole on our shoulder, and the rod of our taskmaster, sin, has been smashed by Christ's sacrifice on the cross. What else could our response be but "abundant joy, and great rejoicing" before our Lord. We are called to imitate Christ's humility for He became like us in all things except sin, being born in a pagan, backwater region, so that He could make known his perfect Love to all peoples. Like our Master, Christ, we too have been put, through God's Providence, into a specific place in the world to bring the great light to those who sit in the shadow of death. We are called to be in the world but not of it. We are not seraphims descending from on high, we are of the same people, culture, and nationality as those that in sit in the darkness and we are called to rise up from where we sit to make the Love of Christ known to those around us.

How is God calling you to make the land overshadowed by death a little more illumined by the love of Christ? God bless you dear brothers and sisters, you are in my prayers always, and until next we meet, see you in the Eucharist!