This sermon and the worship service it was preached were recorded on Friday to viewed at home on Sunday due to severe winter weather causing us to cancel our in-person worship on Sunday. It felt a bit like the early days of Covid when I had to preach to an empty congregation as we recorded worship each week to be watched on Sunday morning. We switched to the recorded service plan on Thursday morning, so my sermon prep time was cut short. Fortunately for me, this sermon is part of the ongoing series on light in Isaiah, so I had some ideas already brainstormed before this week.
Before preaching the sermon, I shared an idea for an at-home Time with Young Disciples. I invited the parents/adults to do the following: 1. take their young disciple into a room and bring their phone with a flashlight. 2. Turn out the lights in the room and point out to the young disciples that even in the darkness, you are with them. Like God who finds us even in the darkness. 3. Turn on flashlight and shine it around to show how light works in the darkness. 4. Eventually, turn on the overhead light and talk about God's desire for light to shine through all the darkness.
I think that exercise reflects some of the points in the sermon.
“Into the darkness” Isaiah 49: 1-7; Matthew 4: 12-22; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; January 25, 2026
Isaiah 9: 1-7
]But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2
[b]The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.
3
You have multiplied exultation;[c]
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing plunder.
4
For the yoke of their burden
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5
For all the boots of the tramping warriors
and all the garments rolled in blood
shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
6
For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7
Great will be his authority,[d]
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Introduction: into the darkness.
Move 1: think of the darkest place you have ever been,
or Imagine what it might be like to be in complete darkness.
a. Maybe it is a place.
1. a dark basement with no windows?
through the years, I have discovered sanctuaries can be really dark places.
Before phones and their flashlights, I sort of enjoyed the challenge of walking into a pitch dark sanctuary to
(I’ve run into a baptismal font a time or two)
or imagine being outside at night somewhere with clouds covering the lights in the sky and it is pitch dark
speaking of phones with flashlights, I suspect most of us seldom find ourselves in the dark very long because we just turn on our flashlight.
2. Or imagine not a dark place physically, but a dark place you have been emotionally
you have received bad medical news and before you can rally around a treatment plan, you are in a place of darkness,
full of doubt and fear.
or you face what seems to be an overwhelming obstacle in your life
c. hear the good news the prophet Isaiah announces:
1. God has come into the darkness to bring us light.
2. As a boy Robert Louis Stevenson was intrigued by the work of the old lamplighter who went about with a ladder and a torch, setting the street lights ablaze for the night. One evening in Edinburgh, Scotland, as young Robert stood watching with childish fascination, his parents heard him exclaim, "Look, look! There is a man out there punching holes in the darkness!"
3. Isaiah gives us the image of the God who comes to punch holes in the darkness so that we can see the light.
Move 2: The people who heard Isaiah may have been looking around for who would come to bring light into their darkness.
at different times, they did find some light in their darkness.
for example, King Cyrus, who makes it possible for those who have been exiled to return to Jerusalem,
a. But, in the coming of Christ, God came into the darkness in a life-changing,
world altering way
that declares there will always be light coming into the darkness.
1. We hear the Gospel of Matthew makes this claim about Jesus.
2. Jesus has been baptized;
the voice of God from the heavens has declared Jesus is God’s beloved;
Jesus has been tempted by the devil, but did not give in to temptation;
now, jesus is about to begins his ministry
a momentous occasion.
3. As the Gospel of Matthew tries to explain who Jesus is,
Matthew looks back to the words of the prophet Isaiah.
b. even as we experience the darkness waiting to see the light, we are not alone.
2. the one who comes to live among us,
joins us in the darkness, even before we can see the light.
b. Go back to the places of darkness you imagined earlier
those places of darkness are not just waiting for the light to shine in them,
but they are places
c. the light Jesus brings does not shine by earthly powers;
the light Jesus brings is not funded by the riches of the world
the light Jesus brings does not shine through dominating others and demanding capitulation
the light Jesus brings is powered by love.
1. In the darkness, Jesus extends the love of God by joiing wiht us.
in the darkness, Jesus shines the light of love that reveals the brokenness of worldly powers
in the darkest of moments when Jesus was crucified on the cross by the powers of the state,
we hold forth our hope in the God of resurrection who light and love will overcome all things, even death.
2. martin Luther King, Jr., whose legacy we celebrated earlier this week, “darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.” (Read more here: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/darkness-quote-mlk/)
3. When Isaiah gives voice to titles we can give to the one who comes as the light in the darkness, the titles are
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.
Those titles do not speak about earthly power,
or might makes right,
but they speak to a God of love who desires peace.
Move 3: A final thought - notice the first thing in ministry Jesus does.
he call disciples.
a. the light that shines in the darkness of the world needs disciples to bring the light.
1. Imagine one of those concerts scenes when the lights are off and suddenly everyone turns on their flashlights on the phones and start waving them.
or, remember the end of the Christmas Eve service,
we sing “Silent Night”
and light candles,
we turn off the lights,
and the light shining forth from the gathered congregation makes it so we do not notice that the sanctuary has no lights on and would be a place of darkness, except for all the people,
all of us who have carry the light into the darkness.
b. The God who joins us in the darkness is often made known by the persons who come join with us in the darkness.
1. The light that shines into the darkness often emanates from the ones who follow Christ and speak truth to power,
the one who bring the justice of God to the injustices in the world
the ones who feed the hungry
the ones who are peacemakers working toward reconciliation in the world
the ones who clothe the naked
the ones who bring hope to the hopeless.
2. We read a story about jesus calling the first disciples.
a powerful story of people giving up the lives they know to follow Christ.
we marvel and wonder what we would have done.
But the truth is, the call of Christ comes to each of us.
the people in darkness desperately need to see the light
and Christ sends us.
Conclusion: Interesting note - if you Google the darkest places on earth, you get a list of dark places like Atacama Desert in Chile
or Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania. (https://telescopeguides.com/darkest-places-on-earth/)
But, I discovered the darkest places are not necessarily dark as I might describe.
the darkest places on earth are defined as the defined places where there is almost no artificial light from humans,
places where people can look to the heavens and see the celestial lights better than anywhere else.
As if there is no complete darkness anywhere because the heavens bring forth light.
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”
Matthew 4: 12-22 12 Now when Jesus[a] heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
15 “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the gentiles—
16 the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
light has dawned.”
17 From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”[b]
18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishers. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
