“For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”(2 Cor. 4:6).
“Christ, whose glory fills the skies, / Christ, the true, the only light, / Sun of Righteousness, arise! / Triumph o’er the shades of night: / Dayspring from on high be near; / Daystar, in my heart appear.” That’s the Anglican priest and poet Charles Wesley, in the well-known hymn, drawing a parallel between the rising of the sun at dawn of day, and the coming of Jesus Christ into the world.
It’s not a new thought: hymn writers have been doing this practically since the beginning. “O splendor of God’s glory bright, / O thou that bringest light from light, / O Light of Light, life’s living spring, / O Day, all days illumining.” That’s St. Ambrose of Milan, a great composer in his day of popular jingles. In the fourth century, crowds of theological adversaries would gather in the streets and try to drown each other out with competing lyrics. Ambrose’s point in all this versifying was that Jesus Christ was “God from God, Light from Light” as we say in the Nicene Creed. For Bishop Ambrose, nothing could dim the splendor of God’s glory.
It’s easy to see the connection, especially on a brilliant summer’s day. The sun brings light and warmth, suggesting a correlation with the God who made the world and gives life to all things. The rising of the sun heralds a new day, full of hope and possibility. The light of day brings clarity and increases our range and vision. All of this makes it a fitting emblem of Christ.
Poets use metaphor, where the association of one thing with another enlarges our understanding. In theology, we speak of a spiritual or figurative meaning, where one thing stands for or represents another. When it comes to the sacraments, outward and visible signs can actually be the means by which an inward and spiritual grace is given: as in the Eucharist, “this is my body, given for you.” Metaphoric, symbolic, sacramental words communicate meaning and give us insight.
All of this tracks back to St. Paul in our second reading, who brought into explicit focus the relationship between the creation of the light by God in Genesis, Chapter One, and the light of Christ. “For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). St. Paul is establishing a correlation between two moments of divine initiative: between the creation of the world, that begins with light, and the world’s recreation through the light we see in the face of Christ.
St. Paul is not alone in making this connection. When the Gospel of John says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (Jo. 1:5), it’s the same connection between creation and recreation; between the light of Genesis One and the light of Christ. John even begins his Gospel with a reference to the start of Genesis, “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1), consciously rephrasing it, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jo. 1:1). To quote yet another hymn, “Christ is the world’s true light,” the one who makes the world in the beginning and then remakes it again.
Poets deal with metaphors, the likening of one thing to another, but St. Paul in our reading is doing something more. He’s telling us that it is the same God at work in both: not that the light of the first day is similar to or symbolic of the light of Christ, but that the one light is continuous with the next. The light that first burst forth when the world was made is now focused in the face of Christ. In him, we can see it. God is at work in the formation of the world, and in its re-formation through Jesus Christ. There’s more than metaphor at play here; rather, a reality that is actually present, and even now transforming the world.
Christ is the image of God, as St. Paul says in our reading, and the One who made humanity in his image is now transforming us into the likeness of Christ. Our confirmands are showing us the way, by renewing their baptismal vows, and inviting us to do the same. It was by baptism that we first became one with Christ, and began to reflect his glory; it is by the grace of that baptism that we are renewed by the Holy Spirit, through prayer and the laying on of hands. In the Eucharist, we come to the altar to receive the gift of grace through Christ’s Body and Blood, given to us in these sacramental signs. We become more faithful reflectors as we grow in grace.
In the hearts and faces of our fellow worshippers this morning we see the reflection of the glory of God. “Christ, whose glory fills the skies, / Christ, the true, the only light, / Sun of Righteousness, arise! / Triumph o’er the shades of night: / Dayspring from on high be near; / Daystar, in my heart appear.”