1.
Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation
of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our
Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word today comes from
Revelation 7:14-17. Today we look at how
the Lord worked through one of His saints to be faithful to the point of death
for the sake of our dear Savior Jesus and His cross. The message is entitled, “St. Lucia,” dear brothers and sisters
in Christ.
2.
St.
Lucia was born in Sicily in the year AD 283 to rich parents, members of the
nobility. But, her father died when she was still very young, and so she and
her mother, Eutychia, were left alone. Eutychia raised her in the Christian
faith, and Lucia was a devout and pious young woman. In fact, even though they
still had much wealth, she desired to devote all her worldly goods to the
service of the poor. But, her mother wouldn’t permit Lucia to do this.
3.
Then
something happened that changed her mother’s mind. Eutychia had been suffering
for several years from a hemorrhage, a chronic flow of blood. Lucia prayed for
her mother’s healing and her prayer was answered. Her mother was restored to
health. In response to this wonderful gift of healing from God, Eutychia allowed
Lucia to have her wish and distribute the majority of her share of the family
wealth to the poor. But, there was one
problem. Lucia had been unwillingly betrothed to a deceitful young man who wasn’t
a Christian. He loved Lucia’s riches more than he loved her. When she gave away
her wealth, he was furious. His greediness moved him to revenge. He went to the
governor of Sicily and exposed to him the fact that Lucia was a Christian. This
was during the year AD 303, when Christianity was still illegal and Emperor
Diocletian’s persecution of the Church was taking place. All that someone had
to do was denounce a person publicly to the authorities, and that person would
be arrested. If the person didn’t deny or recant the faith by cursing Christ
and offering incense to Caesar, he or she would be killed.
4.
Lucia
didn’t recant or deny her faith in Jesus, even under this death threat. As a
result, she was tortured, her eyes were plucked out, she was unsuccessfully
burned at the stake, and finally stabbed to death with a dagger. Her martyr’s
death made her famous in Sicily, and the story of her life and death, with some
embellishments, lives on to this day. In
Sweden, Lucia is remembered on December 13 by having one of the daughters of
the house dress in a white robe with a crown of lighted candles and go singing
from room to room early in the morning, while it’s still dark, to awaken the
other family members and offer them cakes of bread. There are several reasons
for this tradition. First of all, Lucia is said to have once brought bread to
needy people who were living in a cave. This gift also reminds us of Lucia’s
faith that Jesus is the bread of life. Other
aspects of this tradition are important. The white robe is a reminder of the
holiness of the saints who have died in Christ, and of all those buried with
Christ in Baptism. It’s written of Christians in the Book of Revelation 7:14, “These are the ones coming out of the great
tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb,” Jesus Christ.” St. Lucia’s holiness arose not from her own
goodness, but from the cleansing forgiveness of Christ.
5.
The
crown of candles is important for a couple of reasons. First of all, it shows
that even when Lucia no longer had eyes, she still had the light of Christ by
which to walk. She could still “see”
by faith, far better than any of her persecutors could see. Though physically
blind, she had better vision than any unbeliever, because she was enlightened
with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Second, the fact that these candles are worn
as a crown is a reminder of the crown of glory that all believers shall inherit
through Christ in heaven. Though her life in this world ended in darkness and
death, her eternal existence is one of light and life, even as it is for all
the faithful. Jesus said in John 8:12, “I
am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but
will have the light of life.”
6.
Jesus
entered our world of darkness by literally becoming one of us. He was born in a
cold stable that He might warm us with the light of His presence. December 25
was chosen as the date to celebrate Jesus’ birth, not so much because that is
the likely date of His actual birth, but because that is the time of year, near
the winter solstice, when the days are shortest and the world is darkest. In
pagan religion, this day would be observed as the day of the “unconquerable
sun,” s-u-n, because from that point
forward, the days would get longer and the light would win over the darkness.
Christians took that pagan festival and made it Christian, applying it to the
Unconquerable Son, S-o-n. For even as
the days from December 25 get longer and lighter, so with the coming of Jesus,
the light wins out over the powers of darkness. Though Jesus suffered on the
cross under a dark shroud as the sacrifice for our sin, on the third day he came
forth from the gloom of death in resurrection light. He is the Unconquerable
Son, and through faith in Him, Romans 8 says, we, too, are conquerors, victors
over death and the devil.
7.
St.
Lucia bore witness to that fact in her life and death. In fact, the word martyr
literally means “witness.” In giving
away much of her wealth to help the poor, she bore witness to the love of
Christ, who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through
His poverty might become rich. She bore witness to a belief in God as the
Creator who can and will provide for all of our daily needs. And in death Lucia
bore witness to God as the Re-Creator, who is more powerful than death. She
testified that she loved the Lord and His salvation even more than life itself
in this world. Like Abraham, she was looking for a better country, a heavenly
one. She knew that the only way to have life in the world to come is to lay
down your life in the world that is.
8.
So
it is also for you, especially in this Advent season as you set your hearts on
the coming of the Lord. You may not be called to be a martyr, but you are given
to bear witness to Christ in word and deed and to take up your cross and follow
him. Jesus said in John 12:25, “Whoever
loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it
for eternal life.” Baptized into Christ, you are given to live the pattern
of His life—humility before glory, death before resurrection, crucifying your
old Adam, so that Christ may be preeminent and that His life may show forth in
and through you.
9.
This
life of repentance and faith is not easy. It is truly a narrow road on which
you are called to run. But along this road, Hebrews says, you are surrounded by
a great cloud of witnesses—Abraham and Joseph and Moses, Gideon and David and
Samuel, prophets and apostles, saints and martyrs. And above all, you are
upheld by Him who laid this path and ran it for you, Jesus. As Was
St. Lucia, You Are Upheld by the One Who Was Martyred for You.
10.
Consider
him, Hebrews says, so that you will not
grow weary and lose heart. “Let us
run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the
founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the
throne of God” (Heb 12:1–2). Your road will end up where Christ’s ended up,
for you are in Him. What is now only a candle in the darkness will soon be the
dawning of the eternal day of resurrection at Jesus’ return. Let that joy set
before you give you endurance in the faith.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment