Pointing the Finger

Pointing the Finger

17th December 2023

Luke 1:26-38

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘testify’?

(a courtroom, giving an account, acting as a witness)

In this passage we hear about a witness who came to testify.

Not in a court, but outside, in the countryside – across the river Jordan.

The witness was John the Baptist.

Some of my favourite paintings of John the Baptist show him pointing.

His arm dramatically outstretched, pointing his index finger.

What do you think of when you hear the words:

‘point the finger’?

Perhaps what comes to mind is when the blame is put upon others.

But John wasn’t pointing a finger of blame.

Many people will point to themselves.

Social media.

Workplaces.

People bigging themselves.

But John wasn’t pointing his finger at himself.

He points to Jesus.

7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.

8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

A family on holiday visited some limestone caves.

Part of the tour was a dramatic demonstration of what it’s like being completely out of the daylight.

Upon reaching the deepest part of the caves, the guide turned off the light.

Enveloped in complete darkness, the youngest son began to cry.

Immediately his sister quietly spoke to him:

"Don't cry. Someone here knows how to turn on the light."

John was a witness who testified that there truly is Someone who "knows how to turn on the light."

And the Gospel message is that, not only does Someone know how to turn on the light,

…Someone has.

Like John, the best way we can point our finger, is to point to Jesus – the Light who has come into our world.

Will we point our finger to offer hope to those who are overcome by the darkness of this world?

Will we point our finger for those in the darkest parts of our communities?

This week I met a man who told me about his horrific personal experience of abuse as a child, and the ongoing devastating effects on him.

He has questions about why God didn’t stop the abuse.

And he compared his experience with the Holocaust.

Why didn’t God stop the suffering?

Perhaps (like me) you don’t feel you have the sort of answers people are wanting.

Perhaps you don’t feel you have answers for what’s happening in Gaza today.

In his semi-autobiographical book Night,

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel tells of a child who was hanged in a concentration camp as inmates were forced to watch.

A cry went up from the crowd: “Where is God now?”

Wiesel heard a voice within answer:

“Where is he? Here he is—he is hanging here on this gallows.…”

There are people all around us living in darkness.

Maybe you feel you are in darkness today.

Sometimes we won’t know how to fix people’s problems, but we are able to point to the One who can turn the light on.

The One who brings us in to where it is we truly belong.

We remain humble about explanations about why evil gets it way sometimes – for the darkness in our world.

But we have confidence in the fact that God voluntarily entered into our suffering.

The proof of God’s love we point to – is Jesus.

The arrival of Jesus shows us God knows and cares.

We point to Jesus, who entered our world and died on the cross (for our sake).

Whenever we do this, we join with John (and millions of others) as witnesses who testify to the Light.

Don’t put your ultimate confidence in yourself,

but in Jesus who has come into our world,

and will come into your life – if you want him to.

As we sang earlier…

“where meek souls will receive him still

the dear Christ enters in.”

( – from ‘O Little Town’)