3rd Sunday in Advent The Saints of Advent: #3 “St. Lucia”
December 15, 2024 Revelation 7:14-17
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Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ
In these Sundays in Advent, we’ve been hearing about some very faithful people who have been remembered thru the church yr calendar on particular days. They are apostles & martyrs, some Bible personalities, & a few leaders of the early years of the NT church.
We have heard about the Apostle Andrew, who modeled humility; & Nicholas, who exceled in charity. Next week we’ll hear about Thomas. But today is the day for Lucia. Her day in the church year is December 13. And our reading of focus is from Rev.7:14-17
And (the angel) said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’
nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
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Lucia was born in Sicily (the island at the tip of the boot of Italy). The year was AD 283; her parents were wealthy, members of the nobility. However, her father died when she was still very small, and so she & her mother, Eutychia, were left alone. Eutychia raised her in the faith = which was still a bit unique then in the Roman Empire; and Lucia was a devout & godly young woman. In fact, as they still had much wealth, she wanted to devote all her worldly goods to the service of the poor. Now, her mother did not permit her to do this, since this money was their only security.
Then something happened that changed her mother’s mind. Eutychia had been suffering for several years from a hemorrhage, a chronic flow of blood, like that woman in Matt.9. Lucia prayed for her mother’s healing. Evidently, her prayer was answered, & her mother was restored to health. In response to this wonderful gift of healing from God, Eutychia allowed Lucia to distribute the majority of her share of the family wealth to the poor.
There was one problem = a big one. Lucia had been unwillingly matched & betrothed to a young man who was of nobility, but not a Christian. He loved Lucia’s riches more than he cared for her. When she gave away her wealth, he was furious and he retaliated.
He went to the governor of Sicily, and told him that Lucia was a Christian. The year was AD 303; Christianity was illegal in the Roman empire, & Emperor Diocletian was persecuting the Church. 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 as a deity, he or she would be killed.
Lucia did not recant or deny her faith in Christ, even under this death threat. As a result, she was tortured. Her eyes were put out; & when she was unsuccessfully burned at the stake, she was stabbed to death with a dagger. Her martyr’s death immediately made her famous in Sicily, and her story continues on == altho sometimes with embellishments.
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Particularly 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. She will go singing from room to room early in the morning, while it is still dark, to wake up the family members, and to offer them cakes of bread. This tradition is based on a story that Lucia once brought bread to needy people who were living in a dark cave. Of course, a gift of bread reminds our faith that Jesus is the Bread of Life, and that we share Him with others.
Scripture is also the source of various church traditions for using white robes.
The white robe is a reminder of the holiness of those who have died in Christ; and a symbol of the cleansing-righteousness for all those buried with Christ in Baptism. The Holy-Christ makes holy-people; that’s why Paul calls believers ‘saints,’ which means ‘holy ones.’
And those who stand firm in this faith against persecution & death are rightly respected for their courage. We recall how ashamed Peter was when, because of fear, he denied Jesus three times; that reminds us how difficult it can be stand firm with Christ & His truths when the pressure is on us.
It is for our courage that we hear those verses in Revelation 7: ‘These (in the white robes) are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ To survive any tribulation with a firm trust in Christ is because of the new, next & eternal life we have been given in Him. Therefore, Lucia’s ‘saintliness’, or holiness, is not from her own goodness, but from the cleansing forgiveness of Christ, and the gift of His Spirit that is working in all who belong to Him.
Lucia certainly responded very well to the gift of faith & forgiveness & eternal future by imitating Christ in her kindness & charity = just as all of God’s people are to do. Jesus did say that this faith we are given produces much good fruit.
This tradition that has Lucia wear a crown of candles is a picture of other Scripture.
It’s symbolic, that even when Lucia no longer had eyes, she still had the light of Christ to walk by. And we too, walk by faith = not by sight; not by our eyes, or intellect, or reason, but God’s Word is the real lamp for our feet & light to our path. Her persecutors were blind to the fact that gouging out her eyes could not make Lucia lose her way with her God & Savior. We are also taught that we are ‘enlightened’ with the gifts of the Holy Spirit to follow after Jesus, and not return to the ways of darkness.
With her crown, we certainly think of the crown of thorns Jesus wore; He was a king, but willingly suffered all punishments for our forgiveness. But Lucia, (you & I), don’t wear a crown of thorns; so her crown is a different symbol. In 1Pet.5:4, we’re told that, when our chief Shepherd appears, we will ‘receive an unfading crown of glory.’ Even tho Lucia’s life in this world ended in darkness & death, our life with Jesus gives sounds like this: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (Jn 8:12).
The teaching is this: God is light, not darkness; just as God is the source of life, & not the source of death. Sin =ours & Satan’s= is the source & cause of punishment, death, & ultimately hell. We caused the world to be dark with sin & death; we have caused & earned our own condemnation. When Jesus entered the world, He came as man’s only chance of light to live again. That’s why, at this time of year, we so enjoy to see that little Bethlehem stable shine with the light of the star, & the light of the heavenly host of angels.
This is what was considered when the early NT church chose December 25 as the date to celebrate Jesus’ birth. It’s likely that Jesus was not born in December. But the winter solstice makes these days the shortest, & the world is the darkest. In pagan religions, the solstice was seen as the celebration of the ‘unconquerable sun,’ s-u-n, because from that point forward, the days would get longer, and the cosmic-light would win over the earthly-darkness.
Well, wise early Christians took that pagan festival and made it a time for the church to proclaim the gospel of the Unconquerable Son, S-o-n. As the days following Dec. 25thare getting longer & lighter, so with the coming of Jesus, God’s light of true life wins-out over the sin-darkness that had us defeated.
When Jesus suffered on the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the world, it was under a dark shroud; but on the third day He stepped forth from the gloom of death in resurrection light. He is the Unconquerable Son, and Rom.8 says that thru faith in Him, we share His victory over darkness & death. For those who knew her, Lucia lived out this victory very well, in her rather short 21 yrs of life.
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The Greek word ‘martyr’ literally means ‘witness.’ In giving away much of her wealth to help the poor, she wanted to bear witness to the love of Christ, who, tho He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor; that we thru His poverty might become rich. She bore witness to a belief in God as the Creator who is able to 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 & 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 permanent world-to-come is to lay down this life in this temporary-world.
And this is an issue we all have to wrestle with each passing day; with age, with sicknesses or injuries; we all face death. Unbelievers know death is coming for them, but they do not want to believe that accountability is coming for them. Our Lord often talks to us about being servants of the Master, who are expected to be about His business while He is away. He has called us at this time, and has gifted us with abilities & opportunities to shine the light of Christ in our life, and to bring the bread of physical help & kindness to those we see in need.
This expectation is why we have plenty of Bible people as examples, along with those of the early NT church. Lucia was willing to put her earthly life as a lower priority to her heavenly life-to-come. This is also the life you have been called & baptized into = into Christ, the One we celebrate this Advent season as the One who ‘arrived’ for us.
We do not live in a time or a place where we expect a believer’s eyes to be put-out,
to be burned at the stake, or stabbed with a dagger. So, you may not be called to be a ‘martyr,’ in the death-sense of the word. But that Greek word is translated as ‘witness.’
You & I DO bear witness to the world’s only Savior & the Son of God; we are called to take up our cross & follow Him. Your Master did say, “Whoever loves his life will lose it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (Jn 12:25). With Him, we have His pattern for life: humility before glory, death before resurrection. Martin Luther pictured it this way: that old Adam in us is drown each day under the promise of our baptism, so that dying to sin, we may rise to new life of righteousness, or ‘doing right’ for others, in the eyes of the Lord.
This life of repentance & faith is not easy. So we know we have to be patient with others, even as we struggle to put all of our words & behaviors into line with this holy faith. Following His Word, we are walking this narrow road, with the example of those around us and those before us.
This is what that verse in Hebrews means when it says we are ‘surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.’ (12) Those are the witnesses that have lived this faith before us, such as Abraham & Joseph, Moses & Ruth, David & Esther, prophets & apostles & martyrs.
None perfect; but all whose lives reflected the pattern of Jesus, the chief witness, who died to sin, and lived a life of trust & obedience to the HF.
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).
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We all have a bit of a different road for our faith; your’s will not be the same as Lucia, but it will end where hers ended, because you have the same promise, & the same Lord.
At times this faith seems like just a small candle in a large darkness. But our Advent Lord, who lived among us to defeated the darkness, is the one who will advent again, and bring the dawn of the everlasting day – for you, & for all who are waiting for Him.
Amen