A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
Rev. Larry Peters
December 30, 2012
Psalm 72:12-14
Isaiah 60:1-6, 17-22
Matthew 2:1-18
At Christmas, God gives us his perfect gift of his Son, the Messiah, the Promised One. We love Christmas! We love to hear the story of how God’s love came to be with us. And what a precious love it is! A child! God’s Word made flesh; prophecy fulfilled; the shepherds quake; the angels sing; the wise follow. We are drawn to the light. We want to come nearer; to bow down in glad and humble worship; to behold this most precious and perfect gift. For a while, at least, the dark, evil, turbulent world seems at peace in the soft, warm glow of this nativity scene.
But let’s not forget the cold, harsh reality of why this scene is what it is. The child is born in a manger because there was no room at the Inn, symbolic of how people are unwilling to give him a place in their heart as Lord of their life. And let’s not overlook God’s protection and providence in this scene. The child is born in this unimagined, obscure place because there are evil forces that would seek to destroy him. Yes, we know that this is a violent world and this is yet another cold, dark night.
But God is here! This is Christmas Remember the Christmas message as announced by the angels (Luke 2:10-12): “Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people. To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord! This will be a sign for you; you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger!” The gift that God gives us at Christmas is Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior and Hope of the world! So then a multitude of heavenly hosts suddenly appear praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” (V. 14).
We love Christmas, Christ’s birth, God’s precious love with us! But, to understand the full value of God’s perfect gift, we must look beyond the nativity at Bethlehem and journey to the Garden of Gethsemane, the hill of Calvary, the cross, the empty tomb, to Resurrection morning, and to our Lord’s promised coming again in glory!
When we walk this faith journey with Christ, we come to learn about him and we come to understand his ways. We come to learn and understand more about who he is; why he has come to be with us; and why we should follow him. We come to learn about and to understand our human need; about God’s perfect way and design to fulfill our need; and about a need for our response. Already, as we look about the nativity scene at Christmas, we see our situation; the human situation to which God has come. The Son of God is born in a manger because people are unprepared or unwilling to receive him as Lord and to give him proper place in their lives. Whatever it is, greed, selfishness, indifference, there are so many things that come between us when the Lord comes to be with us.
So many things, including fear and jealousy. We hear in our gospel lesson of today from Matthew chapter two that king Herod was upset upon learning that there was one born to be king of the Jews. Out of fear and jealousy, Herod ordered a search for the child, that he be destroyed. Oh – he had let on to the wise men that he wanted to “pay homage” to the new born king. You know, of course, the deception that evil likes to employ in its path of destruction. This is the kind of dark, dangerous, deception and evil world that we live in; the world that Jesus came to. The Good News is that Jesus has come to conquer evil and to save us from our sins! Jesus is our hope, our salvation! Jesus is the way out of our corrupt human situation! Jesus is a Light in the Darkness!
Thanks be to God that he loves us so much that he gives his only begotten Son to be our Lord and Savior! Those who believe in him are delivered from their fears – even our fear of death; and we have a new promise, a new hope! God comes to save! God will take care of us! God is with us!
Now it may be on some people’s hearts to ask: was God with the children, the teachers, the innocent victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School? Why didn’t God take care of them? Why didn’t God save them? Some have tried to answer by saying that it is a result of our having dismissed God from our schools. The trouble, I think, with such a statement is that it wrongly assumes that we have some authority over God. We have no ability to tell the God who created this world to be perfect, the God of the universe who orders all things – where he can and cannot be!
As Christians we can believe that God was there – in the courage of the teachers to confront the gunman and attempt to overpower him; in the judgment of those sounding warning and seeking safety for others; in the compassion of outstretched arms embracing and protecting one another. Yes, we can believe that God was there because love was there; and God is love.
The Bible says that Jesus loves the innocent, loves the children as he said: “Bring the little ones to me, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Luke 18:16). They know that they are loved and cared for. They know the fulfillment of their salvation. It is for us to be about the task of healing, caring for and saving children, families and communities through the love of God in us. Sadly, it seems that it takes tragedies such as this to get our attention and to motivate us to a right kind of action. The Bible says there’s one thing that gets God’s attention more than anything else, and that is the innocent blood which cries out to him.
There has been spilling of innocent blood from the earliest mention of human interaction beginning in the Book of Genesis. Early in chapter four Cain kills his brother Abel; and God says to Cain: “Listen, your brother’s blood is crying out to me!” And in today’s gospel lesson we are told again of “The Slaughter of the Innocents,” the children killed by order of Herod whose fear and jealousy was of a new born king. And a great weeping was heard throughout the land because the children were no more.
Indeed that must have been a terrible time of weeping and heartbreak and again as families cry over loved ones at Newtown, Connecticut and whenever, wherever such terrible loss of life occurs. It is a sadness that touches us deeply. I cried for those families, children and teachers as many Americans have. I remember how my wife, Susan, and I cried for our still-born Son, Tyler, in August of 1998. Susan had carried Tyler to almost full term when one day she felt no movement. At the hospital we learned that Tyler had died. We were shocked, horrified; this wasn’t supposed to happen. We were joyfully expecting the birth of our son when all of a sudden the joy, the hope, the promise, the future, the life we loved was taken away from us.
But God was with us; and God was with Tyler. God was in the gentle concern of the doctor who induced labor and helped Susan to deliver our still-born son. God was in the sensitivity of the nurse who gently washed Tyler and bundled him in clean cloths so that we could hold him. We were allowed to spend important time with Tyler, and all the while under the care of the doctor and nurses. And God was in the compassion and concern of friends who would comfort us.
I remember in particular a couple from one of the churches that we served who came to the hospital room and ministered to us by allowing us to express our grief. They knew the grief. They had lost their only child, a son, in a motor vehicle accident. They came and hugged us and gave us a shoulder to cry on; and I cried like I had never done before. And God was in the tears. I’ve learned that a good cry can actually help a person to feel better. It feels like a cleansing, and then you feel ready for a fresh start and a new beginning. God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning, the end, and all times in between! Yes, God is our Emmanuel! God is with us! And people, like the ones I mentioned and many others like them, are important in the ways that they help to bring healing to those that are hurting. I remember how they helped me and I will always think of them as heroes.
People need heroes every day. Maybe you could use one. Maybe you could be one. People need healing. Let’s try to find ways to help one another. I came across a letter written by Max Lucado; it reads:
“Dear Jesus,
It’s a good thing you were born at night. This world sure seems dark. I have a good eye for silver linings. But they seem darker lately. These killings, Lord. These children, Lord. Innocence violated. Raw evil demonstrated. The whole world seems on edge. Trigger-happy. Ticked off. We hear threats of chemical weapons and nuclear bombs. Are we one button push away from annihilation?
Your world seems a bit darker this Christmas. But you were born in the dark, right? You came at night. The shepherds were night-shift workers. The wise men followed a star. Your first cries were heard in the shadows. To see your face, Mary and Joseph needed a candle flame. It was dark. Dark was Herod’s jealousy. Dark was Roman oppression. Dark with poverty. Dark with violence.
Oh, Lord Jesus, you entered the dark world of your day. Won’t you enter ours? We are weary of bloodshed. We, like the wise men, are looking for a star. We, like the shepherds, are kneeling at the manger. This Christmas, we ask you, heal us, help us, be born anew in us.
Hopefully,
Your children”
Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior and Hope of the world! Jesus is a Light in the Darkness! The message, as we get through the struggles of one year and get ready to start a new year, is that there is hope! Remember to keep the light of Jesus shining brightly! The prophet Isaiah tells us to “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!” There is a thick darkness over the land and over the peoples. But we are not to let it get us down. Again Isaiah says; “Lift up your eyes and look around. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice….Your days of mourning shall be ended. Your God will be your glory. The Lord will be your everlasting light!” (Isaiah 60:1-5, 19-20). Amen!
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