The Light Still Shines

 

Text: Isaiah 9:2-7

Focus: Christmas

Function: Joy at Christmas

¹The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
    on them light has shined.
³ You have multiplied exultation;
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with joy at the harvest,
    as people exult when dividing plunder.
⁴For the yoke of their burden
    and the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor,
    you have broken as on the day of Midian.
⁵For all the boots of the tramping warriors
    and all the garments rolled in blood
    shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
⁶For a child has been born for us,
    a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
    and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷Great will be his authority,
    and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
    He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Rejoice! Again, I say, rejoice, for God has seen the condition of humanity and came down from God’s throne in heaven and became one of us.

The theological term for when God takes on physical form is called “Incarnation.”

God decided to become present with humanity and the mystery of the incarnation is pretty wonderful to understand.

Why wasn’t the God child born to the Caesar and their family? Why was he born to a family in poverty oppressed in a backwoods corner of the world that was the Mediterranean sea?

And that to me proves the mystery and the power of it. It is like, what if the Messiah were born today in Gaza, or Mexico, or Guatemala, or Argentina, the countries where most of the desperate people coming to our borders come from?

What if the light of the world were sitting on our border seeking refuge just as the baby Jesus was?

The thing is, most of us cannot be bothered with the poor and seemingly insignificant people of the world. And yet, that is exactly the kind of circumstance into which Jesus was born. And for the world to take notice in such a way that we marked our calendars with a time near that of his coming, to me, it is proof of its power. That faith in Christ could have been born out of such humble circumstances proves to me that the light outshines the darkness and will cover it all.

Today we rejoice at the light coming into the world.

For some reason, I have been impressed with the prophecy in Daniel 2 this year during Advent. Under the threat of execution, God reveals a startling dream that the King had. It was a statue with a golden head, silver breastplate, brass loins and legs of iron with clay mixed into the toes. God tells Daniel that the vision in the king’s dream represents the great kingdoms of the earth from Babylon, to Persia to Greece to Rome. And then, in the prophecy, during the time of Rome, an huge boulder is cut out of a mountain and thrown at the image representing the great human kingdoms and shatters them and then becomes this great mountain. God is going to establish a divine kingdom that will transcend the power of human kingdoms.

The angel tells him this boulder represents God’s kingdom that will eventually rule the earth. He is speaking of the peace of God that will reign in the hearts of people by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The people at the time of Jesus were expecting the coming of this Kingdom of God. Jesus told them that now that he was here, the kingdom of God was here as well. Stop waiting for it and embrace it. Sadly, we keep waiting for the kingdom to come when it is indeed, already here in our hearts.

Jesus is the boulder that crushes the human kingdoms and sets up an eternal kingdom.

And we believe that it reigns in the hearts of people.

I had a mystical experience when I was baptized. I saw the light. I came out of the water and all around me I saw these brilliant flashes of light. I think it might have been angels rejoicing. But I knew I was in the presence of God because of the light that was flashing around me.

I believe in that Jesus is indeed the light of the world that transforms it in the hearts of those who would seek his peace.

So here we are, on Christmas, celebrating the coming of the new Kingdom and we have been reminded throughout out the year by the leading of the Holy Spirit that this kingdom rests in our hearts and softens them so that we too can love like Jesus loved.

Let us let our light shine!