Light in the darkness!
Commentary
Have you ever noticed how the story of Jesus' birth is set in the midst of a play of darkness and light? The whole event, with its Babe and mother, the animal shed, the keepers of sheep on the hillsides, and later the wise men from distant places making their trek to see the Holy One, all are set first in darkness then in light!
The night begins with the people of Bethlehem putting out their lamps and trudging off to bed. The city that was David's birthplace goes dim, then dark, house by house. And all is at rest. Then, suddenly, a star appears, first as a mere speck then a spot, then a fire ball punching its way through the night, pointing its finger at the stable where the peasant woman and Child are.
Shepherds are out in the fields, trying to get some rest for the night. The sheep are bedded down and the campfires that once were blazing have dwindled to glowing ashes. The flock keepers have finished swapping stories and dropped off to dreams. Then, suddenly, the skylights up with a heavenly glow that brings them to their knees, blinded and frightened. A messenger of God appears and tells them the reason for the night-shattering celestial display ... a Child has been born, and that Child is the Savior of his people. And the shepherds rush off to see for themselves the reason for it all.
They find the stable tucked away on the hillside behind the inn. And they go in. There the darkness has been invaded by light, too! The nursery-cave is set aglow in one corner by a lamp. Under the lamp kneels a mother whose eyes shine with the light of love, made shimmering by her tears of gratitude for the safe delivery of her Baby. And in the stone feed box lays the reason for all of the lights! The sleeping Infant! Not just another infant! But The Infant! And strangely enough from Him no light seems to come! Nowhere do we read that he shines in his cradle! There is no talk of halos. There is no supernatural glow. The lights all point to him, not come from him. And yet, when in the retelling of the story of the night when the light exploded the darkness St. John tells about the One who was born, it is to Him, not the star, not the angels, that he refers when he says that "the light came into the world."
The play between light and darkness was highlighted by Isaiah thousands of years before the shepherds saw it. In his prophecy he prophesied that light being brought into the world by a child who "to us is given," a son who "to us is born." Although he never lived to see those words fulfilled, those who did learned how accurate Isaiah had been! For when the star had faded, and the gaping shepherds had died, and the wise men had gone home, in the One lying in the manger, "the grace of God ... appeared for the salvation of all men."
OUTLINE I
Light in the darkness
Isaiah 9:2-7
A. vv. 2-3. What would Christmas be without this passage from Isaiah being read? It seems that you could substitute the name of any of the writers of the four gospels, and slip it into their book and no one would suspect that it was not written as a part of the original nativity narratives! That is how what is said there fits Jesus. But this passage was written about eight centuries before that happened, and who Isaiah had in mind when he wrote his prophecy is still being debated in scholarly circles. What we need to keep in mind is that there are at least two levels of prophecy. The first is the one the prophet had in mind when his prediction was first made. Among the Hebrews, prophecy was generally short term, that is the prophets delivered a message they expected to be fulfilled within the lifetime of those whose lives it would affect. The test of true prophecy was to have what was predicted occur while the prophet himself was still present to see his words come to fruition. The second level of prophecy involved having the words prophesied come to pass at a later date, perhaps much later, and in a form and dimension, not anticipated by the messenger of the Lord who delivered it. What was expected to affect only a specific time and situation, in this later scenario would have international implications or eternal consequences. Whether Isaiah had Jesus of Nazareth in mind when he gave birth to the words of this passage, only he and the Lord know. But what he declared had their fulfilling in him in a degree no one else could have, or ever will, surpass!
B. vv. 3-5. Joy is in, rods of oppressors are broken, and the remnants of war are destroyed in the purifying flames of a "peace has come" fire! Those flames, along with the light, whose source seems to be God, will light up any darkness, and chase any depression.
C. vv. 6-7: God's "deliverer" will bring it about. And his titles herald his accomplishments, "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." And not having been "elected" for his office he will not have a "term" built into his reign. It runs at God's good pleasure ... "from this time forth and forevermore." God will see to that personally.
OUTLINE II
The gift with everybody's name on it!
Titus 2:11-14
A. vv. 11-14. "Short and sweet!" "To the point and unmistakable!" Either one of these critiques would be perfect descriptions of this passage from the writer of Titus. God's grace came to set the stage for a cleaning out of "irreligion" and the fostering of "godly lives," before Jesus Christ made his appearance once again on his Father's "world." It is a fitting atmosphere and state of affairs for One who gave himself to wipe out sin, even though he had to use his own blood as the cleanser! To do that will take a miraculous turn-about, and it will have to be done in "quick step" if that coming is scheduled for any time soon. Not knowing when that will be, we better get moving, starting with "number one." We have heard this "advance news" before, haven't we? Maybe this time somebody might be listening and take it to heart!
OUTLINE III
It's for you, I tell you!
Luke 2:1-20
A. vv. 1-20. Most of us, and the people who will hear this lesson read on Christmas Eve, or Day, will know parts of it, or all of it, from memory. But for many its real power will not have gotten past their heads into their hearts. They will remember the angels, and shepherds, and the star, and the stable, and the manger, and something about swaddling clothes, and of course Mary, Joseph and the Babe. But far fewer of them will have heard that part of the Birth announcement that goes, "For You is born this day ... a Savior."
That "for you" is what turns Christmas from being a debt-making, obligating, and nerve frazzling time of preparation for others, into one that brings the joy that can never be taken away into the human heart.
The popular sense of the day is caught up in the ballad, "Christmas is for children." If that is all for whom it is, God's Gift-giving has been a bust! Christmas is everybody's day, even those who haven't learned that yet, and are celebrating it "around the edges," if even there. The Gift came for all "with whom he is pleased!" And thanks be to that Gift-giving God, and to the Gift himself, that "with whom he is pleased" includes every person who will simply accept the Gift, and clutch it as theirs in gratitude.
The night begins with the people of Bethlehem putting out their lamps and trudging off to bed. The city that was David's birthplace goes dim, then dark, house by house. And all is at rest. Then, suddenly, a star appears, first as a mere speck then a spot, then a fire ball punching its way through the night, pointing its finger at the stable where the peasant woman and Child are.
Shepherds are out in the fields, trying to get some rest for the night. The sheep are bedded down and the campfires that once were blazing have dwindled to glowing ashes. The flock keepers have finished swapping stories and dropped off to dreams. Then, suddenly, the skylights up with a heavenly glow that brings them to their knees, blinded and frightened. A messenger of God appears and tells them the reason for the night-shattering celestial display ... a Child has been born, and that Child is the Savior of his people. And the shepherds rush off to see for themselves the reason for it all.
They find the stable tucked away on the hillside behind the inn. And they go in. There the darkness has been invaded by light, too! The nursery-cave is set aglow in one corner by a lamp. Under the lamp kneels a mother whose eyes shine with the light of love, made shimmering by her tears of gratitude for the safe delivery of her Baby. And in the stone feed box lays the reason for all of the lights! The sleeping Infant! Not just another infant! But The Infant! And strangely enough from Him no light seems to come! Nowhere do we read that he shines in his cradle! There is no talk of halos. There is no supernatural glow. The lights all point to him, not come from him. And yet, when in the retelling of the story of the night when the light exploded the darkness St. John tells about the One who was born, it is to Him, not the star, not the angels, that he refers when he says that "the light came into the world."
The play between light and darkness was highlighted by Isaiah thousands of years before the shepherds saw it. In his prophecy he prophesied that light being brought into the world by a child who "to us is given," a son who "to us is born." Although he never lived to see those words fulfilled, those who did learned how accurate Isaiah had been! For when the star had faded, and the gaping shepherds had died, and the wise men had gone home, in the One lying in the manger, "the grace of God ... appeared for the salvation of all men."
OUTLINE I
Light in the darkness
Isaiah 9:2-7
A. vv. 2-3. What would Christmas be without this passage from Isaiah being read? It seems that you could substitute the name of any of the writers of the four gospels, and slip it into their book and no one would suspect that it was not written as a part of the original nativity narratives! That is how what is said there fits Jesus. But this passage was written about eight centuries before that happened, and who Isaiah had in mind when he wrote his prophecy is still being debated in scholarly circles. What we need to keep in mind is that there are at least two levels of prophecy. The first is the one the prophet had in mind when his prediction was first made. Among the Hebrews, prophecy was generally short term, that is the prophets delivered a message they expected to be fulfilled within the lifetime of those whose lives it would affect. The test of true prophecy was to have what was predicted occur while the prophet himself was still present to see his words come to fruition. The second level of prophecy involved having the words prophesied come to pass at a later date, perhaps much later, and in a form and dimension, not anticipated by the messenger of the Lord who delivered it. What was expected to affect only a specific time and situation, in this later scenario would have international implications or eternal consequences. Whether Isaiah had Jesus of Nazareth in mind when he gave birth to the words of this passage, only he and the Lord know. But what he declared had their fulfilling in him in a degree no one else could have, or ever will, surpass!
B. vv. 3-5. Joy is in, rods of oppressors are broken, and the remnants of war are destroyed in the purifying flames of a "peace has come" fire! Those flames, along with the light, whose source seems to be God, will light up any darkness, and chase any depression.
C. vv. 6-7: God's "deliverer" will bring it about. And his titles herald his accomplishments, "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." And not having been "elected" for his office he will not have a "term" built into his reign. It runs at God's good pleasure ... "from this time forth and forevermore." God will see to that personally.
OUTLINE II
The gift with everybody's name on it!
Titus 2:11-14
A. vv. 11-14. "Short and sweet!" "To the point and unmistakable!" Either one of these critiques would be perfect descriptions of this passage from the writer of Titus. God's grace came to set the stage for a cleaning out of "irreligion" and the fostering of "godly lives," before Jesus Christ made his appearance once again on his Father's "world." It is a fitting atmosphere and state of affairs for One who gave himself to wipe out sin, even though he had to use his own blood as the cleanser! To do that will take a miraculous turn-about, and it will have to be done in "quick step" if that coming is scheduled for any time soon. Not knowing when that will be, we better get moving, starting with "number one." We have heard this "advance news" before, haven't we? Maybe this time somebody might be listening and take it to heart!
OUTLINE III
It's for you, I tell you!
Luke 2:1-20
A. vv. 1-20. Most of us, and the people who will hear this lesson read on Christmas Eve, or Day, will know parts of it, or all of it, from memory. But for many its real power will not have gotten past their heads into their hearts. They will remember the angels, and shepherds, and the star, and the stable, and the manger, and something about swaddling clothes, and of course Mary, Joseph and the Babe. But far fewer of them will have heard that part of the Birth announcement that goes, "For You is born this day ... a Savior."
That "for you" is what turns Christmas from being a debt-making, obligating, and nerve frazzling time of preparation for others, into one that brings the joy that can never be taken away into the human heart.
The popular sense of the day is caught up in the ballad, "Christmas is for children." If that is all for whom it is, God's Gift-giving has been a bust! Christmas is everybody's day, even those who haven't learned that yet, and are celebrating it "around the edges," if even there. The Gift came for all "with whom he is pleased!" And thanks be to that Gift-giving God, and to the Gift himself, that "with whom he is pleased" includes every person who will simply accept the Gift, and clutch it as theirs in gratitude.
