Christmas And The Beast
Sermon
Christmas Is For The Young... Whatever Their Age
16 Christmas Sermon Stories
Object:
The passage in Matthew 2:13-20 about the slaughter of children by King Herod is usually bypassed by most readers of the Christmas story. It is one of the passages which we would honestly like to ignore. We had rather think about the singing of angels, the birth of the child in the cattle stall, the shepherds, or the coming of the wise men. We want to focus on the joy, radiance, and beauty of Christmas. But in their telling of the birth of Christ, the gospel writers also pointed very clearly to the "beastly" element within the world. They did not tell us about the world of Jesus through rose-colored glasses, nor did they write about the birth of Christ as though everything in the world was always wonderful and peaceful. Too many of us approach Christmas with our eyes gleaming with unrealistic optimism and dreams of sugarplums and everything nice filling our hopes.
This gospel depicts the life of Jesus beginning in a struggle with the great beast -- evil. The last book of the Bible, Revelation, concludes with Christ in combat with this great beast. Throughout his life, Jesus continually battled the great beast. And so must we.
The Evils Of King Herod
In the birth narrative of Matthew's gospel the evil beast takes the form of King Herod. Herod, who had been called "the great," reigned from 37 BC to 4 BCE. He was also noted for his construction projects. He built the temple in Jerusalem. During his long reign, there was peace across his empire. He exercised a strong grip over his kingdom during his reign. If anyone, including members of his own family, threatened his rule he had them killed. Herod was married ten times and did not hesitate to kill one of his wives when he thought she was a threat to his kingdom. Some historians noted that it was better to be a pig in King Herod's house than a son. He put three of his sons to death. Any time trouble arose in his kingdom, he settled it quickly by destroying his opposition. As he approached the time of his death, he summoned his royal guard and told them to arrest some of the most prominent citizens in Jerusalem and kill them at the time of his death. He did not believe that many would mourn his death, and he wanted tears to be shed on that occasion. No wonder Jerusalem was also troubled at the announcement of the birth of the Messiah by the wise men. They were afraid because they didn't know what this fierce king might do in a fit of rage.
What did Herod do? He asked the wise men to tell him where the child was to be born so he could go and worship him. This was his way of trying to find out where the Messiah would be born. But the wise men were warned by God in a dream about the danger for the child. They departed the country by a different route without seeing the king again. When he heard that they had left, he decided to kill all of the children two years old and younger who had been born at the time of the star's appearing. This indicates that Jesus may have been two years old by the time the wise men arrived. But this is uncertain. It is also difficult to know how many children may have been killed. Bethlehem was not a large city, but twenty to thirty children may have been killed. The great beast slaughtered innocent children, afraid that somehow one of them might be a potential threat to his throne.
Rachel's Weeping
Matthew makes an interesting reference to Jeremiah and the weeping of Rachel at Ramah. What in the world does that mean? When the children of Israel were taken captive and led away to Babylon, they marched past the grave at Ramah where Rachel was buried. Rachel, you remember, was the wife of Jacob. Jacob's name was changed to Israel. His twelve sons were the forefathers of the nation Israel. Jeremiah envisioned Rachel weeping at the bondage of her children as they were taken in captivity to a distant land. Matthew saw Rachel weeping once again at the slaughter of these innocent children.
Rachel's weeping may represent the tears of all people who cry for the suffering of children. Loud laments arise in protest to the horrors of the Herods of the world. Rachel is symbolic of the weeping voices of humanity. I sometimes find myself weeping when I see what is done to the children of the world. How can we not weep when we hear about child abuse and child molestation, the bombing of innocent children in times of war, gaunt faces and swollen stomachs, the explicit sexual exposure which our children must face in movies and television today, the rise in child pornography, and the many other defaming things done to children? I weep with the Rachels of the world for what the Herods are doing to their children.
The Suffering Of The Innocent
Rachel also represents those who weep for the suffering of the innocent. I have stood by many beds and have seen much suffering. My tears have mingled with the tears of those who have suffered grief or pain. There is no easy answer to the question of suffering and pain in the world. I shut my ears to those who have glib, easy answers to the problems of cancer, strokes, heart attacks, and all the other illnesses in the world. I ache with those who hurt. I weep with those who cry. My heart goes out to them in their times of need. Cancer and other kinds of diseases are realities in our world. They are a beastly element which continuously troubles and torments us.
The Sins Of Humanity
Like Rachel, though, we also weep for the sins of humanity and for the sufferings which we sometimes inflict upon ourselves and others. A few years ago, a chartered DC8 airplane crashed and killed 248 soldiers who were being flown home after serving in a foreign land. I weep for everyone involved when a young student killed a substitute teacher in his French class because he was upset over his grade. I weep for the man who was angry about a sewer connection and killed the mayor and several other members of the city council. I weep for the husband who shot his wife in an argument over a Christmas tree. I weep for the family whose wife and son were killed and the husband was left paralyzed for life from an automobile accident. I weep for a missionary family in Liberia where a mother and daughter were killed. I weep for the victims and families of the 9/11 attacks. I weep for the hundreds of thousands killed or left homeless by the tsunami disaster in 2005. I weep for the thousands who have been wounded or killed in the war in Iraq. I weep for humanity where there is world poverty, disease, and suffering. There is indeed a beastly element in our world.
Why Such Suffering?
Rachel's tears symbolize the many cries which rise to heaven and ask: "Why? Why?" If you have never asked why, then you have never seen innocent people suffer. Several years ago, Emily and I had a good friend who was slowly dying with cancer. She had worked faithfully all of her life in church and in her community. She was a dedicated church leader, a faithful wife and mother, and yet her life was being cut short by cancer. The "whys" of such experiences are not easy to live with.
Loren Eiseley, an anthropologist, draws a parable from an episode in the 1965 blackout in New York City. As you recall, the city's power went off and many people were trapped in stores, office buildings, and in other places. One man was trapped at the top of a skyscraper in his office. With the power off, there were no lights and the elevators had come to a stop. He decided that he would walk down from the skyscraper. He found a candle in his desk. He lit it and groped his way in the darkness out into the corridor. Seeing a door next to the elevator shaft, which he thought led into a stairwell, he opened it. With the candle held at eye level, he stepped in. He was found the next morning lying at the bottom of the elevator shaft with the extinguished candle still clutched in his hand.1 This man symbolizes all of us who grope for answers to life's tough questions and use only our own light to find the answer.
The Way Of Cynicism And Despair
Where do we turn to find help in our time of weeping, sorrow, or brutality? Some give way to cynicism and despair. They have asserted, "If God is all powerful and we still have all of this suffering in the world, then he must not be good." Or, "If God is good and we have all of this suffering, then he must not be all powerful." "What is the point of it all? How can we worship this kind of God?" they ask.
Several years ago, I visited one of the worst concentration camps that the Nazis ever produced in Dachau, Germany. Millions of people died at this prison camp because of man's inhumanity to man. I saw pictures of the skeletons of men, women, and children who were led into gas chambers. Here in this place I witnessed some of the most awful horrors any group of people could inflict upon another. My spirit sank to the bottom of despair as I looked at this monstrous act. Here the great beast lifted its ugly head high.
But do we give way to the beast and the darkness and turn to despair? Is this the only approach toward life for us? We get a glimpse of light in interesting places. Several years ago in Mohawk Central School in Plains Hollow, New York, a fund for Santa Claus Anonymous was being raised to help poor children in the school and community. These children would not have any Christmas presents without this assistance. A young boy in the school had saved his pennies to give to the fund. On the Friday before Christmas, a heavy blizzard hit and the school busses could not run. He walked through the snow to school and handed the principal the fifteen cents he had saved. As the principal accepted the small donation from the student, he could hardly control his emotions. This young boy was on their list to receive presents from the Santa Claus Fund. Light may begin to shine under unusual doors and out of darkened corners.
Seeing People For Their Worth
A part of the problem with the Herods of life is that they do not treat individuals as people. They see people as things to be used for their own selfish ends. Herod did not care about Jesus as a person, he merely wanted to get rid of him so that his reign could continue undisturbed. He had killed his own family members and anybody else who got in his way. These people were seen only as "things" to be used or discarded. "Herod and his soldiers, bent on destruction in Bethlehem," Morton Kelsey reminds us, "confronts us with the awful mystery of evil in our world and in human society. Herod is a tragic symbol of human egotism that will have its way at all costs."2
Before you quickly condemn Herod, look at your own attitude toward others and the way you treat other people. How much attention do you pay to somebody who waits on your table in a restaurant? Sometimes you cannot remember later if you were served by a man or a woman, much less what they looked like. How do you treat the parking attendant who takes your ticket, or the clerk who waits on you in the store? People are often seen by us only as a means toward some end. We do not see them as authentic people. Carlyle Marney reminds us that we seldom see the whole person. We see people only from the perspective of the function they meet or fulfill for us. He says that a dentist sees people mostly as a mouth. A doctor sees people as organs or tissues of his specialty. A mechanic sees people feet first from under the car. A salesman sees prospects. A newspaperman sees people only as they make news. An undertaker sees what's left.3
Do you see people just as means and ends? Before you say "not me," examine your attitudes of jealousy, gossip, and ridicule. Examine the way you act toward members of your own family. Often our attitude is destructive and not positive. A small girl was waiting in line to see Santa Claus a few days before Christmas. After she walked up to him and he spoke to her, she left quickly and came back to her mother crying. Her mother asked: "Honey, what's wrong? What did he say to you?" He said, "Next." We don't want to be just "next." We want to be somebody. We want to feel like we are seen as people and that we are worth something. We want to feel that our suffering and pain are important to somebody, and most importantly of all that they are significant to God.
The actor, David Steinberg, met a hippie on the street one day and the man asked him, "Don't I know you from someplace? You look familiar." "I remind you of God," he responded. "I am made in the image of God, and you remind me of God, because you have been created in his image." When we see other people, they should remind us of God. They are people of worth, who have been created as his son or daughter. All people are his children and should never be used as ends, manipulated, abused, or hurt. People are to be loved, cared for, and supported.
God Comes With Comfort
Isaiah enters our picture here. The nation of Israel had been in bondage for fifty years. During these fifty years of captivity, when they were slaves in Babylon, they had not heard a word from God -- not even a tiny whisper of concern. Suddenly a voice was heard saying, "Comfort, comfort ye my people." The prophet told them that he had come with a message about God's deliverance. The prophet called them to go to a mountaintop to declare: "Behold your God is coming! Go to the mountaintops and lift up your voice and shout comfort to the people, because deliverance from God is coming. Set the trumpet to your lips and let its sound spread across the land. God has heard the cries of his people and a deliverer is coming. This deliverer will be like a shepherd who carries his hurting sheep in his arms. God is coming," the prophet declares. "He has heard the cries of his people." This prophecy is fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ.
The Light Of Christ's Coming Cannot Be Overcome
Note also that the Herods of the world cannot stop the coming of Christ. Threats of death and even the slaughter of children could not stop his light from coming into the world. Matthew records that the angel came to Joseph in Egypt and said: "Rise up, take the child and his mother, and go with them to the land of Israel, for the men who threatened the child's life are dead" (Matthew 2:20). The great beast could not destroy the child. The beast continues to rise up to destroy the Christ-like element in society. It always seeks to destroy Christ's influence. The beast tempts us to give in to despair, cynicism, and hopelessness. But Jesus Christ has brought his light into the world, and it continues to shine in the midst of darkness.
An old Scottish prayer pleads, "From ghoulies and ghosties, and long-leggety beasties, and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us." At Christmastime we celebrate the coming of light into the world which shatters darkness and those things which go "bump in the night." The light from Christ shines into every dark corner where terror holds its grip and cries, "You are delivered." The darkness of war, prejudice, hatred, suffering, disease, famine, hunger, hopelessness, loneliness, despair, and death often loom heavy on our hearts. But the Lord of Christmas has sent a great light to penetrate the heaviest darkness. No longer need anyone be shut in a prison house of darkness without hope. Light has come, and we are delivered.
The one who is the light of the world shines in all of the dark places with the assurance that night is not the conclusion to our existence. Nights may come, some with terrors of great proportion, suffering, grief, pain, disease, or agony, but the Christian is armed with the assurance that these "terrors of the night" cannot separate him or her from the love of God. The Light which has come at Christmastime with Jesus brings an inner joy and peace that banishes all the things that "go bump in the night." In the Lord of Christmas the Scottish prayer has been answered. "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light" (Isaiah 9:2).
The Abiding Radiance Of Christ's Light
In the circle of the light which is cast by the presence of "the light of the world," we find insight and light in combating the problems and beasts of the world. From the Isle of Patmos, John envisioned a city without night, because it will be lighted by the presence of God himself. That's the power of this Christmas light, and it cannot be hidden. Warm your spirit once again in its glow this Christmas season. The glory of this marvelous light is the miracle of Christmas. Look at it shine! No darkness has the power to extinguish it! As Phillips Brooks wrote, "Yet in thy dark street shineth the everlasting light; the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight." In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Several years ago, we received a Christmas letter from John Killinger. In it he wrote these words, "It hasn't been an easy year for many, but which one ever was? Christmas was never the promise of that, with its birth in a cattle stall, flight into Egypt, and massacre of the innocent. Instead, it is the gift of presence; of communion in the face of danger, need, and desperation. It is a radiance that makes the darkness tolerable. It is a song sung by angels, a song that sets us to singing again even though we had forgotten how to sing."
There is no easy answer to the problem of evil and suffering, but we have an assurance. There is no simple answer to the perplexity, but God gives us God's presence. There is no removal of the harsh realities of suffering, but there is redemption which comes from God in the midst of all the darkness. Jesus is the light of the world, and as we walk in his light, we can live. We walk by faith, and we are comforted by the assurance of God's presence with us in our time of need. God is the answerer.
I read about a minister whose church building caught fire and was destroyed. Within one hour the church was completely burned to the ground. He walked through the ashes of the church and wept. Suddenly he noticed something in the ashes that had not been completely burned. He reached down and picked it up. It was a portion of the order of worship from the previous Sunday. This fragment had not been destroyed by the fire. He read the words which had been a part of the liturgy of his congregation. "I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth." He felt the presence of God and his faith was renewed. He took new faith, because ashes or not, God is still the maker and redeemer of the world.
Yes, there is darkness in the world. But in the midst of this darkness, you and I take hope, because God has come into the world through Jesus Christ. He is the light in the darkness. As John reminds us in his gospel, "This light cannot be overcome." It is the light of hope, encouragement, and comfort. Let us walk in that light.
____________
1. Loren Eiseley, The Invisible Pyramid (New York: Charles Scribner and Son, 1970), p. 83.
2. Morton Kelsey, The Drama of Christmas (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), p. 71.
3. Carlyle Marney, The Recovery of the Person (New York: Abingdon Press, 1963), p. 155.
This gospel depicts the life of Jesus beginning in a struggle with the great beast -- evil. The last book of the Bible, Revelation, concludes with Christ in combat with this great beast. Throughout his life, Jesus continually battled the great beast. And so must we.
The Evils Of King Herod
In the birth narrative of Matthew's gospel the evil beast takes the form of King Herod. Herod, who had been called "the great," reigned from 37 BC to 4 BCE. He was also noted for his construction projects. He built the temple in Jerusalem. During his long reign, there was peace across his empire. He exercised a strong grip over his kingdom during his reign. If anyone, including members of his own family, threatened his rule he had them killed. Herod was married ten times and did not hesitate to kill one of his wives when he thought she was a threat to his kingdom. Some historians noted that it was better to be a pig in King Herod's house than a son. He put three of his sons to death. Any time trouble arose in his kingdom, he settled it quickly by destroying his opposition. As he approached the time of his death, he summoned his royal guard and told them to arrest some of the most prominent citizens in Jerusalem and kill them at the time of his death. He did not believe that many would mourn his death, and he wanted tears to be shed on that occasion. No wonder Jerusalem was also troubled at the announcement of the birth of the Messiah by the wise men. They were afraid because they didn't know what this fierce king might do in a fit of rage.
What did Herod do? He asked the wise men to tell him where the child was to be born so he could go and worship him. This was his way of trying to find out where the Messiah would be born. But the wise men were warned by God in a dream about the danger for the child. They departed the country by a different route without seeing the king again. When he heard that they had left, he decided to kill all of the children two years old and younger who had been born at the time of the star's appearing. This indicates that Jesus may have been two years old by the time the wise men arrived. But this is uncertain. It is also difficult to know how many children may have been killed. Bethlehem was not a large city, but twenty to thirty children may have been killed. The great beast slaughtered innocent children, afraid that somehow one of them might be a potential threat to his throne.
Rachel's Weeping
Matthew makes an interesting reference to Jeremiah and the weeping of Rachel at Ramah. What in the world does that mean? When the children of Israel were taken captive and led away to Babylon, they marched past the grave at Ramah where Rachel was buried. Rachel, you remember, was the wife of Jacob. Jacob's name was changed to Israel. His twelve sons were the forefathers of the nation Israel. Jeremiah envisioned Rachel weeping at the bondage of her children as they were taken in captivity to a distant land. Matthew saw Rachel weeping once again at the slaughter of these innocent children.
Rachel's weeping may represent the tears of all people who cry for the suffering of children. Loud laments arise in protest to the horrors of the Herods of the world. Rachel is symbolic of the weeping voices of humanity. I sometimes find myself weeping when I see what is done to the children of the world. How can we not weep when we hear about child abuse and child molestation, the bombing of innocent children in times of war, gaunt faces and swollen stomachs, the explicit sexual exposure which our children must face in movies and television today, the rise in child pornography, and the many other defaming things done to children? I weep with the Rachels of the world for what the Herods are doing to their children.
The Suffering Of The Innocent
Rachel also represents those who weep for the suffering of the innocent. I have stood by many beds and have seen much suffering. My tears have mingled with the tears of those who have suffered grief or pain. There is no easy answer to the question of suffering and pain in the world. I shut my ears to those who have glib, easy answers to the problems of cancer, strokes, heart attacks, and all the other illnesses in the world. I ache with those who hurt. I weep with those who cry. My heart goes out to them in their times of need. Cancer and other kinds of diseases are realities in our world. They are a beastly element which continuously troubles and torments us.
The Sins Of Humanity
Like Rachel, though, we also weep for the sins of humanity and for the sufferings which we sometimes inflict upon ourselves and others. A few years ago, a chartered DC8 airplane crashed and killed 248 soldiers who were being flown home after serving in a foreign land. I weep for everyone involved when a young student killed a substitute teacher in his French class because he was upset over his grade. I weep for the man who was angry about a sewer connection and killed the mayor and several other members of the city council. I weep for the husband who shot his wife in an argument over a Christmas tree. I weep for the family whose wife and son were killed and the husband was left paralyzed for life from an automobile accident. I weep for a missionary family in Liberia where a mother and daughter were killed. I weep for the victims and families of the 9/11 attacks. I weep for the hundreds of thousands killed or left homeless by the tsunami disaster in 2005. I weep for the thousands who have been wounded or killed in the war in Iraq. I weep for humanity where there is world poverty, disease, and suffering. There is indeed a beastly element in our world.
Why Such Suffering?
Rachel's tears symbolize the many cries which rise to heaven and ask: "Why? Why?" If you have never asked why, then you have never seen innocent people suffer. Several years ago, Emily and I had a good friend who was slowly dying with cancer. She had worked faithfully all of her life in church and in her community. She was a dedicated church leader, a faithful wife and mother, and yet her life was being cut short by cancer. The "whys" of such experiences are not easy to live with.
Loren Eiseley, an anthropologist, draws a parable from an episode in the 1965 blackout in New York City. As you recall, the city's power went off and many people were trapped in stores, office buildings, and in other places. One man was trapped at the top of a skyscraper in his office. With the power off, there were no lights and the elevators had come to a stop. He decided that he would walk down from the skyscraper. He found a candle in his desk. He lit it and groped his way in the darkness out into the corridor. Seeing a door next to the elevator shaft, which he thought led into a stairwell, he opened it. With the candle held at eye level, he stepped in. He was found the next morning lying at the bottom of the elevator shaft with the extinguished candle still clutched in his hand.1 This man symbolizes all of us who grope for answers to life's tough questions and use only our own light to find the answer.
The Way Of Cynicism And Despair
Where do we turn to find help in our time of weeping, sorrow, or brutality? Some give way to cynicism and despair. They have asserted, "If God is all powerful and we still have all of this suffering in the world, then he must not be good." Or, "If God is good and we have all of this suffering, then he must not be all powerful." "What is the point of it all? How can we worship this kind of God?" they ask.
Several years ago, I visited one of the worst concentration camps that the Nazis ever produced in Dachau, Germany. Millions of people died at this prison camp because of man's inhumanity to man. I saw pictures of the skeletons of men, women, and children who were led into gas chambers. Here in this place I witnessed some of the most awful horrors any group of people could inflict upon another. My spirit sank to the bottom of despair as I looked at this monstrous act. Here the great beast lifted its ugly head high.
But do we give way to the beast and the darkness and turn to despair? Is this the only approach toward life for us? We get a glimpse of light in interesting places. Several years ago in Mohawk Central School in Plains Hollow, New York, a fund for Santa Claus Anonymous was being raised to help poor children in the school and community. These children would not have any Christmas presents without this assistance. A young boy in the school had saved his pennies to give to the fund. On the Friday before Christmas, a heavy blizzard hit and the school busses could not run. He walked through the snow to school and handed the principal the fifteen cents he had saved. As the principal accepted the small donation from the student, he could hardly control his emotions. This young boy was on their list to receive presents from the Santa Claus Fund. Light may begin to shine under unusual doors and out of darkened corners.
Seeing People For Their Worth
A part of the problem with the Herods of life is that they do not treat individuals as people. They see people as things to be used for their own selfish ends. Herod did not care about Jesus as a person, he merely wanted to get rid of him so that his reign could continue undisturbed. He had killed his own family members and anybody else who got in his way. These people were seen only as "things" to be used or discarded. "Herod and his soldiers, bent on destruction in Bethlehem," Morton Kelsey reminds us, "confronts us with the awful mystery of evil in our world and in human society. Herod is a tragic symbol of human egotism that will have its way at all costs."2
Before you quickly condemn Herod, look at your own attitude toward others and the way you treat other people. How much attention do you pay to somebody who waits on your table in a restaurant? Sometimes you cannot remember later if you were served by a man or a woman, much less what they looked like. How do you treat the parking attendant who takes your ticket, or the clerk who waits on you in the store? People are often seen by us only as a means toward some end. We do not see them as authentic people. Carlyle Marney reminds us that we seldom see the whole person. We see people only from the perspective of the function they meet or fulfill for us. He says that a dentist sees people mostly as a mouth. A doctor sees people as organs or tissues of his specialty. A mechanic sees people feet first from under the car. A salesman sees prospects. A newspaperman sees people only as they make news. An undertaker sees what's left.3
Do you see people just as means and ends? Before you say "not me," examine your attitudes of jealousy, gossip, and ridicule. Examine the way you act toward members of your own family. Often our attitude is destructive and not positive. A small girl was waiting in line to see Santa Claus a few days before Christmas. After she walked up to him and he spoke to her, she left quickly and came back to her mother crying. Her mother asked: "Honey, what's wrong? What did he say to you?" He said, "Next." We don't want to be just "next." We want to be somebody. We want to feel like we are seen as people and that we are worth something. We want to feel that our suffering and pain are important to somebody, and most importantly of all that they are significant to God.
The actor, David Steinberg, met a hippie on the street one day and the man asked him, "Don't I know you from someplace? You look familiar." "I remind you of God," he responded. "I am made in the image of God, and you remind me of God, because you have been created in his image." When we see other people, they should remind us of God. They are people of worth, who have been created as his son or daughter. All people are his children and should never be used as ends, manipulated, abused, or hurt. People are to be loved, cared for, and supported.
God Comes With Comfort
Isaiah enters our picture here. The nation of Israel had been in bondage for fifty years. During these fifty years of captivity, when they were slaves in Babylon, they had not heard a word from God -- not even a tiny whisper of concern. Suddenly a voice was heard saying, "Comfort, comfort ye my people." The prophet told them that he had come with a message about God's deliverance. The prophet called them to go to a mountaintop to declare: "Behold your God is coming! Go to the mountaintops and lift up your voice and shout comfort to the people, because deliverance from God is coming. Set the trumpet to your lips and let its sound spread across the land. God has heard the cries of his people and a deliverer is coming. This deliverer will be like a shepherd who carries his hurting sheep in his arms. God is coming," the prophet declares. "He has heard the cries of his people." This prophecy is fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ.
The Light Of Christ's Coming Cannot Be Overcome
Note also that the Herods of the world cannot stop the coming of Christ. Threats of death and even the slaughter of children could not stop his light from coming into the world. Matthew records that the angel came to Joseph in Egypt and said: "Rise up, take the child and his mother, and go with them to the land of Israel, for the men who threatened the child's life are dead" (Matthew 2:20). The great beast could not destroy the child. The beast continues to rise up to destroy the Christ-like element in society. It always seeks to destroy Christ's influence. The beast tempts us to give in to despair, cynicism, and hopelessness. But Jesus Christ has brought his light into the world, and it continues to shine in the midst of darkness.
An old Scottish prayer pleads, "From ghoulies and ghosties, and long-leggety beasties, and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us." At Christmastime we celebrate the coming of light into the world which shatters darkness and those things which go "bump in the night." The light from Christ shines into every dark corner where terror holds its grip and cries, "You are delivered." The darkness of war, prejudice, hatred, suffering, disease, famine, hunger, hopelessness, loneliness, despair, and death often loom heavy on our hearts. But the Lord of Christmas has sent a great light to penetrate the heaviest darkness. No longer need anyone be shut in a prison house of darkness without hope. Light has come, and we are delivered.
The one who is the light of the world shines in all of the dark places with the assurance that night is not the conclusion to our existence. Nights may come, some with terrors of great proportion, suffering, grief, pain, disease, or agony, but the Christian is armed with the assurance that these "terrors of the night" cannot separate him or her from the love of God. The Light which has come at Christmastime with Jesus brings an inner joy and peace that banishes all the things that "go bump in the night." In the Lord of Christmas the Scottish prayer has been answered. "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light" (Isaiah 9:2).
The Abiding Radiance Of Christ's Light
In the circle of the light which is cast by the presence of "the light of the world," we find insight and light in combating the problems and beasts of the world. From the Isle of Patmos, John envisioned a city without night, because it will be lighted by the presence of God himself. That's the power of this Christmas light, and it cannot be hidden. Warm your spirit once again in its glow this Christmas season. The glory of this marvelous light is the miracle of Christmas. Look at it shine! No darkness has the power to extinguish it! As Phillips Brooks wrote, "Yet in thy dark street shineth the everlasting light; the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight." In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Several years ago, we received a Christmas letter from John Killinger. In it he wrote these words, "It hasn't been an easy year for many, but which one ever was? Christmas was never the promise of that, with its birth in a cattle stall, flight into Egypt, and massacre of the innocent. Instead, it is the gift of presence; of communion in the face of danger, need, and desperation. It is a radiance that makes the darkness tolerable. It is a song sung by angels, a song that sets us to singing again even though we had forgotten how to sing."
There is no easy answer to the problem of evil and suffering, but we have an assurance. There is no simple answer to the perplexity, but God gives us God's presence. There is no removal of the harsh realities of suffering, but there is redemption which comes from God in the midst of all the darkness. Jesus is the light of the world, and as we walk in his light, we can live. We walk by faith, and we are comforted by the assurance of God's presence with us in our time of need. God is the answerer.
I read about a minister whose church building caught fire and was destroyed. Within one hour the church was completely burned to the ground. He walked through the ashes of the church and wept. Suddenly he noticed something in the ashes that had not been completely burned. He reached down and picked it up. It was a portion of the order of worship from the previous Sunday. This fragment had not been destroyed by the fire. He read the words which had been a part of the liturgy of his congregation. "I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth." He felt the presence of God and his faith was renewed. He took new faith, because ashes or not, God is still the maker and redeemer of the world.
Yes, there is darkness in the world. But in the midst of this darkness, you and I take hope, because God has come into the world through Jesus Christ. He is the light in the darkness. As John reminds us in his gospel, "This light cannot be overcome." It is the light of hope, encouragement, and comfort. Let us walk in that light.
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1. Loren Eiseley, The Invisible Pyramid (New York: Charles Scribner and Son, 1970), p. 83.
2. Morton Kelsey, The Drama of Christmas (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), p. 71.
3. Carlyle Marney, The Recovery of the Person (New York: Abingdon Press, 1963), p. 155.
