This is the darkest week of the year. I find it some what depressing. I do not really want to get out of bed in the morning. It’s cold and dark. I hear about family members who lose a loved one this time of year, a pregnancy that may not last, strife between friends and family, the forced prostitution of young girls. Then I remember the end of the week. I am so thankful for Christmas. Not just the gifts though it is fun to receive and to give. Not just the food, though it is yummy and filling. Not just the family though it is good to work on and enjoy those relationships but, more so because our God sent His Son. The Great Light has come! There is hope! We no longer have to be in darkness. Whether that means our own sin and short comings or how others hurt us or the injustices in the world. I love Christmas lights as a reminder of the Light that has come. Christ who was perfectly human and divine entered our world. Not only has He entered, but He continues to be at work.
Can you see the flickering light breaking through the darkness? Sometimes it is small and hard to see, but it is there. It is in organizations who fight for those who are oppressed like IJM, it is in shelters who house women and children who must flee the violence of their homes, it is in a group of students who care what happens to the employees of their school, it is in those who visit nursing homes and soup kitchens all year long.
Our pastor recently talked about miracles and how they are not really these extra-ordinary events outside the natural order. Miracles are really a glimpse of the restoration of things to come. So, when Jesus restores sight to the blind man it is a glimpse of how things should really be. Jesus’ miracles are not suspensions of the current order, but restorations of the created order. God is working out His kingdom here and now. Glimpses of the Light are there. I love this passage in Isaiah not just for the often quoted part, but for all of it and the peek it gives us of how things will be-justice, peace, rejoicing. “I have seen a great light. . .”
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of shadow of death a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased the joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for the fire. For to us a child is born to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” Isaish 9:2-7
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of shadow of death a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased the joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for the fire. For to us a child is born to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” Isaish 9:2-7
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