CHRISTMAS...LIGHT INTO DARKNESS

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
John 1: 1-5



OK, so, being a blogger, I guess I have to write the obligatory blog entry about the true meaning of Christmas. Or, well, maybe I don't. I sincerely hope I never get to the point where I feel obligated by anything but the prompting of God to write any blog entry, let alone one on Christmas. However, I kind of feel that sense at this moment, which is why I'm doing it (a master of the obvious, as always). I have had the immeasurable privilege of spending my first Christmas ever with a wonderful wife who has made just about every experience I've been through in the last 8 months richer (if sometimes more challenging due to not being able to consider just myself any more).

One of those experiences was being in the hospital back in early December due to a serious leg infection related to my diabetes (which will be in a coming blog entry). I am familiar with hospitals; I spent many days in one due to the emergency abdominal surgery I endured back in 2005, and the three subsequent abdominal surgeries over the next two years. Being in the sterile and not-very-cheery atmosphere of a small hospital room puts a lot of things into perspective, especially when you finally get out. I of course thought about those patients in there who would be spending much longer in those little rooms, and...those who would never return home again, or even if they did, never get better again. Health is just one of those many blessings that, for whatever reason our Lord has, He does not distribute equally or fairly (at least in our human estimation). Why for instance, did little Alexandra Scott, the heroine of Alex's Lemonade Stand fame, live only eight years battling cancer, while notorious mob super-boss Carlo Gambino, responsible for hundreds of murders and maimings, billions in stolen money and thousands of drug and gambling-ruined lives, live comfortably well into his 80's? I certainly don't have the answer for that, and neither do the most renowned theologians; however, I trust my Lord that He does, and that He will make what is out of balance and unjust down here right again in His own way in the final judgement. That's a subject that in and of itself I'm not going to tackle here. It's just something that my hospital stay made me think about and ponder; why was I going through what I was going through while people who had eating habits and exercise habits just as bad as mine in better health than me? And why were those who ate and exercised better than me doing worse? If you read my earlier blog entries about suffering and how it strengthens our walk with the Lord by drawing us closer to Him, builds our character in Him, and enables us to comfort those going through the same things, you have part of an answer right there; but not the whole thing. That belongs to God only, and will be known by us when we leave this existence.

That leaves us with only our childlike trust in two things; that Abba knows best, and that Abba will not let us suffer forever but will make things all right eventually. It is that latter part that has gotten my attention this Christmas after hearing a wonderful message on that very topic, using the very scripture I cited at the beginning; that God brought His only all-powerful Son into our fallen human world to bring light to the darkness that had fallen.

Judea was not a happy place when the time of Jesus' birth came. Israel had not been a great unified nation like it had been under David and Solomon since the days after Solomon when several bad kings divided the kingdom by setting up shop in Samaria rather than Jerusalem. And since the Assyrian conquest of that northern portion, Israel had known no complete freedom as a sovereign nation; after that came the empires of Babylon, Persia, Alexander's Greece, Selucia, and Rome. There had been no word from the Lord since the prophet Malachi, hundreds of years earlier. The flame of the Maccabees under the Seleucids quickly died out under the Roman steamroller. And so the coming of Christ was to a nation with no great prophet or indigenous leader, rudderless, whose destiny seemed wholly controlled by Roman procurators and semi-pagan Hasmonean kings, not by the priests, prophets and Davidic kings of old. In fact the line of David had faded into obscurity, and now lay in the hands of an ordinary Joe (whose name just happened to actually be Joseph). Any indigenous authority rested with a cadre of aging priests and scribes who knew the Torah inside and out but had long ago lost touch with its spirit, and had become sclerotic in their spirituality and blind to the Messianic hope. Without that hope sin reigned supreme, with the exception of a very small faithful remnant of folks such as Simeon and Anna the prophetess who patiently waited for their Deliverer.

Into this world "in sin and error pining" came that baby born in a feeding trough used by animals. Not a very auspicious entrance for a Savior, was it? He would have many such unremarkable entrances and humiliating exits, culminating in the one hideously appalling exit that would bring about that awaited deliverance. But in the Heavenlies that entrance was grand indeed; the archangel himself announcing His arrival; the hosts of angels celebrating, the brilliant star marking the location, etc. But for most folks life just went on in its same miserable cycle; only a privileged few were invited to that first Advent party; a ragtag band of shepherds and a trio of Zoroastrian astrologer-nobles from parts eastward. For everyone else it pretty much meant the onerous burden of yet another Roman census, designed to gouge yet more taxes out of them. More misery and oppression.

From the very start the little King had enemies; Herod who tried to murder him and who murdered hundreds of innocent boy toddlers instead was only the first. For Satan knew He had come and was determined to put a halt to His mission by any means necessary; after all, His coming meant Satan's eventual doom. But for those whom God gave the privilege of revelation into the true purpose of His coming and enlightenment into the true meanings of the old prophecies, such as aforementioned Simeon and Anna, and later a certain John, His coming meant the deliverance they had long awaited; from sin and the endless cycle of guilt and sacrifice and directionless wandering as a non-nation and a non-people separated from their God by a vast gulf. Some would of course later see His coming like that of Moses as a physical deliverance from Rome and, upon finding out this was not His mission at all, would call for His crucifixion at Pilate's palace. But to the weary masses of God's Chosen struggling under both the physical yoke of Rome and the spiritual yoke of Satan, His coming represented one enormously overriding thing: LIGHT. A great, brilliant light...made all the more brilliant by the surrounding darkness. But only those with eyes to truly see could would be able to perceive that light, and, more importantly, allow that light into their own darkness. But there were also those who, like Pharaoh, hardened their hearts or for whom God ALLOWED their hearts to be hardened (see Romans 1; God will sometimes give us over to our sins and depravity if we persist in them with no hint of repentance), and therefore were blind to this light. Jesus in his adult years called out ruling authorities for this willful blindness countless times. Yet even some of them, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea could see. But too many times Jesus actually was hindered from healing or ministering due to the willful blindness of the crowds; people who refused to let His Light in (I am in now way advocating the rantings of the Healing/Prosperity folks about "activating your faith" like some on/off switch when I mention this; I'm simply saying that Jesus didn't force His way into anyone's life; you either accepted or rejected Him, which is everyone's choice in the end, isn't it?)

And so those sullen and stiff-necked ruling authorities sought to murder him on several occasions, but because the time was not yet right Jesus supernaturally slipped away from his would-be assassins. No secret, anonymous death for Him; it had to be public, humiliating and excruciating to fulfill the old prophecies and to complete the redemption of humanity from its sorry state. After all the attempts by man and Satan alike to extinguish the Light it looked at the crucifixion like it might just happen for good this time. It looked like the darkness had finally won. Indeed after Jesus breathed His last darkness did fall. But something else happened; the veil was torn from top to bottom in the Temple. The Light penetrated the Holy of Holies itself, and God's light came out; something that had never happened in the entire history of the Tabernacle and the Temples. And, incredibly, after Jesus departed for the Heavenlies, the Light became even more powerful; it became available to EVERYONE who accepted it, not just a privileged few.

And so the church grew like wildfire as the Light shone in an ever-widening arc across the planet. And even when the church became dark itself due to being infected with pagan superstition and worldly political power, bright areas of light shone brightly and were never extinguished despite Satan's best efforts (unfortunately one of his most effective weapons has always been religion; pseudo-Christianity that is all Law and Power and no Love and compassion). And today, Jesus' church continues to be an awesome source of Light to a darkening world, for those who are chained by addictions to darkness and who desperately seek the Light, or those who have simply seen His Light and find the darkness...well...dark.

May the Light that shines at Christmas not die out when the tree and lights come down and the toys are put away. May it penetrate the dark and cold of winter as well as the heat of summer; may it penetrate all the hidden, cobweb-ridden dark places of our hearts and expose them to the healing Light. May we come to that Light not in fear but with joy, which is why He came to that stable in the first place, isn't it?

Peace,
Tom Sebring