[Isaiah 9:2-7 / Titus 2:11-14 / Luke 2:1-14]Running through all three readings on this holy night is the same theme: a Light shines in the darkness. And in each case, it is ultimately the same Light that shines: the Light that was with the Father before time began, the Light that is the everlasting joy of the holy angels, the Light that in the fullness of time became incarnate in the womb of the pure Virgin, the Light she gave birth to on this holy night. With St. John we confess that this is a Light that no darkness can overcome or ever snuff out. Behold, the Light that God shines upon us this holy night!
For darkness there is aplenty - outside and in. Isaiah spoke of the darkness as being deep and he indicated that the darkness was oppressive, burdening, and enslaving. What is this darkness the prophet speaks of except the darkness of sin, evil, death? All that weighs down the human family and causes us to weep. But look: into the darkness where we sat, chained in shackles of sin, shackles that we ourselves forged and willingly put on and now sit betrayed as slaves to our appetites and wayward desires, waiting helplessly for death to come devour us, into that darkness Light dawns.
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given!” A human child and a divine Son and one and the same! This is shown by His name: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Father of the Age to Come, Prince of Peace. And the promise that goes with this Child is that His kingdom will have no end, but grow and grow until time in endless time be lost.
But you might wonder: how can a child set me free from my darkness? How can a child break the chains forged by my long habits of sin? How can a child drive the pain of grief and sorrow from my heart? Is it possible?
Yes, people loved by God, it is possible. This Child can do it! For in Him the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people! He comes to train us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions – to see them for the cheats they are and to turn our backs on them – so that by His Spirit’s power we come to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age that is coming to an end, all the while waiting for the blessed hope, the appearing of that Child, grown to manhood, our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. He gave Himself into our flesh to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His very own, His people, then, who are zealous for good works.
If you have tried to walk this way before and failed miserably, know that the Child comes to you anew this night, to give you the gift of a new beginning. A new start. He didn’t come so that you could stay stuck in the old life, the old way; what good would that be? He came to give you salvation – deliverance from that old bondage and to bring you into His new life. For the mess that your life has been, He comes to give you love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faith, and chastity.
And that is why the angels are so excited tonight. That is why their song rings out over the hills and startles the Shepherds. They can scarcely contain their joy at what this Child has come to do. He has come to bring this fallen race of man back to the home they share with the Blessed Trinity forever. He has come to be the Savior.
Savior, for what we need isn’t help. What we need is salvation. We don’t need someone to help us cope with the darkness, to learn how to manage it. God forbid! We need someone to shatter the darkness with the light of His own presence and love. And that is what the Child has come to do. This is the good news of great joy! God didn’t drop down to us a self-help kit from heaven. He sent His Son into our flesh, to assume that flesh into the unity of the Godhead. He sent His Son into our flesh that that flesh might be cleansed, healed, restored, and raised up. He sent His Son into our flesh that in that flesh He might bear all sin to death and leave it behind in the grave. He sent His Son into our own flesh that He might raise that flesh from death in total incorruption and bring it glorified to the Father’s right hand, ruling triumphantly over all. In the flesh that the Child appears in tonight, a whole new race has begun! There is a world in the Child bigger than all the universe outside Him!
This is why the Angels sing on this holy night: the lost race of man that had wandered in the darkness NOW has a way back home. The Light in which the angels ever rejoice shines in the darkness of a world gone wrong so that being joined to Him, to His light, the children of men might become the very children of God in Him. Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth among those with whom He is pleased! The Child opens the way back to paradise and raises us higher than ever we fell!
As you come and kneel before Him, the Child of Bethelehem, the Man of the Cross, your Risen and reigning Lord, comes to you as silently and wondrously as He came to our race that first Christmas night. Under the mystery of bread and wine, He reaches to you the very flesh and blood that He assumed from His holy mother and in which He wrought salvation. He says to you: “I am YOUR light. I will drive away the darkness! I will break the chains of sin! I will make you a people prepared for the joyous Age that already is full in me and will be full in you. Learn to live in Me, child, and let Me live in you! And then in you will be the light that no darkness can overcome. Not the darkness of sin – for I am sin’s Forgiveness; Not the darkness of death – for I am death’s Defeat. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it!“
To such an invitation we can but join with the Shepherds and Angels, as we fall down before the Holy Child and worship Him and permit Him to pour into us Himself as living Light, the Light that was before time began and the Light that will be when time is no more – our Jesus, our Emmanuel, our Lord, our God, and our Savior – to whom be glory with His unoriginate Father and all-holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
The Light Eternal, breaking through,
Made the world to gleam anew;
His beams have pierced the core of night,
He makes us children of the light.
Alleluia! [LSB 382:4]
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