Christmas
Isaiah 60:1–6
1Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 2For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. 3And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. 4Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. 5Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. 6A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.
Arise! Shine! Your light has come! We have seen the light. God tells us, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." We have seen the light. We have just seen the birth of a baby in a feed trough in Bethlehem who is the light. We have sung his praises. We have celebrated his birth. But the light that shone that dark night in a barn in a small shepherd town would not have been very significant without the darkness.
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness as over the face of the deep," (Gen 1:1-2). There was darkness. There was no light. "Then God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light," (Genesis 1:3). Light came piercing through the darkness. God saw that the light was good, so he separated the light from the darkness (Gen 1:4). He didn't say the darkness was good, but without darkness light does not have any meaning. And so, from the beginning there was light that overcame the darkness and when the light comes the darkness is chased away. So God made a sun and a moon and stars to provide light both in the day and in the night. And so was born darkness and light which flow all through time and history until God makes a new heaven and a new earth.
But the prophet tells us, "behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples." Darkness covers the earth as clothing covers the body. The earth and all the peoples are wearing darkness. Darkness is our garment, our covering, our clothing. In the same way that darkness covered the deep at the creation. On the first day of creation there was darkness, but God never proclaimed it good. This is the darkness that enveloped Egypt in the ninth plague, the plague of darkness. But the Israelites had light. The people of God live in the light while the sinful nations are clothed in darkness. Thick darkness.
What is thick darkness? This is the darkness of the cloud that surrounded God on Mt. Sinai so that his glory would not annihilate the people of God. This is the darkness that covers his glory. This is the darkness of sin. This is the darkness of God's judgment on sin. This is the darkness of eternal punishment. This is the outer darkness into which the unworthy servant of Jesus is cast for eternity. In this darkness there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. In this darkness is the fire that cannot be quenched. This is the darkness of doom, of sin, of death, of judgment upon sin. This is the darkness that inhabits our hearts, our thoughts, our minds.
The very Word of God which said, "Let there be light," came into this darkness of human sin and the world did not receive him. As God clothed himself in darkness on the top of the mountain, so too the Word of God clothed himself in this darkness of our sin and God's judgment. For this darkness is a positive evil. This is not just suffering and pain because the world is fallen and nature doesn't work as it should. It's not just the darkness of an earthquake or hurricane destroying entire cities. It's not the world as it is, just not a perfect life kind of darkness. This is positive darkness. This is the darkness of men doing evil things on purpose. This is the darkness of a teenager with an assault weapon going into his school and killing 9 of his fellow students and wounding 23 others. This is the darkness that inhabits the human soul that leads a terrorist to blow himself up in the middle of the street just to kill as many innocent victims as possible. This is the darkness of the soul that causes a man to rape a teenage girl, the kind of darkness that leads a girl to end the life of the baby inside her. The darkness of a man who cheats on his wife, or a wife who runs off with another man. This thick darkness is the darkness the shrouds our inner most thoughts and desires. This is the thick darkness of anger, selfishness, of injustice we do to one another. This is the darkness that talks about others behind their backs and defames them. This is the kind of darkness that refuses to forgive a friend who offends you. This is the darkness that lies, cheats, steals, and commits immorality. This is the thick darkness that clothes each and every person and makes them proud, self-righteous, and judgmental of others. This is the darkness of human sin. It's not just because of a broken world that we suffer and get old and die by natural causes. This thick darkness is sin, it is positive evil we do to others, to ourselves. This is the sin that deserves judgment and condemnation by God.
It is into this darkness that Jesus was born in human flesh. In this darkness of human sin he clothed himself with our human flesh and blood. This is the darkness that rejected the Light of God who was born on Christmas. It was this darkness of our sin that led him to the cross, that scourged him, that beat him, that pounded thorns into his head and nails into his hands. It was this thick darkness that put him to death on a cross. It is the thick, gloomy darkness of a cold, damp tomb shut with a rock and sealed with a Roman seal.
But the Light shines in the darkness of the world, in the thick darkness of sin and punishment. And even though the darkness tried to snuff it out, the darkness could not overcome the Light. For on the third day, at the rising of the sun, the light burst forth from the cold, dark tomb. The light shined forth for all the world to see. The darkness cannot overcome the Light. The darkness of death and the judgment of God and the punishment of sin, could not put out the Light.
So now, arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. The light has come. Like the sun that rises in the morning we did nothing to bring the light into the world. The light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. It rises by itself. We do not bring it. We do not make it rise. It just comes up in the morning as the sun. For God raises up the Light and it shines upon us without our seeking it, without our wanting it, without our work or effort, God raises it up upon us and by the Light our sins are forgiven. This is the light that chases away the darkness of sin and evil in our hearts and makes us pure and holy in God's sight. The Word of God who said, "Let there be light," is himself the Light. And he has come into the world and we have seen his glory as the glory of the only Son from the Father full of grace and truth. We have meditated on it during this Christmas Season. And the glory of the Lord shone round about as the angel came to the shepherds. And there arose a star in the East that led that magi to Bethlehem. And as the prophet says, they came to the Light from afar. And a multitude of camels came and they brought gold and frankincense. And they worshipped and praised the God of glory and might whose Light had come into the all the world.
So now a Light has risen on all the peoples who lived in thick darkness. The Light has risen on you. It has risen on you by means of your baptism and the darkness of your heart could not overcome the Light. And you have seen the glory of the God that has risen on you. Your sins are forgiven as the Light was put to death on the cross yet the darkness could not overcome the light. He rose the third day and proclaims the sins of the world forgiven.
The glory of the Lord is salvation. It is God's greatest glory to save you. The greatest glory of Jesus was on his cross at his crucifixion. The Glory of the Lord rises upon you in baptism and each time you receive the Sacrament of the Altar. For through these means his light shines on you. Through these means of grace your sins are forgiven and you become the children of the Light. Through baptism you are snatched out of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of light.
So that now you have become the light of the world. The Light of God shines in you and through you to the world as you live in Christ and walk in his love and spread his love to all people. The peoples that once lived in deep darkness, have now seen a great light. The light of God's glory and salvation. The light that has taken away the darkness of your sin and the darkness of judgment for sin.
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Amen.