Church of the Holy City

In Darkness, a Light

In Darkness, a Light
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
Christmas Eve–2013

Christmas is a time of darkness and of light. Christmas comes at the darkest time of the year. The night is longest around this time and the days are shortest. Perhaps because of this deep darkness, we light lights. We decorate trees with Christmas lights. We light candles. We put Christmas lights around our windows and around our houses. We put lights on our Christmas trees.
We do all this to cheer us during this dark season. But we also do this because of the symbolic meaning of light. For Christ was born into the darkness and Christ is the light of the world.
When we speak of the darkness into which Christ was born, we mean more than just the winter night. As Isaiah 9 says,
The People living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. . .
Isaiah speaks of people living in darkness–darkness so profound that it is called “the land of the shadow of death.” We are taught that the world was in a direful state when Christ was born. Swedenborg states that humanity was at its lowest point. Darkness had become so thick that goodness from heaven was choked off by souls of darkness in the spiritual world. So light needed to be born in this material world.
In Jesus, God was made Human. And light came to a dark world, a dark society. God took on a material body and brought the power, the love, and the heat of infinite goodness into this world. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it,” writes the Apostle John. I like the way that the King James Version translates this line. It reads, “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” For those beings of darkness do not, did not comprehend the light. They do not, did not comprehend truth. They do not, did not comprehend Jesus. The Greek word we are talking about is katalambano. It means both, “to overcome, or overpower,” and also, “to understand.” And the forces of darkness didn’t understand Jesus, and in the end, did not overcome Him. So I translate that phrase, “The darkness didn’t get it.” It didn’t get Jesus physically or mentally.
The forces of darkness didn’t overcome the power of The Light. Though they tried to silence Jesus, even in His death, His message became even more powerful. The light spread through all the Mediterranean first. Then through all the western world.
Consider what a miracle this was, this is. Jesus wrote down nothing. Jesus established no church structure, built no church buildings. All that remained after His death was memories of those who knew Him, and a confused rabble of Jewish peasants. They were left to their own devices when Jesus resurrected.
Yet the light shone from the heavens to announce Jesus’ birth and it shone after His resurrection. When Jesus rose, He now had power to reach the material world from His Divine Humanity through His own material body, now glorified. Swedenborg, citing Isaiah 30:26, states that the sun in the spiritual world shone seven times stronger after the glorification. And this power, this light inspired the Apostles and the entire world from within. This new light overcame the darkness that covered the ancient world.
But the darkness isn’t entirely dissipated in this world. There are inequities of class, gender and race that need the power of Christian love to dissipate. There is disease and famine in much of the world. There are unjust political regimes that need to be toppled. As Christians, we are called to establish social justice in the world. As the Old Testament tells us, and as Jesus demonstrated, the poor and marginalized are not to be forgotten. God hears their voices.
But if the political and social injustices only were in need of the power of Christian love, Jesus would have been just another worldly reformer. But the light of Christianity shines on the souls of people everywhere. It enlightens the mind and inspires the heart of believers everywhere. The voice of that infant born into a dark world calls to each of us to look up, to fix our sights on heaven, and to transform our lives into an image of that Divine Human who walked in the dust of Palestine.
If we set our hearts on that miraculous God-Man to whom the scriptures testify; if we train our feet to walk in the steps of our Savior; if we open our ears to the angelic choirs, we will come to know the Kingdom to which our Lord calls us. We will be friends of the God-Man. We will be residents of the heavenly mansions. And the light will shine in our hearts and minds. And they’ll know we are Christians by our light.

PRAYER

Dear Lord, this Christmas Eve we remember with solemn joy your birth here in this world. The world lay in deep darkness. And to a world consumed with darkness, you brought light. And your light continues to shine into this world, and into our souls. Help us to see your light shining in the world. And give us to see those areas of our lives that you have illuminated so that we may become children of the light. May we seek to embody your light and your warmth that always shines in the heavens and in our souls which live in the spiritual world. We ask your help in bringing that light and warmth into all the activities of our lives. May our lives be a witness to your name. For in this dark, winter’s night we celebrate the light that has come into the world. We call ourselves by the name of that light; we call ourselves Christians.