Recently, I conducted a funeral for a 37-year-old man, father to two kids, husband to a resolute wife; he died far too early and young. As I search for words, I was led to Psalm 139: "Where [O God} can I...flee to escape your presence? If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there. If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be...If I were to say, 'Certainly the darkness will cover me, and the light will turn to night...even the darkness is not too dark for you to see, and the night is as bright as day." (Psalm 139:7-9; 11-12, NET)
These are dark, difficult days. Be it a spiking pandemic or escalating inflation, it’s easy to look askance at Psalm 139, concluding: the darkness will cover us, the light will be gone.
In November, I heard Dr. Gary Gallagher, Professor of History emeritus at the University of Virginia, speak at the 158th Commemoration of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address at Gettysburg National Military Park. Gallagher’s initial point was arresting: he’s wearied by persons remarking that our current context is unprecedented and insufferable; it’s not. Why, compared to the darkness of the Civil War, our darkness is a pittance. Yet it’s striking that Lincoln persevered, leading the nation through “impossible” darkness into the light of a new day. Lincoln’s effectiveness, Gallagher noted, reassures us that just as “…we have overcome immense problems in the past...we will almost certainly do so again.
But beyond reassurance from Lincoln, our ultimate hope is from God, who irrefutably declares that we can shine in dark times. Such reassurance is core to the Christmas story. It’s noteworthy that as Gospel writer John articulates the heart and soul of the incarnation, he underscores the essence of Psalm 139.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God... All things were created by him... In him was life, and the life was the light of [humankind]. And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it... Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 3-5, 14 NET).
Because light’s mastery over darkness is core to Christmas theology, not surprisingly, light floods Christmas prophecies and the Christmas story. Whether it’s Isaiah’s prediction that “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light" (Isaiah 9:2), or the radiance of the angel and the heavenly host as they appeared to earthy shepherds (Luke 2:8-20), or the iconic Bethlehem star guiding obedient Wise Men (Matthew 2:1-11), overwhelming light pierces overwhelming darkness in the Christmas narrative.
Especially striking is God’s ability to pierce the darkness of King Herod. As you might recall, Herod was the mega ruler at the time of Jesus’ birth, known for his sinister, violent, corrupt actions. Why, Herod was so evil, Paul Maier recounts, that he killed "...three of his sons on suspicion of treason, [put] to death his favorite wife (of his ten wives), killed one of his mothers-in-law, drowned a high priest, and killed several uncles and a couple of cousins.”
Yet when Herod tried to dominate, manipulating the Wise Men to disclose the precise location of Jesus’ birth, God "...warned [the Wise Men] in a dream not to return to Herod [after finding Jesus, and] they went back by another route to their own country." (Matthew 2:12, NET). Herod responded with yet more evil, massacring children two years and younger in the vicinity of Bethlehem in hopes of killing Jesus (Matthew 2:16-18). But God penetrated the darkness yet again, informing Joseph through a dream to leave Bethlehem with Mary and Jesus for Egypt before the slaughter (Matthew 2:13-23).
If we're attentive, God's still penetrating the darkness in practical, illuminating ways, leading us to a place of wisdom, safety and peace.
While there, Roosevelt suggested they go to Foundry United Methodist Church on Christmas Day. During worship, Christmas carols were sung, including “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Churchill had never heard the carol but was moved by it, including the stanza: “Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight."
Historian David McCullough believes Churchill sang that stanza with particular gusto, since the night before on Christmas Eve, Churchill remarked as he celebrated the lighting of the National Christmas Tree: “Here in the midst of war, raging and roaring... creeping nearer to our... homes... amid all the tumult, we have tonight... peace of spirit... [thus] each home... should be a brightly lighted island of happiness and peace.”
We, too, can be brightly lighted islands amid our raging, roaring context. For it is Christmas and the radiance of Jesus is born. And so “yet in... dark streets shineth the everlasting Light.” And that “...light shines on... [and] the darkness has not mastered it" (John 1:5).
What's mastering you this Christmas? I know it is dark and despairing; COVID and inflation are roaring and raging. But “the people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:2).
Walk toward the Light—Jesus. Let Christ overwhelm you, and not the darkness of our day!
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