Light in the Darkness

Last week, strong winds blew through southern California.  I had to re-hang the Christmas garland in front of the church after the wind knocked it down.  Friends in the Inland Empire reported to me that they lost power for some time.

When the power goes out, it gets dark.  When the flashlight batteries are dead or the lantern is out of propane, it gets dark.  Really dark.  Dark in a way that we rarely experience in the 21^st century.

I was listening on the radio recently to residents who lost power during Hurricane Sandy.  In the days that followed, they lived in darkness.  One person said, “my family suffered tremendously.”  Another said, “Coming home every day to a house that’s cold and dark and having no idea when that’s going to change:  that’s torture.”

Jesus was born in the deepest darkness, in the middle of the night at the winter solstice.  That may not be a historical truth – we don’t actually know the date and time of Jesus’s birth – but it is parabolically, metaphorically true.

Silent night, holy night…

It came upon a midnight clear…

While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night…

Whether or not it is literally true that Jesus was born in the midst of darkness, it is true in a deeper, more significant way.  It was a dark time, the time of his birth.  It was a time of oppression. A time of suffering.

But into this world of darkness, a light shines.  A light of hope, peace, joy, and love.

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness, on them light has shined.”

“By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Around the time of Jesus’ birth, the stories of Roman mythology were well known.  According to those stories, the emperor – Caesar himself – was the light of the world.  He was descended from Apollo, the god of light, who protects the earth from the serpent of darkness.

The stories of Jesus’ birth turn those stories of Caesar upside down.  The book of Revelation even says that when Jesus was born, a serpent of darkness was waiting to devour him; and then Revelation uses the number 666 to identify that serpent as the Emperor himself!  According to this scripture, the emperor is the serpent of darkness, and Jesus is the true light.

Those are some pretty cool stories, huh?  But what do they mean?

They mean simply that the way of Jesus is a lot different than the way of the emperor.

And for those who live in darkness, for those who suffer under oppression, for those who are poor, for those who are filled with anxiety and stress …

The way out of that darkness of the soul is the way of Jesus.

The emperor claims to be the one who brings peace to the world, but the emperor maintains that peace through military might, through the sword and the cross.

Jesus also brings peace to the world, but the way Jesus brings peace is very different.  The peace of Jesus comes through love of one’s neighbor and even love of one’s enemy.  It comes through kindness and compassion.  It comes through welcoming those who have been left out, bullied, burdened, oppressed, and discriminated against.

The shepherds knew all about that.  No one cared about the shepherds.  They were picked on, made fun of, and were never invited over to play with the cool kids.  And yet the angel went to them, and said to them:  I bring you good news of great joy.

 In our world today, there is a lot of darkness.  There is a lot of sadness, a lot of violence, a lot of hate.  We have seen innocent children slaughtered, and this reminds us that Herod ordered the killing of countless innocent children following the birth of Jesus. 

Then and now, the world is a world of violence, filled with weeping.

But there is light in the darkness.  There is good news of great joy, and it is the news that this is not the only path that exists.  There is another path, a path of healing, a path of hope, peace, joy, and love.

And every act of kindness, every word spoken with kindness, is a step on this other path.  The Dalai Lama has said that his religion is kindness, and I think the same could almost be said for Jesus.  Kindness leads us out of the darkness and into the light.  Kindness brings healing to those who are in pain. 

Only kindness can stop the killing of the innocent.  Only kindness can relieve suffering.  And the good news tells us that kindness is something that each one of us is capable of.  The light that shines in the darkness is within us all.