Greetings This Christmas Day
As we fill our plates with celebratory food and turn to the giving of gifts to one another, we can reflect upon the manner of Jesus’ birth. Praise God that he is lowly in heart. For while we give of our plenty, we also know our own wants and needs—the poverty of our hearts apart from Christ. He did not regard the high, but the lowly. And, he came the share with us in want and need so that he might be forever the King of our hearts and our treasure.
Anselm wrote:
“O loveable, O admirable condescension! God of boundless glory, Thou didst not disdain to be made a contemptible worm. Lord of all things, Thou didst appear as a slave among slaves. It seemed too little to Thee to be our Father; Thou didst deign, O Lord, to be our Brother also. Nay, more; Thou, Thou the Lord of all things, who hadst need of nothing, didst not refuse, even at the very outset of Thy human life, to taste to the full the inconveniences of most abject poverty. For, as the Scripture says, there was no room for Thee in the inn (St. Luke ii. 7) when Thou wast about to be brought forth, nor hadst Thou cradle to receive Thy frail and delicate frame; but Thou, Thou who boldest [sic] the earth in the palm of Thy Hand, wast laid, wrapt in rags, in the vile manger of a filthy cattle-shed; and Thy Mother shared with brute beasts a stall for her hospice. Be comforted, be comforted, you that are nurtured in filth and want, for your God is with you in your poverty.”
7 Truths about Jesus' Light from the Gospel of John
The apostle John makes a special point in writing about Jesus’ light. Though the list below is not comprehensive, we can glean several key features and truths about the light that Jesus is and gives to his followers.
1. Jesus’ life is the light of men. (John 1:4)
There is a special connection between light and life. Jesus’ life has a certain type of feature to it—it brings people into the light. It lifts the countenance, it rebukes sin like a storm, it denotes a level of peace with God that only Jesus can give. Jesus’ light is the light of life. His life perpetuates itself into our lives such that we continue on in light forever.
2. Jesus’ light shines in darkness. (John 1:5)
Jesus has come to bring his light to a context: the world. And, this passage shows that Jesus’ thinking, his teaching, his power, his manner of being, his perfection, and his ways are not of the darkness of this world. He does not think as man thinks—his thoughts and ways are higher. When we come to Jesus, we see a stark contrast between the world and the Way.
3. Jesus’ light is hated by the world. (John 3:20)
Sadly, those who trust themselves, who live for themselves, who follow the ways of the world, who haven’t come to the light of Christ for forgiveness and cleansing—those who are caught in the cycles of working evil hate the light. Exposure of evil goes against the world’s thinking. It acts contrary to the thought of the flesh that we are “good people.” True light exposes, but those who follow the pattern of the world do not want to be exposed. May it be known that coming to the light with Jesus is not frightening—he comes with us, as the strong Savior, and looks with us at our lives so that we can know and walk in the truth.
4. The repentant come to Jesus’ light. (John 3:21)
Those who recognize that true light is found in Christ are those who see the mercy of Christ. He offers his light to cleanse and bless—to help and uplift. He offers his light so that we can enter into the fullness of his life. Those who have accepted the mercy of God are those who are repenting of sin—they acknowledge the truth of God that there is no one who is good. The good work of repentance and walking with Christ that ensues means that those who walk with Jesus love to come to the light and give him all of the credit for their works that align with his ways.
5. Jesus is the light of the world, the light of life. (John 8:12)
Jesus is the majestic and worthy one of the Scriptures—the one who has walked into a world of darkness, that he might rescue and save it. Jesus’ light is far-reaching and bold. It is a light that is not easily forgotten, and a light that illumines the heart, mind, and soul. To experience Jesus is to be changed, to be new and fresh and pure. Jesus himself is the light—all of this goodness emanates from him.
6. Jesus’ followers become sons of light. (John 12:36)
By believing in the light, Jesus’ followers become sons of light. The light of Christ shines through his people. There is sin in God’s people, there is hypocrisy, there is confession needed, there is self-righteousness and pride and a host of wrongs—but sons of light long to be in the light, that sins may be forgiven and washed away and that true light might come from within where the Holy Spirit indwells the believer. He gives power and strength for increased goodness.
7. Jesus takes believers from darkness to light. (John 12:46)
There is a concrete change that occurs in the life of the son of light. And, it is a change wrought through the compassion of God. He came into the world to bring anyone who would believe in him from the darkness to the light. In the darkness, there is stumbling, there is evil, there is all manner of wrong. Jesus knows what he created us for—for fellowship with him who is Light. Jesus came to bring us to himself.
How beautiful that Jesus came to be the light of men! That the holy God would come to associate with our race, the human race, and is a gift of mercy. He aligned himself with mankind while being the perfect Light—to lift us to the place where we could know him and rejoice in what rejoices him. He is the Light of the world; he did the “unthinkable” in coming to become man so that he might illumine for us that he is the way to God. We required a change: to love what is light and lay aside darkness—to love what is pure and set down all manner of sin. And he is that change in us through the Holy Spirit.
This Christmas season, we can rejoice that Jesus is the light of men. As we see Christmas trees, and lights on home, candles in our churches and displays of lights in our cities—we can remember the true character of light. Jesus’ is a light that is contrary to the workings of the flesh and the world—and is all about giving Jesus the credit for shining through us. To know God’s goodness is to know life, and that life is eternally ours through the gift of Jesus’ coming.
A Slowness to the Season
One aspect of Christmas that I often forget is the slowness of the season. What I mean is this: there always seems to be a period of slowness as a pregnancy comes to full term. The mother is very ready to give birth. And, the child is in tighter and tighter of circumstances in the womb. Time must have slowed for Mary as she awaited the birth of her Lord. She must have felt very ready before the hour finally came. She must have felt the desire to give birth and have this precious, worthy Baby in her arms.
I would like to think that we can emulate the slowness of the season—as Mary experienced it. We can think about the preparations. Just like preparations for a newborn baby, do we have everything ready? There is a yearning to make preparations. But, they don’t make us less ready for the hour of celebrating our Savior’s birth, as if a to do list must tear us away from the season—they can make us more ready as we feel increased readiness. Though I know that time does not go by slowly, I think that we can allow our seasonal preparations to feel like the preparations for a newborn: they make us so expectant.
Slowness can also come in the form of waiting for the actual day. We make preparations, we travel, and we put up lights as a sign of the season’s illumination of our souls. All of this is done in preparation for a particular day of celebration. God had a few things prepared for the birth of his Son—the Shepherds, the star, and the angels, to name a few. Even though our preparations are for a celebration and not a birth, I think that the preparations can make us eagerly anticipate the day of celebration. Perhaps we can key into the slowness of the season here too. We are awaiting a day, a particular time, and it won’t come sooner than it’s scheduled.
Everywhere we look, there seem to be Advent devotionals or the encouragement to read the gospels, Isaiah, or the birth accounts in particular—Scripture makes us ready for the season, as do church sermons that have helped us meditate on the coming of Jesus. They all prepare us for a special day of the Baby’s arrival—of celebration of the birth of God. There is a slowness and a lingering that we can take over our spiritual preparations as well. This is a time of year when I often think even more about the people around me who aren’t walking with Jesus—taking time in prayer for them and hoping for their salvation. Scripture and sermons and Bible reading and prayer all make us ready.
It seems that we can mimic the slowness that describes those few days before birth—the deep and abiding readiness for the baby to come. It seems that we can take up our celebratory preparations and our spiritual preparations to make us feel ready while we ponder this special birth.
The slowness of the last period of a pregnancy was mirrored, I think in the slowness of the time of Jesus’ upbringing. He had a childhood. He had a career. He had a life—all before his public ministry. He must have felt so very ready in this gestational stage of his life to do what he was born to do. I wonder if he, in his humanness, felt the time slow as the day and hour of his ministry drew near.
Slowness can help us; pause can ready us. There is an inherent slowness to this season. And, I think that we are wise to let it come upon us. Just as Jesus’ life ushered forth into a period of public ministry, we can have seasons of time that are preparing us for more of what God wants us to do. Are you in a period of preparation? Are you in a period of becoming readied? Are you in a season of slowness before a new stage of life starts?
This season we call Advent reminds us that there are seasons of slowness before seasons of work and calling. Mary held the Christ child closely in her womb while she waited, waited, and waited for his birth—to hold the precious child, her Lord. Jesus lived a life of waiting all before he picked up his ministry. There is a slowness that is precious for our souls. A slowness of remembrance of Christ. A slowness of remembrance that we belong to God, for his work and purpose. A slowness before the celebration breaks forth. A slowness before we are led into another phase of life.
Let’s allow our preparations tune us into our readiness, as God prepares us to see Christ’s birth freshly and as we are gathering ourselves for what God has for us in the new year of walking afresh with this Jesus. Take up these moments as we wait for the celebration of our Savior’s first breath and gracious life.