Christmas Day at Epiphany on December 25, 2007

Isaiah 9:1-7 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan-- ² The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. ³ You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. ⁴ For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. ⁵ Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. ⁶ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷ Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

He Dawns on Those in Darkness

What’s the best way to string the lights on a Christmas tree?  The spiral method, around and around and around; the vertical method stretching up and down; or the “burning bush” method of carefully wrapping every single branch of the tree in lights?  I really don’t think any of those methods would look nice in the end if the proper procedure for putting up lights wasn’t used: turning off the overhead lights in the room and turning on the strings of lights provides a sharp contrast to help you see what you’re doing. 

Certainly, he who placed the stars and moon in the sky to govern the night knew this procedure long before we did.  What a wonder that the best procedure for us putting up lights each Christmas is the same procedure our Savior used when he came to save us.  Contrast.  The darker it is, the better the light shines.

What a mess the Israelites had made of the promised land they inherited in the Old Testament.  They turned it from the Lord’s precious possession into a filthy place of fornication, fraudulent business activity and false worship of idols.  As judgment God gave possession of the land to foreign, idol-worshipping kings, and many of the Israelites were deported into foreign captivity.  Centuries later a small remnant of them were allowed to return to this land of darkness, but the once dazzling glory of Israel had been lost.  Despite the darkness, God would keep his promise, as Isaiah 9:1 explains, “In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles.”  Neither heathen foreigners (known as Gentiles) nor the mess made by the Israelites would keep God from sending the Savior.  As a matter of fact, the dark and distressing circumstances made it all the more clear that a Savior was needed, and all the more clear for a Savior to be seen.

Into this land of darkness the Savior of the nations broke like the bright sun smiling on a clear new morning.  “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the shadow of death a light has dawned,” Isaiah rejoices (9:2).  The part of the promised land most obliterated by foreign invasion became the part most richly blessed.  How?  As Matthew’s Gospel reports, it became the hub of Jesus’ saving activity, “Jesus … returned to Galilee … and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali – to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah.”  (Matthew 4:12-14)  In the darkness of a messed up part of the promised land, the light of God’s salvation shines even more brightly.

What have you messed up?  Perhaps you’ve let someone down, or made greedy financial decisions, or cheated just a little bit.  Or maybe it's what you haven't done - not prayed enough, not spent enough time with your family, not loved your neighbor. You feel like a sinner more often than a saint. You identify with the goats more often than the sheep. You find it hard to live with, it’s a dark side of your life that follows like a shadow.  It makes bright days dark and turns gladness into guilt.  It’s your own personal “land of the shadow of death.”  And you hate it.

Now stop for a minute.  Your Savior, who came to this earth, made his base of operations the dark place right where peopled needed him the most.  This darkest place that looked the least likely to attract anyone pure and perfect.  He was born there, lived there, healed and helped people there, died there and rose from there.  He saved those people and saved the world, within this land of darkness.  Do you think your Lord Jesus can go, then, into the darkest corners of your life and the most dismal depths of your soul and brighten them like his resurrection brightened the first Easter morning?  He is the Light shining in the land of darkness, wherever that darkness may be. 

He forgives and loves.  He comes to sinners who have made a mess of some part of their own life and shoved it into a dark closet, and Jesus Christ the Savior of the world enters that closet, turns the light on and opens the door to reveal cleanliness.  He brings a new day of relief and rescue from sin’s mess, he dawns on those living in darkness and gives them a joy more refreshing than a bright new day.  He came once into a land of darkness unasked, unearned, undesired and lit it up with the light of forgiveness and healing and love; he does the same for sinners today. He does this for you.

That’s why we call him the Savior. That’s why we worship him today. Amen.