By Tom More
The winter solstice, December 21, marks the darkest day of the year. For an ancient people, the sun giving way earlier each day, relenting more and more to the darkness, must have carried with it the question of whether the light would ever return at all. World plunged into darkness.
Christmas, then, is uniquely placed as the first time you can see a visible sign of the light returning. An assurance of hope for the world. While Jesus is referred to as the light of the world explicitly, many of our favourite Christmas passages have this allusion as a central symbol.
Consider the famous declaration in Isaiah, “For to us a child is born… And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”1 The prelude to this passage is the announcement of the end of the gloom and distress, for, “the people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”2 The Magi followed the brightest star in the sky to a far off land to worship the new King. The shepherds were in the field late at night when they were astounded by the brilliant shining of the glory of the Lord. The angel told them not to worry since the news portended was of an even greater Light: the Saviour, the Messiah, the Lord, was coming into the world.3
While the winter season can feel particularly aphotic, many of us, especially the younger generations, feel global despair looming year round, unsure if the world will begin to grow bright ever again. When we look to our faith, what hope is there? That God would send His Son into the world to save us is a sign, though we ask how this salvation pushes back the dark.
At Christmas, we remember how the Saviour appeared. Christ did not shine with the glory of the Lord as the angel had. He came as an infant, helpless, to a lowly manger in the dead of night. Child born into darkness. That our Lord is able to empathize with the state of the world we inhabit because He too has known the dark means He loves us from a place of deep compassion.
Maybe in this season you have a refugee student who has fled here much as Jesus fled to Egypt. Perhaps a close loved one is in the place of gloom and distress. Where is the Lord now? That Christ is in the heavenly realms is not just a sign of ascension from humility to glory. It is our surety that the King is even now bringing about the goal of His Kingdom, even here in the dark.
At Christmas we remember the light is breaking in. Consider what of Christ’s humility, love, and mercy can serve as a sign to those around us that the dark will soon abate and light will spread over the earth?
1 Isaiah 9:6
2 Isaiah 9:1, 2
3 Luke 2:8-11