We Have Seen a Great Light

*This is a repost from Wade’s blog on 12-23-21.

I remember that Christmas Eve gathering at my church many years ago. One of our members, Chris, brought his father-in-law, and from the moment the older man walked in, I could tell he wanted to be anywhere else but in a church. I introduced myself to him and gave him a gentle “Merry Christmas,” He responded with a rough “Hello” with a stern countenance. He quickly stepped away and sat in the back row of the auditorium with the rest of his family.

As I preached a brief sermon on Christ as the only true light and hope for the entire world, I continued to glance at the man who didn’t want to be there. He sat there with arms folded and a scowl on his face. Yet he never lost eye contact with me. As I preached, I prayed that God would open his heart to embrace the truth of the Christmas reality.

As soon as the evening was over, I made a point to find him and thank him for gathering with us. I couldn’t find him in the auditorium. Chris told me he bolted as soon as the last song was over. Chris also told me that his father-in-law hadn’t stepped foot into a church for nearly twenty years, and it was a “miracle” that he even agreed to meet Chris and his family for Christmas Eve.

Chris told me that his father-in-law (Barry, by the way) had lost his wife and son in a tragic accident so long ago, just a week before Christmas. Since that time, Barry had refused to enter a church, and he had refused to celebrate any Christmas celebrations with the rest of the family. For Barry, Christmas was a reminder of tragedy and death, not joy and new birth.

There were several things I wish I could have shared with Barry that night. I wish I could have talked more with him about the passage I preached from in Isaiah 9:2:

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”

I wish I could have told Barry that much of the Christmas story is birthed out of a minor key, as in Isaiah’s proclamation, giving hope to all who are hurting, confused, angry, and exhausted.

I wish I could have shared that the church is one of the few places in our culture where we should be able to bring our hurt, our mess, and all the other stuff we don’t know how to fix or make sense of. It should be the place where the cracks of our brokenness are exposed so that the light of Christ can shine through.

I wish I had the opportunity to tell Barry that a Christian Christmas is radically different from the “Merry Christmas” many in our culture speak of today. The main difference is between optimism and hope. Optimism often refuses to face the darkness. It’s a holiday from the reality of the brokenness surrounding us. Hope, on the other hand, dwells in the darkness but refuses to be overcome by it.

The book of Isaiah was written many centuries before Jesus was born, but the prophet’s words proved true:

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin h will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

And a few chapters later, the author writes:

“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.” (Isaiah 9:6)

When Isaiah promised that the broken, hurting, darkness-walking people should see a great light, the apostle John elaborated on the promise:

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5)

I wish I could have spent more time with Barry to tell him that Christmas only makes sense when you see that Christ came to bring light to our darkness. He came to bring hope, not optimism. He came to us as Immanuel, “God with us,” present in our deepest tragedies and darkest nights. The baby born in a wooden manger came to die on a wooden cross so that the darkness of sin, death and the devil would not overcome us.

Christmas only makes sense because of Christ. I pray that Barry, wherever he is, has come to believe this. And I’m praying for all in our FBC family who are hurting, broken, and downcast this season. May the light of Jesus the Messiah shine brightly in your hearts, bringing you joy, comfort, and peace even on your darkest nights. The Light has come and will come again to dispel the darkness once and for all.

–Wade