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There are people sitting in darkness. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples.
It is not as if there literally is darkness where God is rejected. The sun does shine on the just and the unjust. The whole creation, all the heavens declare the handiwork of God, even in and over heathen nations. One can see God's power and glory, albeit imperfectly, in observing the wonder and beauty of His creation. One cannot help but marvel at the complexity of the human body, even in its sinful condition; one cannot help but marvel at the beauty and construction of the whole universe. Something of God — that there is a God — is revealed in observing His creation.
But the whole story is seriously incomplete if we stop at the level of gazing at the creation. Without God shining His light upon us, we are in the dark concerning who God truly is, who we truly are as His created and loved people. Without God shining the piercing light of His holy and righteous Law, we would not truly know who we are as people who have fallen into sin and are in need of a Savior from sin. Without God shining His light and revealing His Gospel to us, we are in the dark concerning the only–begotten Son of God, who came to be the King and gatherer of the new Israel, His Church, who came to be our King and Priest by serving us in His suffering in the flesh, born a baby in lowly Bethlehem to die on grisly Golgotha.
There are people sitting in darkness. Darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples.
Subject to sin, death, and the dominion of the devil, darkness is prevalent. It is shown us most clearly when our Lord Jesus suffered the punishment for our sin, and thick darkness covered the earth even at 3 PM in the afternoon.
Sin, death, and the power of the devil cause us to be spiritually blind, morally bankrupt. A dear Christian friend just recently said to me that she gets angry and depressed when watching the television news and sees all of the anti–Christian bias present in the current social, political, and moral fabric of this world. That fabric is dark, embroidered with the satanic threads of unbelief, self–justification, and self–gratification.
But that fabric of darkness over the world is nothing new. It has been there since the Fall. It only continues to degrade and worsen. Adam and Eve were tempted by fruit and a serpent's words. We, today, are tempted by lust of the eye of every kind of sexual perversion, pornography, by gluttony and greed, the lust for money, material goods, by desiring to satisfy every whim and fancy of our sinful appetites at the expense of the neighbor's welfare, health, life, and safety, at the expense of our neighbor hearing the Gospel, at the expense of doing whatever unto the least of these — and so you do it unto the Lord Jesus Himself. Ultimately, when you choose to live in the darkness, you reject the Body of Christ and actively do harm unto it.
Watch the news. Read the news. Listen to the goings–on of our culture and society. Observe the world and how it deals with each person and the sanctity of each person's life. The darkness of this world and its prince chew up and spit out life and so reject the Light of Christ, life, and light that is part and parcel of the One True God and the Son whom He has sent.
There are people sitting in darkness. Darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples.
There is life and light. There is the Glory of the Lord that has risen upon you. The nations shall come to that Light, in God's time and way. That Light, which enlightens everyone, has come into the world, in the flesh of a small baby from the womb of the Virgin Mary. He was and is in the world, and this world was created through Him.
Yet the world did not know Him. His own did not receive Him.There was no room for Him in the inn. Neither was there even knowledge of His existence. The pseudo–king Herod who reigned by paying off the Romans and kept his title by terror knew nothing of the King of the Jews, knew nothing of the Glory of the Lord, nothing of the Morning Star that had risen up over Bethlehem. Neither did the Chief Priests and Scribes of the people.
Imagine these Wise Men from afar, representatives of their own king of the east, who know of the Jewish Scriptures (the Old Testament), who carefully keep track of prophecy and preaching about a God that they do not worship or have faith in, who see the foretold star of Jacob rise up over Israel. They stir into action, travel a long way, bring the richest gifts of their kingdom and land fit to give a royal babe. They arrive in the capital city of Jerusalem only to find a king who is in the dark about the whole thing, only to find the religious leaders of this religion in the dark about the whole thing.
Alas, the wise men might have said to themselves — we have traveled so far in vain, the star had misled us, it was a phantom. If a king were born he should of course be found in the capital and lie in the royal chamber. But when we arrived the star disappeared and no one knew anything about him. We strangers are the first to speak of him in his own country and royal city! Indeed, it must be all false! Besides, his own people are troubled and do not care to hear of him, and direct us from the royal city to a little village…O how odd and unusual everything appears at the birth of a king! …A king is born here, and there is no stir. Should not the people sing and dance, light candles and torches and pave the streets with branches and roses? O the poor king whom we seek! Fools we are to permit ourselves to be deceived so shamefully.(Martin Luther, Church Postil, vol. 1, 361–362)
The wise men may have felt and thought just as Luther portrayed them in the quotation I just read. Our sinful human nature demands an earthly king, demands something we can see and feel and experience to satisfy our darker appetites.
But God reveals Himself when and where He pleases. God reveals His Kingdom not by the earthly trappings. Those are wrapped in the clouds of darkness and the prince of this world, after all. God reveals His Kingdom through His Scriptures, through His revealed Word, even a Word that reaches gentile Wise Men on the edge of the world, far away from Jerusalem's Temple and Herod's Palace. The Word of God led them to recognize the star. The Word of God, even delivered by uncaring priests and scribes, led them down the road to Bethlehem and back to the Morning Star, back to the Glory of the Lord located in the house in Bethlehem, sitting and bouncing on the knees of His mother and step–father.
So, do you see the darkness all about you? Do you see the world falling apart at the seams as it revels in its darkness? Are you sorry for the times when you have even fallen into the darkness, even contributed to it? Are you hurting and smarting from all of the times when the darkness of this world stings and persecutes and seeks your downfall? Do you ever think like the Wise Men may have: should not the King of Kings and Lord of Lords reveal Himself in a more majestic way, a more sophisticated way, a more enticing way; should not we have more proof for our eyes and minds; should not He be doing wonders more visibly to fight the darkness? Does everything seem to be dark and cloudy at times in both world and Church?
The darkness tempts us to forget the True Light who has come into the world, and how He has revealed, manifested, epiphanied Himself to us. Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, came into this world in lowly human flesh, flesh that contained and was one with God's glory and power, fully divine, yet He hid His Glory in our human flesh so that He might not come to be served, but to serve us, giving His life over as your ransom from the darkness. Ultimately, God's glory is revealed not in works of splendor and majesty and earthly trapping but in what appears to be lowliness, humility, and the utter defeat of the manger, and later, the cross and tomb.
Jesus Christ is the risen Light of the world, the Light no darkness can overcome, the Light no manger, no King Herod, no Caesar, no cross and no tomb can defeat. His Light scatters the darkness, and illumines His Church. This Light comes to us through means that necessitate not that we see and feel and experience, but that we listen and believe. His Word is the lamp to our feet, the light to our path. His Gospel good news dispels the darkness of sin and doubt and despair. His absolution pardons and chases away the darkness of Satan. His Word in the water of Holy Baptism enlightens our souls and gives us a new heart of flesh and faith in Christ and His forgiveness. His Word in the Bread and Wine give us the Glory of His Divine flesh and blood, making us one with Him, forgiven, now and unto everlasting life.
So, cast away the works of darkness all you children of the day. Arise, shine, your Light has come, the Glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Lift up your hearts! Fear not the darkness. Put your faith and hope and trust in the True Light who has come into the world, who even now and until the end of time comes into the world in His Word and Sacrament to comfort and enlighten you, who will come into this world to take you home to be with Him in resurrected, glorious flesh at the end of time, when you will at last see Him in His full and visible glory with your own eyes.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
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