The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them.
~~ Isaiah 9:2
The night before the birth that changed the world, there was no hum of anticipation. The people whose families hailed from Bethlehem were gathering there again in droves, no doubt grumbling over Roman tax laws and the difficulty of finding rooms. The shepherds were spending another dirty, smelly night with the sheep, those stupidest of animals. Astronomers from miles and miles away were watching the skies, as usual. Pharisees and other religious leaders were offering up prayers for a Messiah of their own imagining, someone to kill the Roman invaders and restore Israel to all its Davidic glory. Perhaps a man named Simeon--closing his eyes after another long day, feeling his age--would have felt one day closer to the consolation he'd been yearning for, but perhaps he was one of few.
When Matthew references the prophet Isaiah, he does it like this:
"The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light,
And to those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death,
Upon them a light dawned."
~~ Matthew 4:16
Not physical darkness, but the darkness of a land ruled by death. Not just walking, but sitting. Waiting for the inevitability of the shadow.
And then one new baby cries.
Elsewhere, in the fields with the watching shepherds, the night explodes in light and in song--the first sign that the child who has left glory pulls glory in after him. But most of Israel is sleeping. Nobody told them that everything would change that night.
Long ago, when the church scheduled a commemoration of this unremarkable yet miraculous night, they chose a time of year that coincided with pagan festivals celebrating the winter solstice, the longest night that (finally) gave way to the returning sun. Now, on Christmas, we celebrate the turning from a deeper darkness than the dead of winter, and a light that both preceded and will outlast the sun. Now, every day, in the midst of whatever darkness threatens to overwhelm us, we remember the Incarnation.
Because the glory of God breaks forth when we least expect it.
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2 comments:
I like your thoughts and insights.
I wanted to leave a comment on your post about single gifts but I thought I'd do it up here because you might not notice it (my commenting thing never notifies me about ones at my blog).
I like to think that singleness is better than married life, because, of course, I'm not married :) However, as much as single people COULD have more undivided time with God, I don't know that they necessarily do. Married people have an obligation to their spouse - single people do not necessarily have an obligation to attend social functions every night of the week, and spend hours hanging out with their friends instead of spending time seeking God. Married people cannot (or should not?) just go out in the woods for weeks at a time and seek God while neglecting their spouse. While single people have jobs, and lives, they still are missing that obligation to another person that is present in a married situation. Nor is it only an "obligation" to your spouse.I'm guessing that only in poor marriage situations would you find having to be home with your spouse an obligation and a drag. I'm presuming all of this, of course, because I don't really know.
Can single people devote themselves more to God because they have no one else to devote themselves? Maybe, but it's also true that you can be single and waste your time and be even more divided than married people.
I don't remember Paul saying single people are *more* gifted, I would say it's just a different gift than what God gives married people. The more I think about marriage, the more I think it really is a blessing to be single right now. I don't know if God has matured me to the point to deal with the stresses of married life. I'm sure as soon as I'm very content being single and don't want to get married, I'll find someone and won't be able to say no!
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