The Dark Side of Christmas - Pt 1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5 ESV). I know the Gospel of John is not exactly “Christmas material.” However, the more I meditate about the birth of our Savior, the more I begin to think of the “dark side” of this great miracle of redemption. It is easy to associate Christmas with light. After all there are bright lights everywhere. We can see the Christmas lights of every imaginable color, inside and out. There are displays of nearly every part of the story told in these arrays of lights. When Mary and I made a trip to Gatlinburg, TN recently, I took a picture of the lights around the fountain in The Village. It was beautiful. The decorations were everywhere your eye could see. But the more I have reflected on the Christmas story, the more I have come to realize that for those involved in the Christmas story, their circumstances were anything but joyous light. There was pain and suffering; there was danger and the threat of death. Darkness threatened to overwhelm them. This was true simply because of the sin Jesus came to redeem mankind from. Since the first sin of the garden, man has preferred the darkness. And, by remaining in darkness, sinful hearts never see light. Jesus is the light of the world; many have tried to squelch that light, to destroy it. In the Christmas stories in the New Testament, there is a dark side. We prefer not to look at those elements in this season of “peace on earth, good will toward men.” But it is there, and we will never enter into the full truth and impact of the Christmas story unless we do. That is what I hope to explore in the next few days. I pray you will receive a greater appreciation for the awesome event that happened more than two thousand years ago. The first event to examine is the event. The birth of the baby Jesus is undoubtedly the most unusual birth in human history. He was born of a virgin, without a human father. He was born God and man in one person. But he was also unusual in another way. He is the only human being who was ever born in order to die. God never intended human beings to die. We instinctively feel that. We celebrate the birth of a new baby because God has created new life. We are born to live. The death of an infant or a child is especially tragic because it is so wrong, so unnatural. But Jesus was born in order to die. As we gaze at the nativity scene, we see a shadow cast over the manger. It is the shadow of the cross. That is why he came into the world, to die on the cross! Reflect on this as you see the lights of this Christmas season.