We had a question last week about the origin of the “Christian Christmas”, and I said I would look it up! According to my sources, it seems that the birth of Jesus started to be celebrated in the 3rd century on the day of the pagan feast of the “Birth of the unconquered sun”. It was a popular holiday in the Roman Empire that celebrated the winter solstice as the symbol of the resurgence of the sun, or to put it more simply: from days getting shorter to days getting longer. So Christians used this former festival and gave it a new meaning: Christ is the light coming from heaven to overturn the darkness of the world.
Indeed, we have been talking quite a lot about darkness during this time of Advent, and part of our conversation last week was also about how uncomfortable it could make us feel. We rather focus on “the positive” and things that bring joy to our hearts. And yet, reading from Gayle Boss’s book, we had to acknowledge that darkness is a reality for all of us, not only for us human beings, but also for animals and all living things in creation. We learned in our Advent study how creation has to adapt to the darkness, while longing for the return of light and heat, while hoping for the return of the sun.
In literature, and especially in Holy Scriptures, darkness is mainly a symbol, or even the embodiment of another kind of darkness: social and political darkness, but also inner and spiritual darkness. And it’s very “clear”, if I may say so, in Luke’s Gospel. Luke does not compare Jesus to the “unconquered sun”, and yet Jesus’s birth takes place at night, the reason why we often celebrate Christmas at night as well. The tone is set in our Gospel lesson when we hear that the shepherds keep their sheep at night (which is rather strange if you think about it), and Luke points also to other kind of darkness:
– The registration Luke mentions four times is a sign of submission of Israel to the Roman Empire, it demonstrates the grip the Emperor had on every individual life and concerning Mary and Joseph we can only imagine how difficult it must have been to travel a hundred mile by foot when nine months pregnant.
– On top of that, Luke also shows us the darkness of poverty and rejection. There is nowhere to go for Joseph and Mary when again you would think a woman about to give birth should have been prioritized. They had to lay Jesus in a manger because they didn’t even have a proper room. We may have romanticized the creche over the centuries and made it “cute”, but we shouldn’t forget how it must really have felt for the young family.
Now if we turn to the text from the scroll of Isaiah we also have heard from tonight, we will realize that darkness is also very much present. We may need a little more context to understand it, but when Isaiah talks about ” The people who walk in darkness”, he is referring to the Assyrian dominance over Judah (This text is believed to celebrate the coronation of King Hezekiah in 715 BC and since then has been read as a prophecy for the coming of the Messiah). Isaiah speaks in fact about the darkness of slavery, violence and war. If you have noticed, there is a missing verse in our reading, if we had the whole text we would read in verse 5: “For all the boots of the trampling warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire“. But it’s like even for our lectionary it’s too much gloom for Christmas Eve!
And yet. The Holy Scriptures often dive into darkness as we dived into darkness during the Advent season so we can really understand what light is all about. We learn about sorrow so we can understand what Christmas joy is really about.
So what is this joy all about? Last week, we moved from talking about darkness to talking about all the things that make us happy at Christmas: Childhood memories, family gatherings, church music, wonderful desserts, shinning lights and even gifts. And I love that someone mentioned that they loved gifts, because, seriously, who does not love gifts? And yet, we need to realize that all those joyful “christmassy happenings” are more an expression of our joy, rather than the source of joy itself, and if we only look for those expression of joys, we will overlook what’s really promised to us, and after the festivities, we may, like so many people, experience some emptiness and disappointment. Something will be missing, something will be missed. At Christmas, even non believers have a longing for life to be different, for the world to be different, but soon we’re back to harsh realities when the party is over because nothing seems to be changed. But the promise of Christmas is not an endless party, the promise of Christmas is the coming of the Messiah among us, the one who will deliver us from violence, sin and death, the one who will bring peace between heaven and earth and reconcile us to God.
This joy is unlike any other joy, it is the source of all joys. I remember having a conversation a long time ago with a friend about the sorrows and the joys in this life, and she wondered if our joys were really enough to “make it worth”, compared to all the pain we experience. That was a good question. But here it’s not about finding balance between good things and the bad things and make it work somehow. In Jesus, we find a joy that overturns all the pain and all the sorrows as we are promised a new world, a new creation (we talked about that last week as well!) after the reconciliation between heavens and earth is achieved, when we are forgiven, when this world has passed away. The light does not just coexist with darkness, the light defeats, overturns in the end all darkness. It is a promise that could make everything else bearable, even the unbearable. Luke tells us that God’s kingdom is for real for all who have God’s favors, all those who are of good will. And this is a joy for everybody.
I am saying that because I don’t know if you have noticed but at Christmas,a lot of people remind others to be sensitive to those for whom this it is not such a happy time. We are reminded that “some don’t have money”, “some don’t have family”, “some are mourning”, and so we are told that we should be aware that they can’t really celebrate…and in the church, we have even invented a “blue Christmas” for those who can’t be happy. But you know, hearing this it made me feel like we are trying to say that this joy of Christmas isn’t for you if you don’t have what you need to celebrate Christmas. And maybe I noticed it more this year because of my loss, but all those recommendations made me feel like somehow it wasn’t right for some to be joyful at Christmas, and maybe you have been feeling that if you are going through a difficult time too, that Christmas isn’t really for you? Yet it’s obviously not the message of the Gospel, rather the other way around:the birth of Christ is a joy for everybody and precisely for the most sorrowful. Isaiah talks to the people who walked in darkness, Luke to those “who live in darkness” (Luke 1:79). And it’s an on going theme in Luke (if you remember what we said before) that Jesus came for the poor, those who suffer, those who have no hope. And Jesus gives them something the world cannot give them: Peace with God and the promise of the resurrected life. We cannot really understand the joy of Christmas if we don’t look towards Easter. And so if there are a lot of things we can get excited about at Christmas, it’s more about the opening line for us, we have to follow through with Jesus to the end through his work of salvation. Luke mentions that, at the birth of Jesus, everybody is amazed at what they see and hear, but Mary, silently, “ponder [these words] into her heart”. It is a secret joy, a deeper joy, a holy joy that does not fade away, no matter the circumstances. This is the joy we are really invited to experience and to share on Christmas. Thinking about all those who go through a difficult time, we certainly need to be sensitive but more than that, we should open our hearts to share what we have and what we believe in and the hope we have in Jesus. So many people long for him at Christmas not knowing it is he they long for, we will have the courage to open our mouths to share the good news as the angels did on that night?