Light in Deep Darkness:
Why Christmas Is Good News for People Who Have Everything
a sermon on Isaiah 9.2-7
by David C. Mauldin
Westminster Presbyterian Church, Mobile, Alabama
The Christmas season has come once again to a world that desperately needs the
Good News of Jesus but is totally unprepared for it. A tradition at our house is
to watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas” on the day after Thanksgiving. You know the
story. Charlie Brown, like so many people, gets depressed during the Christmas
season. “What is it all about?” he wonders. His baby sister thinks it is about
getting presents. His dog thinks it is about having the best decorations.
Meanwhile most of his friends seem content just to have a good time. Finally,
Linus tells all of us the true meaning of Christmas by reciting from Luke 2:
And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over
their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory
of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel
said to them, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy
which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of
David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you
will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And
suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God
and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom
he is pleased!”
Even when the show first aired, more than forty years ago, some viewers must
have found that puzzling. Now that our society is biblically illiterate, I
wonder what people make of it? Don’t get me wrong. I love that show and wish
everyone would see it. Even if it puzzles some, they at least get a hint of what
they are missing. Yet I wonder, what do people who do not know who Mary and
Joseph were make of Christmas?
I have recently come back from continuing education. Each year I typically go to
one conference in the spring or summer and do independent study in the fall.
This time I concentrated on the work of Francis Schaeffer. I listened to
lectures by and about him, and read a couple of his books. You may recall I have
mentioned him before. Schaeffer and his wife were Presbyterian missionaries in
Switzerland from shortly after the end of World War II until his death in the
early 80s.
Two things particularly impress me about his work. One is a constant emphasis on
the glory and dignity of human beings because we are created in the image of
God. He rightly saw that when people stop believing in God, they lose any reason
to see human beings as more than machines. Without God, we are merely the
product of impersonal forces, what he calls the impersonal plus time plus
chance. If this is true, then life has no meaning; morals do not exist; and we
are not really free. Everything about us is determined by genetics or our
environment or some combination of the two. Without a personal creator, we cease
to be persons—at least in our thinking. No one can really live that way, and
this is how Schaeffer helped so many people to understand Christianity. He tried
to show them the logical conclusions of a worldview without God, and then show
them where they were inconsistent. Without God there really is nothing to base
morals on. You either have “Thus says the Lord” or you are left with nothing but
your own personal preferences. But almost nobody can live entirely without
morals. Everyone tends to believe deep down that some things are really right
and other things are really wrong. Schaeffer says this is because no matter what
anyone says or believes, we are created in the image of God. We are moral beings
who live in a moral universe.
If there were no God, we would be less than persons. Because of God, every human
being is precious. In his book The God Who Is There, Schaeffer writes about a
letter he received from an atheist. The man had a problem with the Christian
understanding of the cross. He asked, “What sense does it make for a man to give
his son to the ants, to be killed by the ants, in order to save the ants?”
Figuring that the difference between God and human beings is greater than the
difference between human beings and ants, this guy could not see how God could
do such a thing. You might find Schaeffer’s answer interesting. He argued that
although God is infinite and we are finite—like ants we are created—nevertheless
we (unlike ants) were made in the image of God. God is personal, and we are
persons. No sane human would let his son die for ants, because ants are not
persons. They are not personal. We are. Schaeffer points out that although
Christianity says all human beings are fallen and sinful, Christianity ascribes
more worth and dignity to human beings than any other system of thought.
Christmas is the Good News that the eternal Son of God became one of us, because
God loves us and thinks we are worth saving. Christmas is about the God who is
there, who created us and will not leave us in our darkness.
The other thing I find so appealing in Schaeffer’s work is his love for people,
especially those who disagreed with him. He took the time to listen. He said
each person is unique, and you have to approach them that way with the Good
News. Find out where they are. Meet them there. There are no sure-fire formulas
or scripts you can use. You have to see how God is working in a person.
Schaeffer tried to find the place in each person’s life where the Good News
spoke most clearly. So often with the people he worked with, it was the search
for meaning and significance. He found them open to hear the Good News because
they were in tension. On one hand, their beliefs led to the conclusion that
humans are essentially biological machines. On the other hand, they felt their
life should have meaning and significance. They felt love. Deep down they
realized some things are right and other things are wrong. Schaeffer said this
was true all kinds of people, from educated intellectuals to unskilled laborers.
Modern people walk in darkness, and they know it. What they don’t know is that
God has shined a great light into their darkness. They do not know God is there
and he is with us. That’s the basis of Schaeffer’s approach.
As I reflected on this, I though about how much society has changed in the last
40 years. He wrote The God Who Is There in 1968. It remains remarkably relevant,
but I do think some things have changed. For one, I wonder whether most people
in our society who do not know Jesus Christ feel that something is wrong.
Schaeffer found that modern people cannot always put their finger on what is
wrong, and they do not know the solution, but they have a feeling something is
not right. Postmodern people—people today—I suspect do not have this feeling.
Why? I think it is because we have so much stuff. People of today have not
resolved the big questions of life. They just don’t have to think about them. We
work longer hours now than a generation ago. We have hundreds of television
channels, plus DVDs, plus computers and video games. Our society is affluent.
People have money to take trips, go shopping, pursue hobbies, and so on. I am
not implying that any of this is bad. Yet I do think that people today without
Christ are walking in darkness, but probably most of them do not realize it. Why
is the birth of this child Good News when everyone is having so much fun? Yes,
the world is full of problems, but we do a decent job of keeping those problems
at a distance. Often folks only become aware of the darkness when their
carefully ordered world comes crashing down. The death of someone close, an
illness, losing a good job—things like that have a way of waking us up. Once
people recognize the darkness, however, they need to perceive the light.
I am working on a theory. It states that Christmas is a barometer of how much
influence Christianity has on a society. You have on one hand Christmas ideals:
peace on earth, good will toward others, joy, that sort of thing. On the other
hand you have the reality of what people actually do at Christmas: fighting for
parking spots, trampling others at door-buster sales, greed and commercialism,
that sort of thing. The day after Thanksgiving I saw news footage of a crowd
bursting into a discount store. Several people fell down and got trampled. One
woman was crying as the paramedics lifted her into an ambulance. All because TVs
were $50 off, no doubt. I couldn’t help but contrast this to stories of how
soldiers during the Civil War and World War I stopped fighting on Christmas and
exchanged little gifts. My theory is that the more Christian a society is, the
closer reality will match the ideal. I grant you the theory needs work, but
there may be something in it. Somewhere along the line our society lost the true
meaning of Christmas. For a while, although the true meaning was gone, we held
onto the true feeling of Christmas. Now I wonder if even much of that is left. I
fear that for many people the true Christmas message has become
incomprehensible. What can we do to make it meaningful again?
This sermon is not a cry of despair but a call to action. Jesus is God’s answer
to the human condition. He is our only true hope. How can we share that hope,
especially in a society that has everything? My suggestion is a humble one, but
potentially very effective: Love people. Notice the people around you. See them
as made in the image of God and loved by God. Then treat them with love. They
will probably be pleasantly surprised. And if my theory about Christmas is
anywhere near the mark, they will not chalk your love up to “the holiday
spirit.” Perhaps they will see Jesus in you.
It’s simple, really. A kind word. A friendly greeting. A thoughtful gesture. So
often we ignore the strangers around us. We do our business and go on. I know I
tend to do that. What if we showed a bit more care? What if we listened to our
acquaintances and friends with greater care?
Human beings are fragile. Every one of us should come with a birthmark that
says, “Handle with care.” Some people feel as if they had a sign reading, “Human
punching bag.” Every person you meet, you might ask yourself, “Does this person
know that he or she is made in the image of God? Not intellectual knowledge or
religious belief, something more basic. Does this person feel loved and worthy
of love? Do they feel their worth and dignity affirmed by those around them?”
You are not going to know the answers to these questions, but they can lead you
to this one: “How will their contact with me make a difference?”
The other thing you can do to share the true meaning and feeling of Christmas is
to keep Christ the focus of your own celebration. I am not saying get rid of the
snowmen and reindeer. Don’t misunderstand. Just make sure Jesus is the heart and
soul of what you do.
In conclusion, Christmas is Good News of great joy for all people. God is with
us. God has sent us a Savior. We cannot keep this to ourselves. By keeping
Christ the focus of your celebration and by loving other people, you can become
a beacon—a tiny reflection of the great light—telling others that there is more
to life than all the stuff, and their problems do have an answer. Amen.