Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
(John 8.12
NRSV)
Mary and Joseph brought young Jesus to the temple to be
dedicated. There they encountered a righteous and devout man
named Simeon. The Holy Spirit had promised Simeon that he would
not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. When he saw
the child Jesus, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and
said, "Lord, now lettest thy servant depart in peace, according
to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou
hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for
revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel."
(Luke 2: 29 32). Then he made a strange and disturbing prophecy
to Mary: "...a sword will pierce through your soul," he said.
(2:35) Luke does not record whether a shudder went through Mary's
heart.
The real story of Christmas is one in which good and evil
are both shown for what they are. That is the kind of world we
live in a cruel world where crime, poverty, drug addiction,
gangs, hunger, discrimination and a host of evils threaten to
overwhelm society and whose evil even impinges upon the kind of
secure, loving life that we would provide for those we love.
It has always been so. John spoke of the light that
shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. But
the darkness keeps trying! Our call is to keep the light of Christ shinning.
Dear God, may the light of Jesus Christ shine through me today and always. Amen.
Ron Newhouse
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