Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Luke 2:10
Wrapped in our seasonal trappings, these remain the glad tidings we trumpet today. We descend like ants and angels on local charities and we shuffle through arched doors for an annual tribute to the Word made flesh, nestled on straw. But in all our activities – in our feeble attempts to bring light where the curse still lingers – how often do we brush over suffering with the guise of a seasonal Hallmark movie ending? We give and receive and we reflect and we anticipate, but suffering remains.
In the following words, Chuck Colson describes our error in painting a seasonal, utopian veneer across the suffering that exists:
You see, the utopian vision neglects the fact that this is a fallen world. And a fallen world is filled with human suffering. And that’s something we don’t want to think about, especially at Christmastime.
But you can’t understand Christmas if you ignore human suffering.
Sure, Christmas is about joy, but it is a joy that is reached through and never loses sight of human suffering in a fallen world. There is joy in Christmas, even in the midst of the curse.
Read the full commentary here.
Israel longed for the promise that Isaiah foretold: No more gloom, new light and increased joy – all bound up in the child born, the son given (Isaiah 9:1-7). But in order to truly taste the glory of Isaiah 9 we need chapter 53. This is the faith that is rooted in a perfect succession of paradoxes. This is the glory song that broke heaven’s silence. And this is the cause for great joy, for all people. The glory of Christmas is not a pain-free world. The glory of Christmas is God with us.