New Life for a Worn Out World
Our bodies and minds, like the rest of the world around us, are wearing out. Like a garment, we’re getting frayed at the edges and threadbare. Words and phrases don’t come as quickly as they once did. Lugging the old Christmas decorations out of the closet puts a bit more strain on our back muscles than it used to. Looking around the neighborhood, we see the yards aren’t as well kept as they were twenty years ago. The paint on the siding of our neighbor’s house is blanching under the incessant New Mexico sun. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t hope for something better. God be praised that Christmas is a time of renewal and the promise of life in darkest days of winter, but we must be careful to look for true life where God gives it.
Filling up our Christmas wish lists with luxury goods meant to ease our pains and aches might help for a moment, but we’ll soon find ourselves shelling out more money to mask the same problems that aren’t going away. Changing our diets and our lifestyles make a difference for a time. Though the energy we used to get from a good night’s sleep doesn’t go as far as it once did.
Instead of looking at our lives and the world with earthly eyes, we need to see the spiritual reality which God has revealed through his Word. Our bodies are weak because we bear sin’s consequence (Romans 5:12). The flesh is in bondage to God’s curse of death upon every son of Adam and every daughter of Eve (Genesis 3:19). The world is under the same curse (Genesis 3:17).
I once heard a physicist trying to explain the universe’s fate as a kind of cold death, were all the energy is used up and everything comes to a halt. Of course, as Christians we know that Christ won’t let that happen since he will return at a time when some of us will be dead, and others will be alive (1 Thess. 4:15). Still, even the universe gives testimony to the truth (Psalm 50:6). The wages of sin is death, says St. Paul (Romans 6:23).
Even as life in this world grows weaker and the light of understanding falls under the midnight shadow of sin, the great life and light God gives through his Son never wavers.
From the manger newborn light
Shines in glory through the night.
Darkness there no more resides;
In this light faith now abides.
St. Ambrose’s hymn preaches the wonder of Christ’s coming into the world. Though the world is cursed and dark, Jesus, God’s incarnate Son, brings heavenly light. It’s not physical light, but the heavenly grace of God’s love that redeems creation subject to slavery to sin and death.
“In him was life,” says the Holy Spirit through St. John. In him was the origin of all that exists, grows, and flourishes. Rather than abandoning his creation which abandoned him, the creative Word assumes a human nature as his own. Being born of a virgin, he brings the light of his Father’s love where before the world only knew God’s judgment.
“In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” His revelation of God’s grace gives heavenly understanding. It sets free from both the dark ignorance into which we were born and removes the veil of sin that rests over our eyes, minds, and hearts. The light is the truth of who God is, what we have done by transgressing his law, and what God is now doing to save us.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Surrounded by sin, Jesus did not let himself be quenched by the plots and machinations of men or demons. He was obedient to his Father. He loved his neighbors. Though men and demons tried to turn Jesus from his course, his face would not be moved. He kept his eyes on Jerusalem. There he shed the bright beams of redemptive light on the sin darkened world and reconciled creation to its Creator through the price of his holy blood. Though the grave swallowed him, the darkness of death could not overcome him. Jesus rose and now reigns resurrected at his Father’s right hand. He lives to give life to all who believe in him.
Gain the light of heavenly truth and love by coming to church for the rest of our Advent midweek services and our special Christmas services at the end of this month. You will be blessed with heavenly light that dispels the shades of sin and darkness from men’s hearts and blesses with forgiveness, reconciliation, and eternal life.
The world is wearing out, but God’s Word brings renewal and rebirth. Seek the Lord’s rejuvenation where he gives it, at church, surrounded by the saints, in Word and Sacrament.