The Singular Christmas Gift of the Light of Jesus

Christmas is a day preserved for Christians to revel merrily in the inextinguishable Light that God unleashed upon the world through his Son, Jesus Christ. iStock / Getty Images Plus The gift is one that cannot be replicated, a Light that has no equal. For Christians all over the world, perhaps especially the United States, that Light is one to be shared freely, a Light that compels those who hold it to share it, that cuts through the darkness of this world to reveal a joy that cannot be seen otherwise. The holiday reminds Christians that whatever this transient world throws at them, they can and must always rejoice in the eternal blessings to come, blessings of an unsurpassed magnitude which we can only taste today. As Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!” Unfortunately, shameless politicians use the holiday as an excuse for political aggrandizement and resort to fearmongering over the supposed dark times at hand, presumably merely because a different political party occupies a centuries-old snow-colored residence in the middle of a swamp. Often, these are the same politicians who, after tragedies, mock Christians for offering thoughts and prayers, or reject those prayers as “empty platitude(s)”, despite Christians believing that prayer is more powerful than any law or executive order ever imagined by man. To pray is to talk with the almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth. How could any Christian believe the act of prayer to be empty? And how could a Christian be anything if not joyful and optimistic? If one wishes for an illustration of a truly “dark” Christmas, look to the familiar story of Mary and Joseph and the birth of Jesus just over 2,000 years ago. While most reflexively recall the baby in the manger and worshipful shepherds, what came before was not all gold, frankincense, and myrrh. As Luke documents in the second chapter of his gospel, Caesar Augustus had summoned all in the Roman world, to which the Holy Land was then subject, to travel to their own town to register for a census (perhaps not a bad idea, if any Supreme Court justices are reading). That decree compelled Joseph and Mary, the latter deeply in the family way, to travel from their residence in Nazareth in Galilee south to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David, to whose line Joseph belonged. (Mary belonged to the line of David as well, through a different son of the biblical king). That’s an arduous trek of nearly 100 miles, or 108 Roman miles (or 160 kilometers, whatever those are). Don’t think a donkey ensured smooth sailing. Donkeys are rebellious and erratic creatures with minds of their own, subject to dangerously disobeying commands at any time. Imagine a furrier and smellier self-driving Tesla . But the journey was colored by unimaginable emotional hardships. Months prior, Joseph was told by an angelic messenger from God that Mary, his betrothed, was pregnant. For obvious...

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