Sermon -- Christmas Day (December 25, 2025)

THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS.

JOHN 1:1-14 

In the name + of Jesus.

    Christmas Eve produces an image that is endearing, perhaps even romantic.  A young couple basks in the love of their child.  A chorus of angels sings good news of great joy.  Shepherds come to visit the Christ child who rests in a manger.  Our Nativity scenes make it all look cozy.  Our imagination matches Thomas Kinkade paintings. 

     Such images are etched in fantasy, not reality.  While the birth of a child is wonderful, giving birth is painful and messy.  Besides the risks of childbirth in the ancient world, the Virgin Mary also had to give birth near the manger—in other words, by the smells and feces of animals.  If the manger was filled with hay, it was scratchy.  If it was empty, it was hard.  In either case, it was not as comfortable as we like to think.  When the shepherds came in from the fields, they were damp with the night air and smelling of the sheep.  Our Lord entered a world that was gritty, rough, and cruel.

     By contrast, you and I get to enjoy many creature comforts that make life more bearable.  We have furnaces to heat our insulated homes.  We have overstuffed chairs that rock and recline.  We have cars that are climate controlled, perhaps with heated seats.  Thanks to indoor plumbing, we can bathe daily and remove our waste with one flush.  And thanks to modern medicine, both the infant mortality rate and the risk to the mother have been reduced greatly.  These benefits are not only all familiar to us, they are expected.  We are accustomed to being comfortable.  Our world does not seem to be nearly as rough or gritty.

     But it is still cruel. 

     The world can be a very dark place.  People carry emotional scars from relationships, perhaps strained or terminated because of fighting or betrayal or infidelity.  Part of the nostalgia at Christmas is the remembrance of loved ones who are buried in the earth.  It is also the reminder that the heart-warming days of childhood are gone and will never be repeated.  Sins put us in a dark place, especially if they result in long term consequences.  If you are carrying a burden, perhaps no one seems to notice or care.  In the midst of parties and music and cookies, it can be very lonely.  The house may be comfortable, but the world is still a cruel and dark place.

     Our hearts and minds are dark places, too.  The Bible says, “The heart is more deceitful than anything.  It is beyond cure.  Who can understand it” (Jeremiah 17:9)?  It is the home of anxiety and fear.  We fret over bad things that might happen, even though they probably won’t.  We take delight in Schadenfreude: we enjoy watching other people suffer.  Or on the reverse side, we drift into envy: we get angry over someone else’s blessings.  These attitude are especially dark, because the misery of others does not make your life any better, and the happiness of others does not make your life any worse.  The human heart is a dark and bitter place.  Repent. 

     But shining into the darkness of this world and piercing into the darkness of the sinful heart is a light from heaven.  St. John wrote about the Christ child: “In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.  The light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4-5).    

     When a bright light breaks into a dark place, we immediately shield our eyes.  We squint or turn away because the brightness hurts.  That’s what Adam and Eve did when the Lord came to them in the Garden after they had sinned.  They did not want to see the Lord.  Likewise, when the Lord appeared to Moses at the burning bush, Moses covered his face.  When the angels appeared to the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem, they were sore afraid.  The holiness of God, and even of his angels, exposes the filth of our sin.  The brightness reveals how dark our hearts and minds are.  This is why people want nothing to do with God.  We are fearful of judgment.  We are angry at accountability.  St. John wrote, “The light has come into the world, yet people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.  In fact, everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, or else his deeds would be exposed” (John 3:19-20). 

     “God is light.  In him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).  God came into the world in human flesh, just as John declared, “The real light that shines on everyone was coming into the world” (John 1:9).  But the light of God is not sent to blind us or to roast us in blazing heat.  The light that comes into the world in Jesus Christ is sent to enlighten us.  Yes, it exposes us as the sinners we are.  But once our eyes have adjusted to the light, that is, once the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see, the Light of God shows us goodness and mercy.  Jesus enlightens us to see the beauty of God’s love which does not desire in the death of sinners.  He does not want anyone perish.  Rather, he acts to rescue us from the dominion of darkness so that we are not plagued by guilt, hounded by Satan, or swept away with a dark and dying world.  Jesus has come to bring joy to a cruel world, to bring peace to troubled hearts, and to bring hope for a bright and glorious heaven.

     “The light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).  That’s not to say the devil didn’t do his best to destroy the Light of the world.  The devil employed people with sin-darkened hearts to do his dirty work.  King Herod tried to slaughter Jesus in his infancy.  The religious leaders tried to trap him with carefully crafted questions, certain they could use his words against him to accuse him of heresy, blasphemy, or treason.  They tried to smear his reputation, calling him a drunkard, a glutton, demon-possessed, a Samaritan, and a friend of crooks and whores.  They tried to alienate his disciples from him, asking them, “Why do you follow a rabbi who acts like that?”  The darkness worked hard to snuff him out, but the darkness has not overcome the light.

     Even when the forces of darkness converged to plot his death, they did not overcome the light.  Unwittingly, the forces of darkness teamed up to fulfill all of God’s promises.  They orchestrated the very death that paid for the sins of the world.  When Jesus hung on the cross with all our sins upon him, darkness covered the earth.  The light of the Father fled from Jesus.  The love of the Father turned away and Jesus was forsaken as one cursed.  Jesus died on a dark and dismal day for all the evils that lurk in our hearts and minds.

     But the darkness did not overcome him.  The Savior rose from the dead.  The light did not burn out, but shines brighter than ever.  Jesus Christ is the Light of the World.  He lives to show us that we have a loving God who takes away our sin.  He lives to enlighten us to see God’s mercy.  He has ransomed us from the dominion of darkness.  Satan would still accuse you and try to expose you as a sinner.  He wants you to believe that God cannot love you because of the darkness that resides in you.  The devil tries to keep people blinded in unbelief.  He convinces people that sinful rebellion is freedom while holy obedience to God’s word is oppressive.  But Satan’s “freedom” leads to regret, shame, and hell.  Short-term sensual pleasures do not bring lasting joy and result in everlasting death.

     But Jesus shines the light of God’s grace upon you.  He has taken away your sins, so the devil’s accusations have no standing in God’s court.  He has claimed you as his own, so Satan cannot have you.  He has brought you into the kingdom of light.  “The real light that shines on everyone (has come) into the world” (John 1:9).  “The light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).  Whatever remains in darkness will die.  Where God’s light shines, there is life.  Therefore, he has made you children of light.  He guides you so that you walk in the light as he is in the light.  His word is a lamp for your feet and a light for your path.  He purifies your hearts so that you are disgusted by the deeds of darkness, find no joy in them, and will not return to them. 

     As St. Paul wrote, “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people.  It trains us to reject ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, that is, the glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.  He gave himself for us, to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are his own chosen people, eager to do good works” (Titus 2:11-14).  Our Lord shows you that godly living is not oppressive, but is filled with blessing and spares you many griefs.  You don’t live under threats, but under grace.  You know that your future is not dark, but exceedingly bright.

     The light shines in the darkness.  On Christmas day, it is wrapped in strips of cloth, rests in a manger, and nurses at Mary’s breast.  It is a scene that may appear cozy.  But the Savior has not entered a romantic Nativity scene.  The Savior has come into a rough, gritty, cruel world to do battle against dark and demonic forces.  The Savior has come to win you from death and hell.  It was a fight to the death, and it was a fight for you.  But our Savior is risen.  He has conquered death and the devil.  The light shines.  Darkness has not overcome it.  You are the prize he has rescued.

     Dear Christians, rejoice.  We celebrate the birth of our Lord which occurred some 2,000 years ago and 6,000 miles away.  But he comes to you today.  He still comes to us in our rough, gritty, dark world.  The God who came to us as a body and blood baby, who gave that body and blood into death to pay for your sins, comes to you today with his body and blood to nurture your faith and to cleanse your heart.  By strengthening and preserving you in the one true, catholic (NOTE: small “c”), and apostolic and faith, he assures you that the darkness will not overcome you again.  Today is Christ’s Mass.  Christ came to earth to save you, and now Christ still comes to earth to keep you safe.

     Christmas is not about romance or nostalgia.  Christmas is about God’s faithful love delivered to earth in a person, Jesus.  He has poured out that faithful love upon you and in you.  The light shines in the darkness.  The darkness flees away.  The warmth of God’s love embraces us all.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.