Finally Christmas is here, a season which is considered to be a time of joy and rejoicing. But this time of the month is the busiest time of the year. We are all rushing against time to meet our ends. So what have we accomplish all through the year? As we retrospect we might feel that we have done a pretty good job just hanging on till the end of year. The season of advent proclaims, “joy to the world”, but why there is no joy in our world? Marriages fail, families are torn apart, corruptions, and bitterness takes root. Economies falter, investments evaporate, unemployment, and frustration. On a fallen planet; eventually tragic loss touches all of us. Loneliness, depression, grief, wars, homelessness, poor and destitute, or anxiety gripped our life or the lives of those around us. In our politically correct society people are still being marginalized. This world is truly a desert of despair and disappointment. These are terrible times and our world is in wilderness devoid of love, peace, and joy.
In such a time, what does Christmas means to us? Does it mean the ‘sales’ are on, fewer shopping and working days remaining? No wonder the joy and rejoicing of a simple birth in Bethlehem is overshadowed by festivity. We want to focus our attention mostly to that which is truly our heart’s delight. So, how can we get past the glitz, glamour, and gaudiness that have become part and parcel of Christmas? How can we overcome all the attractions that distract from the living message of our Savior who came to live on earth for us. The problems that we faced today, really do distract us and breaks our hearts.
We can see our world of wilderness as similar to that of the Israelites which prophet Isaiah narrates. Isaiah 35 is a powerful poetic word of comfort for the Israelites in exiles, who lost their temple, land, and freedom. Their suffering is manifested in “weak hands, feeble knees, a fearful heart, obscured vision, hindered hearing, broken bodies, and silent tongues. The literary body constructed in Isaiah 35 has been utterly overwhelmed by despair and weariness. Isaiah 35 confronts fear with promise and assure Israel that God is present in their suffering; God has not deserted them. It is no different for us today when our lives encounter a bump in the road or a grand canyon is our progress. When our world is crashing in around us and everything seems out of control, we sometimes doubt God’s presence in our lives. But this passage speaks the same message to us as it did to the people of Israel—God has not deserted us. God is present in the midst of our situations and suffering.
The general theme of Isaiah 35 is that desolate, dry places will be transformed into paradise. The prophet Isaiah speaks to the people of Israel in the middle of these struggles and suffering. His purpose is to help them see God and have hope. He says that the desert will burst into bloom like a greenery with flowers, water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert, and the burning sand will become a pool. These are images of hope to a people dried up by pain and suffering. Hope is an essential quality of life. Without hope, life becomes just existing—just getting by. Isaiah declares that God is working for our good, looking out for us, acting on our behalf and making a way in the dry deserts of life. Isaiah describes a God who realizes that much of the destitution that the people experience is because of the evil actions of others. So in today’s passage, God comes as a protector, banishes the evil-doers and sets up a safe space for care and healing. This is the calling we hear in Isaiah and the same for us today, that we are called to be bearers of the hope and love of God and protectors where evil has taken root.
So Christmas is a promise to the world which is in despair and barren like a desert. A promise of life sprouting forth to newness and hope, sweetness and assurance. It is a promise that there is power in the promise of God, a promise that protects and defends our lives and the vulnerable around us. The good news of Christmas is that our hope and joy is for the healing of our souls and the healing of our world. That’s the candle in the darkness, that’s the hope in the Christ who came and gives us life and assurance of God’s grace and salvation. John 1:14 says, “The word become flesh and lived among us and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” Here we see the glory of God incarnate in Jesus and that he is the reason for the season of hope and joy amidst chaos in a world of wilderness. To see glory enfleshed and to realize that joy comes from the despised, rejected, the outcast and the excluded- the disfigured Christ. That our source of redemption comes from the margins, the borderland and who(Jesus) was a refugee. No matter who we are and where we come from, Christ came to bring joy and hope, not only to us, but to the world with the promise of salvation. Christmas is such a glorious promise that the angels get so excited to proclaim “I bring you good tidings of great joy”.
So, Isaiah 35:1-10 reminds us of the power of God to transform the harshest setting and bring about a joy that is deep and lasting. Isaiah saw, in a vision, the wondrous power of God to bring life where there is nothingness and joy where there is hopelessness. The result is overwhelming joy because the Lord can and will do such amazing things for those whom God loves. The power to transform. The power to offer hope. The power to bring joy. It’s the power that transformed the Son of God, a helpless vulnerable baby to the One who came to save us. It’s the power that transforms a situation which seems beyond desperate and breathes new strength, courage and hope into it. It’s the power that has made and continues to make all the difference in the world.
Today is Christmas, a time of joy and good tidings, but maybe some of us are struggling this season without hope and joy. The lights of Christmas are out and twinkling, carolers are singing, presents are being wrapped–but as we all know, many people struggle in this season to experience joy and that struggle can be overwhelming. Maybe resting in God’s Word this Christmas will help us when we feel despairing, or maybe it is the Word we need to bring to someone or someplace that is despairing. It’s a prophetic Word because it is so startling with its joy and with its hope in the midst of destruction, pain and terror. I would like to conclude with a challenge. Let us be utterly honest with ourselves, Christmas has become insidious promotional gimmicks blaring over the stores and we have become susceptible and entwined to this commercialized mentality. Today, Christmas as a season has become a standard to see the character of Santa and lights adorning homes and towns. With each passing years, we awfully only seems to intensify the economic and consumeristic significance surrounding this season of nativity. However, Christmas message affirms, Christ came to give hope, peace, justice, compassion and freedom. Yet, we see the stern realities of struggles and the dark tragedies of suffering in all virulence. Life is meaningful. “Fear not, I bring good tidings of great joy for all humanity” (Luke 2:10) What more wonderful news can be given in our times to people whose lives are empty, those whose rights and dignity are suppressed and exploited, to those who try desperately to find meanings in life in their quest for justice, freedom, dignity and rights. Christ coming into this world is the good news by which he strives to free us from all bondages and subvert the systems and tyrannical patronages that marginalizes and discriminates the poor, weak and the oppressed. Let us be reminded of Christmas as an event that reveals the continuing power of Jesus´ life, the One who grants us life and freedom. May God give us the strength and open our hearts to share and embrace diversities, solidarity, love, hope, peace and justice for all of humanity. May the birth of Jesus inspire us to become co-constructors of God’s new creation. May we recognize that truth, with joy, and then allow our hope and joy to overflow to transform the lives of others! Amen.