Behind Day 18 of my Advent Calendar is:
THE FIRST LIGHT OF DAWN
It is sometimes said that ‘Christmas is a time for giving’ and in many ways it is. But what is seldom said is that Christmas is a time for lament.
Even so, it very much is.
Which is why, before we give, we need to first receive the gift of the one who gives his only son. After all, it is God who gives most.
The apostle Paul spoke of how he was ‘sorrowful yet always rejoicing [2 Corinthians 6:10] and so, even at this time of joyful celebration, there is still a place for sadness. Because this Christmas, globally as well as nationally, locally and, for many, personally, there is much that is worthy of our tears.
Paradoxically then, we need to learn how to be happy and sad at the same time. Because, just as when we are sad there are things that can make us smile, so too, when we are happy, there are things that can make us cry.
The murder of the innocents is an aspect of the Christmas story that rarely makes it into the Nativity plays that we love to see our children take part in. Maybe that’s because, whilst the judicious positioning of a tea towel on an infant’s head instantly transforms them into the likeness of a first century Judean shepherd, the props required to convey the malevolence of a homicidal tyrant aren’t so readily available in the nation’s dressing up boxes.
Because that’s what King Herod was – a homicidal tyrant. Pathologically jealous he killed his own wife and, to ensure she didn’t give him a hard time over it, killed his mother-in-law too. He had two of his sons slaughtered lest they tried to seize his throne, and a third executed five days before his own death.
Furthermore, when he knew he was dying, he ordered the arrest of many of the most distinguished citizens of Jerusalem and saw to it that they would be executed on the day of his death. Why? Because, knowing his demise would be welcomed, he wanted to be sure that there would at least be some who were mourning in Jerusalem on the day he died.
No wonder then that the Bible tells us that when he heard of a potential rival to his throne, the one the wise men spoke of as being the King of the Jews, it wasn’t just Herod who was troubled – it was ‘all Jerusalem with him’. [Matthew 2:3]
And so we read of how King Herod has a secret meeting with the wise men in which he tells them to search diligent for Jesus and, when they finally find him, make known to him his exact whereabouts. He tells them that he too wants to worship the boy, but in reality he just wants the child dead. The wise men however, having found Jesus and been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, wisely head home by another route, leaving a furious Herod ordering that all the male children under the age of two be killed.
It’s all very unpleasant – as real life sadly sometimes is.
Now there will be those who will try to shut their eyes to the reality of suffering this Christmas. Others will pay lip service to how dreadful things are for others before pushing it all to the back of their minds and continuing on their merry way – unchanged, unmoved, and unaffected. ‘After all,’ they’ll say ‘what’s suffering got to do with Christmas?’
And therein lies the problem with Christmas, or rather the problem with the Christmas that we have created. As with life, we struggle to conceive that the realities of hate, pain and suffering sit alongside those of love, joy and peace, that these things are, to a greater or lesser extent, present in all our lives. And so we have marginalised the horror of the Christmas story, preferring the sanitised version that fits better with our forever optimistic outlook on life and our overly positive view of who we really are.
But, though we might say ‘It’s all good’, the reality is, it’s not – we live in a world of both good and evil. And whilst life can be filled with overwhelming joy, for some the sadness is just too much.
Regardless then of whether or not you are somebody who believes the Christmas story, the biblical account does at least reflect the reality that life is a mix of the good and the bad. The joy of the birth of Jesus, and the hope that his arrival brought, is mixed with the abject poverty into which he was born, the rejection experienced by his parents and the murder of the innocents at the hands of Herod.
Furthermore, what began in ‘O little town of Bethlehem’ continued on to ‘a green hill far away’ where the baby whose birth we celebrate at Christmas suffered as a grown man the horrors of crucifixion. The Roman orator Cicero described crucifixion as ‘a most cruel and disgusting punishment’ and suggested that ‘the very mention of the cross should be far removed not only from a Roman citizen’s body, but from his mind, his eyes, his ears.’
That is the world we live in, joy and sadness, pleasure and pain – we cannot have one without the other. Indeed, for me at least, the two are inextricably linked with the existence of suffering being the reason why we need a redeemer, one who, through the suffering he himself endured, ensures that the suffering that we all still experience will one day come to an end.
This Christmas, therefore, is a time to lament – because suffering is still very much a part of the world in which we live. But even though we grieve, we need not do so as those who have no hope [1 Thessalonians 4:13]
Because though weeping may tarry for the night, joy comes with the morning’ [Psalm 30:5] Of this we can be certain – for the child whose birth we celebrate at Christmas is the one who will ensure that a day is coming when every tear really will be wiped away and death will be no more. [Revelation 21:4]
And I for one can’t wait.
*****
The song today is a melancholy version of Jingle Bells by Chilly Gonzales – just the thing for any for whom this year will be a ‘Blue Christmas’. But first a poem – by John Piper – about an imagined encounter between the grown up Jesus and the Innkeeper of Bethlehem. It’s quite long but, I believe, well worth nine minutes of your time. I find it intensely moving.
Previously from ‘A Christmas Countdown’:
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 17’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 16’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 15’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 14’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 13’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 12’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 11’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 10’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 9’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 8’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 7’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 6’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 5’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 4’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 3’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 2’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 1’, click here
To read ‘An Advent Calendar – Complete’, click here
Other related posts:
To read ‘T.S. Eliot, Jesus and the Paradox of the Christian Life’, click here
To read “Why do bad things happen to good people – a tentative suggestion”, click here
To read “Luther and the global pandemic – on becoming a theologian of the cross”, click here
To read “Suffering- A Personal View”, click here.
Some musings 