“Light Shatters the Darkness”
Luke 2:8-9

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Christmas Eve—December 24, 2022

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them.”  On the first Christmas Eve, light shatters the darkness, in more ways than one.  For, although the Christmas Story does record real historical events that actually took place just as the Bible says, the darkness which surrounded the shepherds also has a deep symbolic significance.  That darkness symbolizes the spiritual darkness of our sin; that darkness symbolizes the depressing darkness of this world’s tribulations—sorrow, suffering, grief, pain; and that darkness symbolizes the final darkness of death.  But, on the first Christmas Eve, light shatters the darkness, in more ways than one.

The physical darkness we call night covers only half the globe at any given time.  Right now it’s bright and sunny in many parts of the world, including the west coast of our own country.  But, there is another kind of darkness, a spiritual darkness called sin.  This darkness engulfs every human being, right down to you and me.  As John’s Gospel says, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”  

“And the glory of the Lord shone round about them.”  For those shepherds abiding in the field, light literally shatters the darkness that night.  One moment there is nothing but the deep darkness of the desert, and then suddenly “the glory of the Lord shone round about them,” an extraordinary light bursts upon them.

That light which bursts upon the shepherds on the first Christmas Eve is also deeply symbolic.  That light which bursts upon the shepherds symbolizes the True Light who is being born into the world that very night a few miles away in a stable at Bethlehem.  That light which bursts upon the shepherds symbolizes the defeat of the prince of darkness, and your rescue from the dominion of darkness.  That light which bursts upon the shepherds symbolizes the everlasting light of heaven, which is yours now through faith in the One born that night at Bethlehem.  Paul proclaims this Good News in Colossians: “[God the Father] has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.  For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”  Jesus shatters the darkness.

Jesus shatters the spiritual darkness of our sin: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord.”  Christ the Lord is your Savior; in him, you have “redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Jesus shatters the depressing darkness of this world’s tribulations—sorrow, suffering, grief, pain.  Just as a burst of heavenly light shatters the darkness of the desert on that first Christmas Eve, Jesus shatters the darkness of this world’s tribulation’s, by overwhelming them with the light of everlasting life.  As Paul says in Romans, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.”

And Jesus shatters the final darkness of death.  Martin Luther says in a sermon for Christmas Day, “For us the time must come when suddenly all will be darkness.”  We will all one day be shrouded in that final darkness, but Jesus shatters even the final darkness of death: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  For you and all who trust in him, dying is like going to sleep, and you will awaken from the darkness of death to the everlasting light of heaven.

All around us at Christmastime we see lights: lights on the Christmas tree, lights decorating our homes, the lights of the Advent wreath, the lights of our candles tonight.  What is the significance of all these lights?  They are all reminders for us, reminders of how, on the first Christmas Eve, light shattered the darkness, in more ways than one.  For, just as that light which bursts upon the shepherds literally shatters the darkness of the desert, the True Light of the world who was born that night shatters the spiritual darkness of our sin, shatters the depressing darkness of this world’s tribulations, and even shatters the final darkness of death.

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them.”  Light shatters the darkness!