Light A young Marine and his commanding officer board a train headed through the mountains of Switzerland. They can find no place to sit except for two seats right across the aisle from a young woman and her grandmother. After a while, it is obvious that the young woman and the young soldier are “interested in each other” because they are giving each other “looks.” Soon the train passes into a tunnel and it is pitch-black. There is a sound of the smack of a kiss followed by the sound of the smack of a slap. When the train emerges from the tunnel, the four sit there without saying a word.

The grandmother is thinking to herself: “It was very brash for that young soldier to kiss my granddaughter, but I’m glad she slapped him.”

The commanding officer is setting there thinking: “I didn’t think the young Marine was brave enough to kiss the girl, but I sure wish she hadn’t missed him when she slapped and hit me!”

The young woman was sitting and thinking: “I’m glad the soldier kissed me, but I wish my grandmother had not slapped him!”

The young Marine sat there with a satisfied smile on his face. He thought to himself: “Life is good. When does a fellow have the chance to kiss a beautiful girl and slap his commanding officer all at the same time!”

It is very difficult to know exactly what is happening in the dark, when there is no light by which to gain a proper perspective. The prophet Isaiah certainly knew the deep and disorienting darkness of despair when he wrote:
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness - on them light has shined. For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Isaiah knew the oppression his people had faced, the tramping of warriors, the fear and death of battle. A deep shadow had settled on the land of Israel when, out of nowhere, there came good news of great joy that a child was to be born, a son received, One who would be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Whose authority would grow, who would bring endless peace.

“What in the world is God doing?” A child is born in Bethlehem, and our world was introduced to a new way of seeing. Our expectations are turned upside down as a prince is born in a barn, as God becomes a vulnerable baby. This birth marks the beginning of a new human history, one in which the deep shadows of injustice, pride and violence are replaced with the light of God’s justice, righteousness and peace.

Life One of the amazing assertions about Christmas is that God took human form and came into the world. If you had been a faithful Jewish believer at the time of Jesus’ birth, the idea would have been inconceivable. You would have been asking the very same question “What in the world is God doing?” You would have attested to the truth that God spoke to and through the earliest figures of the Hebrew Scriptures; people like Abraham, Jacob, and Moses. You know that God spoke even through angels and prophets, but God coming into the world! Not likely!

The coming of God into the world in the birth of Jesus means seeing the world in a new and different way, a very new and a very different way: Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven”. When we take on the life of Jesus, we aren’t looking to love only those people who love us, because everyone does that. Instead, we are looking to love everyone, friends and enemies, as children of our heavenly Father. This is a whole new path for us to walk, and this path leads to life.

This Life, this Child, this Wonderful Counselor, this Prince of Peace you see is also Mighty God. Sure, this may be hard to visualize this when Jesus first appears on the earth as a powerless child, but keep in mind that this babe is the same Jesus who goes so far as to conquer sin and death. This is not the weak, skinny Jesus from South Park! This is the real Jesus – the one who can change your life and remake the world.

“What in the world is God doing?” In Jesus, God is with you in all of your life. When you struggle  ... with a temptation ... with an obstacle ... with a setback ... with a rejection ... with a disappointment ... with a particularly crushing loss - you have the Mighty God with you. That is what God is doing in the world!

Love This Jesus, Savior and Lord, born in Bethlehem is the love of God for you, for us all and for the world. Billy Graham summed up Christmas in this way, “Bethlehem’s manger crib became the link that bound a lost world to a loving God.” In the One born in the manger, God acted once and for all to embrace the world in love. In the One born in the manger, God acted to cherish the world in Love. In the One born in the manger, God acted to end all discord and strife, to launch an entirely new way of living and being in Love.

Jesus, God’s light, heralded by angels, observed by shepherds, worshipped by visitors from afar, demands our serious contemplation, our full attention, our deepest devotion this very night and in all the days of this birthing season.

Jesus, God’s life, can bring you forgiveness, can overcome your present difficulties, and promises you, a truly hope-filled tomorrow.

Jesus, God’s Love, unearned, undeserved, underappreciated is converting us into people of faith who will stop living only for ourselves and follow Jesus.

Jesus, Light, Life, Love of God - nursed by a humble couple, in a smelly stable, in an out of the way village, on the edge of the world, amongst a people oppressed and defeated, afraid and alone, leads us to our neighbors, to justice, to peace, to hope.

My friends, we need Jesus at the very center of our lives and as the pattern for our living in God’s world. Jesus comes to our world tonight all over again, bringing light, offering life and sharing Love, God’s love.

“What in the world is God doing?” “To us is born, in David’s town this night, a Savior - Christ the Lord”.  Amen.