Walking in the Light of God—Lectionary Reflection for Christmas A (Isaiah 9)



Isaiah 9:2-7 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

 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.
You have multiplied the nation,
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with joy at the harvest,
    as people exult when dividing plunder.
For the yoke of their burden,
    and the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor,
    you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For all the boots of the tramping warriors
    and all the garments rolled in blood
    shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
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.

********

                “For unto us, a child is born” who will bring light into our world, to light our path. For those of us in the northern hemisphere, Christmas comes at a moment when the days are short, and the night comes early. Whether we gather on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day or both, we celebrate the message that a great light shines in the darkness. That light is to be found in the person born in Bethlehem, the one on whose shoulders rests authority and whose reign will bring peace, justice, and righteousness. The words we read in this passage from Isaiah form one of the choruses of Handel’s The Messiah. In fact, it’s one of my favorite choruses in that work. While we might know this passage from The Messiah it is worth diving more deeply into the reading so that we might hear anew its message which Christians have applied to Jesus. As with any reading from the Old Testament and its application to Jesus, we must recognize that it has a prior application and that Isaiah’s original audience would not recognize Jesus as its intended object.

               The lectionary reading begins with a word about the light that shines in the darkness. We’re told that the people “walked in darkness,” but then they “saw a great light.” While we will, at Christmas read these words with Jesus and his context in mind, what was the darkness that Isaiah had in mind? What was the light that he promised would shine into that darkness? Contextually, we know that Isaiah was speaking to the people of Judah, especially its leaders, at a time when it was under threat of invasion and destruction. The first threat came from its immediate neighbors, Ephraim (Israel) and Syria. Secondly, they faced the threat coming from Assyria, which would in time engulf both of its neighbors. In promising this light that would shine in their midst, Isaiah had in mind the hope that Judah would not suffer the fate of its neighbors. In Isaiah 8, we find the prophet seeking to get the king to avoid getting entangled with foreign alliances that would lead to its demise. Instead, here in Isaiah 9, we hear the promise of the coming of the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). Yes, instead of a warrior king, Isaiah envisioned the coming of a king who would embrace the cause of peace. In this context, the promised one would likely be King Ahaz’s son, Hezekiah. He would be that great light upon whose shoulders would be laid the authority and wisdom to serve the community and lead it to peace, justice, and righteousness.

                The reason we read this passage at Christmas may have its roots in verse 6 but the entire passage has a messianic feel. This is true even though none of the New Testament writers directly make use of it. However, it didn’t take long for early Christians to see a connection. Justin Martyr saw in the reference to the government being on his shoulders a word about Jesus carrying the cross. Irenaeus wrote of his birth, that he was no mere human. Rather, “He had, beyond all others, in Himself that pre-eminent birth which is from the Most High Father, and also experienced that pre-eminent generation which is from the Virgin, the divine Scriptures do in both respects testify of Him: also, that He was a man without comeliness, and liable to suffering; that He sat upon the foal of an ass; that He received for drink, vinegar and gall; that He was despised among the people, and humbled Himself even to death and that He is the holy Lord, the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Beautiful in appearance, and the Mighty God, coming on the clouds as the Judge of all men; —all these things did the Scriptures prophesy of Him.” Those were among the earliest, so Friedrich Handel was not unique in his application of these verses to Jesus. Concerning these titles, Ron Allen and Clark Williamson write: “‘Wonderful Counselor’ refers to a ruler who can develop and expand upon good plans to bring about peace and justice. ‘Mighty God’ is a divine title applied to the ruler who will be strong to effect God’s purposes. ‘Everlasting Father’ points to the king’s task to nurture the people of God. ‘Prince of Peace’ is a messianic designation used by both Jews and Christians to refer to the Messiah; one Jewish translation is ‘Messiah in whose days peace [shalom] will be great for us.’” These descriptors offer us the opportunity to, as Allen and Williamson suggest, “explore what it means to follow the One who is the Prince of Peace” [Preaching the OldTestament, p. 8].

                Isaiah’s promise of a great light shining in the darkness, a promise that involves the child whose birth would lead to endless peace (well-being) is rooted in the expectation that this child will take up the “throne of David” so that his kingdom might continue forever. Thus, the four titles we have taken note of— “Wonderful Counselor,” “Mighty God,” “Everlasting Father,” and “Prince of Peace” may have been intended by Isaiah to speak of a child born in the eighth-century BCE, in time Christians would draw on them to help cement the church’s confession of Christ’s divinity and mission. While the New Testament writers do not appeal directly to this passage, in the Prologue to John’s Gospel we’re told that the Word is the light shining in the darkness (John 1:5).

So, as we gather on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day (in 2022 Christmas Day falls on a Sunday) with a world in disarray, how might we hear this promise of a light shining in the darkness, a light embodied by the child/king who will bring endless peace? When Isaiah offered these words of hope to the people of Judah, peace was not in the offering, though Hezekiah managed to stay out of the conflicts that consumed his neighbors, his kingdom didn’t extend much beyond the walls of Jerusalem. As for us, we hear this promise when conflicts continue to abound. In the year 2022, a hot war is taking place in Ukraine, pitting two nations whose populations are largely Orthodox Christians. In the United States, talk of a political civil war is bandied about, while violence is present in the streets of small rural towns, affluent suburbs, and urban areas. Even families struggle with conflict (Christmas can be a challenging time for families getting together due to political differences). Despite all of these realities, the promise is still set before us, the light will shine into the darkness, and with it will come the peace, justice, and righteousness of God revealed in the child born in our midst.

As we ponder this message about light shining in our midst, Isaiah invites us to embrace the vision of God being that light that shines in our midst. Our use of this promise at Christmas reminds us that this light shines in our midst through the Christ child born in Bethlehem. So, while we still experience moments of darkness that seem to smother any sense of hope, the promise that the light that is God in Christ shines in our midst. As we consider the message that the divine light has appeared in our midst in this child, how might that light shine in and through us as we live as agents of God’s message of peace, justice, and righteousness? While Christmas can be a time of great joy, it can also be a time of deep sorrow and loneliness. As we ponder the coming of this child, upon whose shoulders authority is placed, how might we be agents of peace and well-being in our world as his followers?

With that we sing:

1 There's a song in the air! There's a star in the sky!
There's a mother's deep prayer and a baby's low cry!
And the star rains its fire while the angel choirs sing,
for the manger of Bethlehem cradles a king!

2 There's a tumult of joy o'er the wonderful birth,
for the virgin's sweet boy is the Lord of the earth.
See, the star rains its fire while the angel choirs sing,
for the manger of Bethlehem cradles a king!

3 We rejoice in the light, and we echo the song
that comes down through the night from the heavenly throng,
and we welcome the glorious gospel they bring,
and we greet in the cradle our savior and king.

[Chalice Hymnal, 159]


 Image Attribution: Swanson, John August. Festival of Lights, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56546 [retrieved December 15, 2022]. Original source: Estate of John August Swanson, https://www.johnaugustswanson.com/.

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