Sermon preached on Midnight Mass at All Saints Oakham, Christmas Eve 2022.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 

A very warm Christmas to you on this Christmas eve. 

Christmas time comes towards the end of the year, and the end of the year is usually a time for reflection upon the past year. It’s a time when we are looking at countdowns on the TV or hearing them on the radio. We are ranking our favourite books, our favourite shows, our favourite foods, and so on. And we do this by looking back to the beginning of the year and counting back all that has happened in the year. It is these things that lead up to this moment at Christmas, at the end of the year, when we hold the big picture of the year in front of us. 

And our reading from John’s gospel starts a little bit in the same way. As John is talking about the first Christmas, in his somewhat abstract way, he looks back to the beginning, the beginning of the world, the beginning of time itself. He says, 

‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.’ 

As we look tonight here at Christmas, at the meaning of Christmas at what it is all about it, we look back at the beginning of the world when there was the Word. This Word, is not just a word in a sentence, but it is a person, and this person is God. This Word is the person Jesus, the Son of God. 

At Christmas we remember when Jesus came to this world 2000 years ago as a baby. We often talk about Christmas as the beginning of Jesus’ story. But in our reading, we see that the story of Jesus goes all the way back to the beginning of creation. ‘All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.’ That means that Jesus took part in creating the world; in fact it could not happen without him. And what has been made through Jesus, and what has come into being through him is life. 

Jesus is the source of all life. All the life we have is because of Jesus, and Jesus came to be our source of life. The life we have now, is because Jesus our God, shaped and created us and gave us life. All life comes from him and we have it because of him. He brings life where there was once no life. 

Did you look up at the sky tonight as you came into church? Did you see how dark the night sky is? The sky is dark, and the space beyond is dark because there is a great void and emptiness in space. There is nothing in dead space to give light and life. But then there is the sun and stars in our solar system which give us light. Think of how the sun, this great light in the sky, is what gives us light, and also gives us life through the warm if gives us and how through photosynthesis it feeds the plants we eat. The sun is our source of life. Without this source of light, then we would be in darkness, a darkness without light and without hope of life. 

The sun is the light of our world. But at Christmas, we remember a different Son, the Son of God, Jesus into the world to be the light of the world. In him is life and the light of all people. He came to be our bring life to a world where there is death and darkness. He came to be the light of the world, so that we may see and know God and how he came to save and rescue us. 

The truth is that we have all walked away from God. We have turned away from Jesus, the source of life and light, and as we have turned away from him, we are left in darkness. We experience loss, pain, sadness and death in this world because we walked away from God and we experience the pain of a godless world. But ‘the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.’ Jesus came to us, who are his own people, his own creation. He came and dwelt among us so that he may bring us back to God, that we may be children of God. That as we believe and trust in Jesus as our God and saviour, we receive his light for our world of darkness, and life eternal that the darkness of death cannot take away. 

Jesus brings light into darkness, and the darkness shall not overcome it. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. This powerful phrase reminds us that light is so powerful against darkness, that there is nothing darkness can do to stop it. I know we are in the winter, but have you ever tried to close your eyes shut tight on a sunny day? And think of how even with our eyes shut, we can still see the light pushing through our eyelids. Nothing can truly stop the light from casting out the darkness. The darkness shall not overcome the light. 

Similarly, Jesus, the light of the world, cannot be stopped by darkness. The darkness of sin and death in this world cannot the light of the Son Jesus from reaching us. In this world of sin, meek souls will receive him, still, the dear Christ enters in. Jesus, light of the world, enters into our lives, into the pain and suffering, into our loneliness and darkness, into the death that awaits us all and instead speaks light and life. 

Jesus came at Christmas to make this all possible. To cast out our sin and enter in, to be born in us today. Christ is born in us, and we receive his light and life. Jesus shines in you as the light of world, and the darkness shall not overcome it. Jesus’ light and life remains in you and nothing can take it away. 

The joy of Christmas is that Jesus came to bring this light to world, and the darkness shall not overcome it. 

Christmas may be a joyous time for you. Or Christmas may be a difficult and painful time for you. No matter which it is, know the meaning of Christmas tonight. That 2000 years ago Jesus, the Son of God, was born in a stable in Bethlehem to bring light to our dark world. His is light is a light of hope and life, a light that casts out darkness from our lives and our world, and leaves God’s eternal life. That is who Jesus is: he is the Son(Sun). He is the light and life of the world, the life of all people. Through him, all things are made, and all things have life through him the source of life. If there are things in your life that are sucking the life right out of you, then turn to Jesus and receive him this Christmas. Let him bring his light and life to you and see him cast out the darkness from heart.

When I say this, I am not saying that this means that there will be no darkness or pain or suffering in this world when we wake up tomorrow. That is the reality of a broken world caught in darkness. But even though there is darkness, and war, and greed and evil that rage in this world since the first Christmas, remember that the Jesus’ light shines in this darkness, and the darkness shall not overcome it – it shall not overcome Jesus.  

Thanks be to God that Jesus is the light of the world. He is the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 

Amen.