And the Darkness Shall Not Overcome It

              "...and the darkness shall not overcome it!"
John 1.1-18 Christmas Eve, 1989
This is a phrase that is etched upon the creation ever since the
morning stars sang together. History cannot escape its verdict! There
is not a single human life that cannot live without its promise.
"...and the darkness shall not overcome it." Millions throughout our
world are crowded together in village churches, great cathedrals, or
huddled in homes to hear again this marvelous story.
The first threat to the extinguishing the light was coming into the
world was by the edict of Herod himself. The word became flesh.
The ultimate mystery born with a skull with its soft spot pulsating.
It is the resurrection and the life she holds in her arms. Herod
ordered the babies killed. But it was Joseph, Mary and their newborn
who fled to Egypt to keep him safe. We know nothing of his childhood
or his adolescence. We are told that he questioned the leaders at the
Temple who were amazed at such a young man being so brilliant. It
is his adult life, short as it was, that made the difference upon the
world.
He kept speaking of a new age that was to come. An age he
described as the Kingdom of God. It would be a time when the hungry
would be fed, the naked clothed, the widow cared for, the prisoners set
free, it would indeed be the day of the Lord, the Kingdom of God. In
this Kingdom God's love would so permeate human hearts that the rule
of love would be the standard. No longer would men and women ask,
"What's in it for me" but rather "What does the love of God require
from me?"
The world could not take such a shock. His death was planned, he was
crucified between two thieves on what Christians would later call Good
Friday. It was dark on that day, we are told. The earth shook with
the shock of an earthquake as Jesus cried aloud, "it is finished." But
God pronounced valid what Jesus had done by raising to new life this
one who died for the sins of the world. ...and the darkness has not
overcome it."
Those disciples who followed him were each put to death for
proclaiming the Kingdom of God which they understood to have corn
in the birth of the Messiah Jesus, each was put to death...and the
darkness has not overcome it. By the end of the first century, 50
years after the first Christians gathered into enclaves called churches
the emperor determined to wipe them from the face of the earth.
Domitian instituted persecutions that made famous the arenas in which
gladiators made sport of Christians. And from which another emperor
Decius would hear those being burned at the stake singing praises to
the one whose birth and life and changed their lives. ...and the
darkness has not overcome it."
The modern world today is challenged by the darkness. In the cold of
winter millions of people were led away to face their deaths in
history's greatest holocaust, while one man claimed for himself the
tit le Fuhrer, attempting to eclipse God. ...and the darkness has not
overcome it.
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