Peace, Good Will Toward Men: A meditation on Luke 2, for the first week in Christmas

And so it was, that, while they were there, the

days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in

swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there

was no room for them in the inn.  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: and they were sore afraid.  And

the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you

good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a

Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall

be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in

swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  And suddenly

there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host

praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the

highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Peace and good will are hard commodities to find in our day.  The rise of militant Islam casts its grim shadow over much of the world, even as the darkness of materialism and atheism cloaks the minds of countless others.  The worries of safety in our nations translates into worries of safety in our neighborhoods, as even the fabric of family is unwound by hedonistic pursuits of sexual indulgence and confusion.  Leaders mislead, be they gathered in greater or lesser halls of government, driving the masses into an ignorant slavery to their passions, whipped about by meaningless catch phrases and internet memes.  There is worry for our degrading school systems, and for our children who must duck and hide not only from physical violence, but from idiocy made into graduation criteria.  We have spent the last couple generations unhinging the minds of the people from authentic distinctions between good and evil, virtue and vice, and we are reaping the whirlwind of our folly.  We have brought forth technological marvels unparalleled in human history, which now serve as the prisons of our minds and bodies no longer strong enough to contemplate truth, nor live it out in community.  We drug our children into mollified compliance rather than discipline them into strong adults, and wonder why the world they are building demands benefit without contribution, service without sacrifice, pleasure without responsibility.  We have spent a century eroding our civilization, our nation, our neighborhoods, our churches, our homes, and ourselves, such that we now totter on the precipice of oblivion.

Of course, the common theme in the examination of our fallen state, is ourselves.  The last century has marked an acceleration in man’s attempt to live out his self deification, and fruits of his labors are manifest.  We make of ourselves terrible gods.  We do not bring forth peace, but despair.  We do not create good will, but rather war and destruction.  We bring forth systems of oppression, murder, vice and enslavement upon our neighbors, only later to find ourselves enslaved to the same darkness and death which follow.  Our best attempts to save ourselves and our world by our own power and intellect, result only in the shrieks and howls of the damned—our own voices joining those whom we have persecuted, synthesized into an endless cacophony piercing our ears, our minds, and our souls.  We are not the authors of peace nor good will.  We are the stokers of the eternal fires of hell.

So where is this peace and good will, which the angels sang about so long ago, which was offered to all people?  If God has spoken of His peace and good will to all mankind, has His promise and proclamation failed?  Most certainly not!  What need would we have of peace and good will from God, if we could generate it on our own?  What need would we have of a Savior, if we were capable of saving ourselves?  What need of God’s light would we have, if we were not drowning in our own darkness?

The Good News of Christmas is not that we shall somehow newly discover a human spirit of peace and good will previously untapped, as if all the decorations and carols and festivities could bring forth from us what we have been unable to do from time immemorial.  Rather, the Good News of Christmas is that God Himself has descended into this mess we have made of His world, so that He might make all things new.  While the common theme of our depravity and hopelessness is us, the eternal truth of our salvation is Jesus Christ.  For it is Jesus, eternal Son of the Father and yet born of the Blessed Virgin Mary—fully divine, and fully human, yet without sin—who brings His light into the darkness all around us.  It is He who joins Himself to our humanity, so that He might suffer and die in our place, taking the penalty of our sin and death and hell.  It is He who has nailed our offenses and ineptitude to His Cross, descended to the dead, and risen again to declare His victory over our darkness.  And it is He who gives His new and eternal life to us, that by His grace we may live in Him forever, hearing His immutable Word of forgiveness in the power of His Holy Spirit, which is to us our life and salvation in this world and the next.  This is our peace and our good will—not that we have created it among ourselves, but that God has given it to us in Jesus, calling us to reflect His Word of grace to the world.

And so to all who sit in such great darkness as these times in which we live, God brings you good tidings of greater joy:  for unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.  He has come to do what you cannot, building His eternal Kingdom one repentant and faithful heart at a time.  Hear the Word of the Lord Jesus which calls to you from both His manger and His cross to gather you into His unapproachable light—which breaks into your self-created prison of despair to claim you as His own, granting you life and peace forever according to His good and gracious will. He has come to set the prisoners free, to lead the captives of death and hell to eternal and blessed life.  Hear Him.  Turn, believe, and live. Amen.