Frightened by the Light
Christmas Eve Sermon by Brent J. Eelman
2007, Abington Presbyterian Church

Luke 2: 8-20
    In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: ¹¹to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host,^* praising God and saying,
            ¹⁴‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
              and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’
    ¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ ¹⁶So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.*

Have you ever heard of photophobia? No, it is not a fear of being photographed, it is fear of light. It is a psychological reality that some people have that causes a “persistent, abnormal and unwarranted fear of light.” There are clinics that offer therapy for those who suffer from this condition. In the Christmas story, which we tell and re-tell on this evening there is a different kind of photophobia. The fear of this light is the fear of the light of truth, the light of hope, and the light of salvation. Just as we put the Christmas lights on our houses and our trees, so the Christmas story, as told in the gospels, is a story about the entry of light into the world. But it is also the story of people responding and reacting to that light. Let us consider three different parties and their response to the light of hope, truth and salvation.

The first are the shepherds. We read in the Gospel of Luke that while the shepherds were watching their sheep, “an angel appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone about them, and they were terrified.” The light that shone on them was the light of God, and it literally terrified them. Throughout the Hebrew Bible, when we read about people coming in the presence of God, it is often terrifying and so why should it not be the same with shepherds. They were frightened by the light. But their fear soon subsided. Perhaps it was the assurance of the angel telling them to go to Bethlehem and see the child born for their salvation. Their fear soon dissolved, and they found themselves on the road to Bethlehem, seeking the source of that remarkable light, the child Jesus.

The second group of individuals who react and respond to light are the Magi. Their story is told in the gospel of Matthew. In all likelihood, they were Persian, (or today we would say Iranian) astrologers who mapped the stars to better understand the world around them. They observed in the heavens a new light… a bright star. It piqued their curiosity and consequently they traveled a great distance to find out more about what this star meant…. I often wonder about their interest in the star. Was it mere intellectual curiosity? Was it one more fact to learn? Or were they seeking something more; something richer, deeper; something that would touch the soul.

The last individual who reacts to light is Herod. Herod hears about the star, he hears about the messiah who the prophets declare. Herod is terrified. Herod, perhaps the most powerful individual in the Christmas story, the one who has armies and legions at his command, is terrified, and frightened by the prospect of the light of truth entering the world, and so he decided, in the darkness of his palace, that he would extinguish the light of hope as it lay there in the manger. Light was a threat to his rule and so he wreaked destruction and death upon the children of Bethlehem.

There are three different reactions to light in the Christmas story. Herod is terrified, paranoid. The Magi are curious, perhaps objectively and intellectually interested… and then there are the shepherds, frightened at first, but then they compose themselves and seek the child of Bethlehem.

What is our reaction to the light of the world, the child born of Mary and Joseph? Are we like Herod? The Magi? Or Shepherds?

Our modern Herods are the ones who fear the light. They are the keepers of secrets and intrigue. They might come up with a hundred reasons to suppress the truth, and like the ancient Herod, they will try and extinguish the flame of truth before it brings light to the world. The modern Herods live with lies, and the biggest lie is that the world can’t get along with out them. It is this lie that causes the fear and terror with which they live. They fear the light will shine on them, and they will be exposed in all their pathetic weakness.

The Magi are fascinating folk. They are curious and interesting, but truth to them is objective. It is a fact about reality. Truth is something to be studied. It does not demand commitment, sacrifice. Truth is not the light of hope. It only describes what is going on.

The shepherds are a motley crew. We can understand their reaction to the light shining upon them and causing them to fear. They are the proverbial “deer in the headlights”, unable to move at first, frozen by fear. But they move from their. The light of truth frightens at first, but then it beckons them to look again, to seek the source of this great light: the child born in a manger.

On this Christmas Eve, we declare with the first chapter of the Gospel of John, that the “light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. The true light which enlightens everyone was coming into the world.” How do we respond to this light that came into the world in that child? Terrified to the point of destruction like Herod? Curious, but unmoved, like ancient astrologers? Frightened, but then moved to awe and reverence, like shepherds.

When God enters our world, (and I believe God does), it is often a frightening occasion…. It makes demands on us, and we know that our life will never be the same after that moment… The shepherds offer us an example of faithfulness. Though frightened by the light, they were not overcome by fear. They did not flee the light, but heard in their hearts the message that it proclaimed about the birth of a savior. Amen.
 

*The New Revised Standard Version Bible, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.

Abington Presbyterian Church, Abington, Pennsylvania,  www.apcusa.org