Advent 24

Christmas Eve

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Isaiah 59:15b-21 

This, says the LORD, is my covenant, which I make with them:  My spirit which rests on you and my words which I have put into your mouth shall never fail you from generation to generation of your descendants from now onward for ever.  The LORD has said it. 

The waiting is nearly over.  The ultimate answer to all our questions, all our troubles, all our fears, comes at that mysterious midnight hour, the end of Christmas Eve and the beginning of Christmas Day.  The Christian world has been holding its collective breath, eagerly awaiting the promised child. 

“Promised” is a key word.  The child we will greet tonight/tomorrow was promised by our God.  Israel looked for the promised Messiah for hundreds of years, trusting in that promise.  But God has promised many things to His people, gifts that sometimes get eclipsed by this radiant Christmas gift, His son.  God promised to be with His people, promised to care for them, promised to provide a land and rain and favorable agricultural conditions, if they would only obey His wise Law.  We know how that went.  They obeyed and prospered; they prospered so much that they got greedy, forgot justice and mercy, and were punished.  Repeat.  Repeat. 

But the verse above is not conditional.  It comes at the end of a thundering symphony of words about an angry God about to bring, yet again, deserved retribution.  Then there is a musical rest before a lovely flute sings of this precious promise, gently and clearly:  His spirit rests upon us, now and always.  The spirit of God.  The spirit of peace.  The spirit of love. 

This is exactly the same spirit that rests on the child, and it carries with it an expectation—but not a demand—that, like Jesus, we will accept the responsibility that comes with the spirit given us. And we will, each as best as he/she can.  Jesus will do the most important job, the job of saving our lives, but His people will try hard to follow His example, bearing Light in the darkness. 

Tonight is another chance to grab hold of the Spirit, pull it tightly around us and begin, again, to live as if, like the baby, we are full of the promised spirit.  We can be more, we can do more, we can love more.  We can shine more brightly, smile more often, give more generously. 

And we will, with the help of this precious child.