A seed of light was planted in this world and it has been growing ever since. Jesus who was born in a manger would grow up to be the man who would tell the stormy waters to be still, who would promise us that He was the way, the truth and the life, and that if we believed in Him we would gain eternal life.
The life of Jesus started in such a small and fragile way. When he was born he was placed in a manger, the feeding trough for animals. Yet far from inconsequential, that birth was the ultimate manifestation of God’s victory over the darkness of this earth. History began again and the strongest of lights pierced through the darkness and nothing was able to put it out again.
In spite of the many attempts by evil to snuff out that light, the victory of God’s love in Jesus Christ – His birth in a manger to His death on a cross – is continuing to spread throughout this whole world and each of our lives. What started as a mustard seed is bearing marvellous fruit throughout this world.
That is why when the wintry gloom starts to feel like a metaphor for our lives or when the world around seems too chaotic, we need not despair because we remember and rejoice in God Immanuel – God who has been with us from the very beginning and who continues to be with us today through our resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.
