Luke 2: Surrounded by the light

Captain Vanessa Coleman reminds us that discovering Jesus dispels our fear.

Key text

• Luke 2:1-20

My husband, who grew up in Australia, associates Christmas with long, sun-filled days, sunglasses and sunscreen – with being surrounded by the light. In contrast, I think of light around Christmas as the glow of a candle or sparkling fairy lights struggling against dark winter nights.

Pause and reflect

• If you were overwhelmed not by the darkness of winter but by the light of summer, how might your perception of Jesus as the Light of the world differ?

In our study passage, when the angel appeared and ‘the glory of the Lord shone around them’ (v9), the shepherds were stunned and overwhelmed by the light. The words translated as ‘terrified’ or ‘sore afraid’ (King James Version) we might express today as great fear.

In some Old Testament stories about Moses encountering God, there are similar elements of great fear. At the burning bush on Mount Horeb, Moses had to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground (see Exodus 3). On Mount Sinai, Moses was kept safe in the cleft of a rock to catch a glimpse of God’s back (see Exodus 33:22 and 23). After meeting with God and receiving the Ten Commandments (see Exodus 34:29–35), he had to cover his radiant face with a veil because the people were ‘afraid to come near him’ (Exodus 34:30).

In modern English, the word ‘phobia’ means ‘a persistent, irrational fear of an object, event, activity, or situation … resulting in a compelling desire to avoid it’. Perhaps the shepherds, surrounded by the light of God’s glory, anticipated impending judgement and punishment.

Pause and reflect

• Why might they have felt the need to hide? 
• When might we have experienced a compelling desire to avoid God based on a fear of punishment?

Addressing the shepherds, the angel says: ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people’ (v10). It’s as if the angel is saying: ‘What you have seen of God isn’t the whole picture. Yes, God is awesome and mighty and holy, and to be taken seriously and be respected, but God is coming close now and that is good news.’

Pause and reflect

• Do our interactions with others provoke a desire to come close to God or to stay away?

At the height of an Australian summer, its warmth beckons us to strip off our defensive winter layers, as in Aesop’s fable of The North Wind and the Sun. While we need to respect the power of the sun, and take safety seriously, we can also experience its benefits for our wellbeing. Similarly, Jesus offers to defrost our bitter hearts and warm us with the light of his presence and bring us into joyful connection, into a light we can only dream of in the cold winter of dread and despair.

We see in Jesus the proof that ‘perfect love drives out fear’ (1 John 4:18). We bring to Jesus our fears, our shame, all the things that we know are worthy of judgement. As the light of his glory surrounds them, those fears are melted away by pure love. Sometimes we call that repentance.

Surrounded by the light of Jesus, we shed fear, the habits and patterns and addictions and limits that keep us small, trapped, bitter, broken and destructive – those things that keep us estranged from God and from each other. When we come close to the Light – Jesus – we don’t need to hide ourselves as Moses did. There is no need for shame or fear.

Pause and reflect

• Where does fear have a hold in your life? 
• Where is joy trying to break through?

When the glory of God shines on us as it did with the shepherds, we don’t need to get stuck in a state of great fear. Looking to Jesus starts us on the path of transformation – one filled with ‘great joy’. The apostle Paul writes: ‘And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit’ (2 Corinthians 3:18). The same word is used for ‘glory’ here as is used by Luke writing about the ‘glory’ that shone around when the angel appeared to the shepherds. The glory of God visiting the shepherds is not reserved just for a Bible story: we are also invited to respond and understand his purpose in coming, to be surrounded by his light.

Pause and reflect

• How will you make space to contemplate the glory-light of Jesus this Christmas?

The light goes beyond the picture-perfect image of a halo-glow around a baby in the manger. Jesus tells us: ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’ (John 8:12). Gazing into the Light, we are transformed.

The angel announced to the shepherds Jesus as Saviour, Messiah and Lord for all people. The shepherds ‘hurried off’ to see Jesus (v16) and, when they had seen him, they couldn’t help telling everyone they met! Their fear was forgotten and they were swept up in sharing this good news of great joy. They had become light-shiners, no longer overwhelmed and no longer terrified, and also no longer the same.

This Christmas, as you gaze into the Light, be transformed by the Light and shine the Light to others! May God’s great joy fill your heart.