God is Light

“God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5

Today, we commemorate the Feast of the Holy Innocents. 

Herod the Great, King of Judea, was called great because he built cities, great palaces, temples, stadiums and fortresses. But he was infamous because he had 3 of his sons killed for treason, and put to death his favorite of his 10 wives, one of his mothers-in-law, a high priest, several uncles and a few cousins. In the 2nd chapter of Matthew, and in the writings of Macrobius, we learn that he ordered innocent little boys 2 years old and younger, taken from their mothers and massacred in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas. He liked to construct buildings but he destroyed people and lives. What a malevolent darkness there is in man that he gives more worth to impermanent things than to an unborn baby, a suspected drug addict, or an old and chronically sick person? 

This Christmas season, after all the hectic gift buying and partying, let us sit down and ponder the miracle of God’s love for us. How priceless each one of us is, that He came down as a defenceless baby, to save us from darkness and sin. It does not matter to God if we are Scarlett Johanssen who made $40.5 million last year, or Floyd Mayweather who earned $285 million in winnings and endorsements, or a janitor who takes home minimum wage to his family. 

Each one is precious, the “apple of His eye”, and He will do everything to bring us home. There is no speck of darkness in God, and if we are suffering now, in great difficulty, we need only to bask in His light, to see ourselves as He sees us, to see our situation as He sees it.