A GREAT LIGHT ~ A Nativity Sonnet Cycle

12 meditations on the light of people and places in the story of Christ’s birth

“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.” ~Isaiah 9:2 (NASB)

JEHOVAH

A veil of darkness settles over all
My people sitting in a lightless land
Hollow hope of harrowed empty souls
Waiting, wanting but a dim lit lamp
To dispel the dark of cruel, cold despair
That dulls the spirit, clouds the inner eye
Shrouds with drab laments their pleading prayer
From deathly shadows—yet I hear their cry
I who made them to be my beloved
They who wear my image, bear my name
They with heaven’s mysteries entrusted
I with eternal life their souls inflame
Burning brightness in the black of night
They will see, again, with a great light

Note: A “great” light in Hebrew can mean great in intensity. However, because of Isaiah 9:6-7, it certainly is meant to be understood as great in importance.

“For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” ~Isaiah 9:6 (NASB)

ISAIAH

Isaiah, prophet of the saving Lord
Judah’s voice of coming hurt and hope
Crying out with words by Spirit heard
Of judgment and redemption both foretold
Israel is walking in a darkened land
Crushed and exiled by Assyrian might
Yet hope will come by heaven’s ready hand
There will shine again a glorious light
A child be born for us, a Son be given
A mighty God and Father, Prince of Peace
David’s throne and kingdom be arisen
Forever justice reign and suffering cease
And all who walk in darkness then will find
Immanuel walks with them, his light will shine

“So when Joseph and Mary had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.” ~Luke 2:39 (NET)

NAZARETH

Assyria with scythe and sharpened axe
Left splintered Israel in its rending wake
Cries of exiles, whips across their backs
Lost to a silent never-ending ache
Though Zebulun and Naphtali are gone
Quietly a shoot grows where they fell
Sprouting life like nighttime’s coming dawn
A hidden village in Galilean hills
Where a girl of David’s tribe is raised
With Spirit strong, steadfast for her Lord
A favored maiden, heaven soon would grace
Her womb with promised hope by angel words
O Nazareth, pregnant with life’s one Shalom
Where all was lost, the light of life is grown

Note: The root of the word “Nazareth” is a branch or shoot from a cut down stump. Nazareth of Galilee is in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali where Assyria invaded and exiled the northern Jewish kingdom of Israel.

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” ~Luke 1:35 (NIV)

MARY

Time suspended, morning light held still
A stranger’s words welled her wondering mind
With bold avowals of Jehovah’s will
A favored woman—chosen—by design
To bear for Israel the son of God
Messiah, born to sit on David’s throne
Conceived in Mary by the Spirit’s power
Though, still a virgin, no man had she known
But in a private pregnant blink of time
Like the ark of covenant, her womb
Became a mercy seat for the divine
For nothing is impossible with God
She, willingly surrendered to that tide
Was washed and overshadowed in the light

Note: Since shadow is created by light, the Greek term for “overshadow” included the idea, by analogy, of enveloping in a haze of brilliant light.

“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” ~Luke 1:41 (NIV)

ELIZABETH

Long in darkness—barren empty womb
Pulsing now despite the toil of years
With pregnant promise of a child to come
Cautious hope behind a veil of tears
Awakened by an unexpected voice
The child within her leaps with fetal praise
A touch divine compels her to rejoice
With blessings offered for a startling grace
Elizabeth, with knowing smile declares
The truth that Mary hides, the virgin story
Fulfillment of the prophecy she bears
Words she’s heard of God’s unfolding glory
No longer by the dark of doubt concealed
Messiah is by Spirit’s light revealed

Note: By the light of the Holy Spirit’s revelation, Elizabeth knew that Mary was pregnant with God’s child.

“When he had contemplated this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” ~Matthew 2:20 (NET)

JOSEPH

Blankets blunt, as hard in dark he falls
Body taut and tired from labor’s toil
His thoughts a patchwork quilt of guilt for all
That restless sleep could dull but not uncoil
From soul-bent tension that would not resolve
His love betrothed and ancient laws that bind
With truths he trusts and will not render false
Though casting shadows on his troubled mind
Then, in a burst of light, an angel speaks
Not in the dark of night, but in a dream
Words that calm and clarify, now freed
He sees in faith what God has made foreseen
Awakening, with heart eyes opened wide
Arising, Joseph claims that dream of light

Note: The angel that “appeared” to Joseph meant that his dream was filled with light, both of the angel and of the prophecy of the Savior, the light of the world.

“‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’” ~Matthew 2:6 (NLT)

BETHLEHEM

Halla browning in the tannur flames
A house for bread beneath a dome of clay
Love-made loaves of intertwining braids
Grains of grace from God for each new day
Lovingly she felt her rounded swell
Embracing moving flesh, her baby’s home
The chosen womb, divinity would dwell
The Son of God by seed of Spirit sown
Least of cities, David’s house of bread
Pregnant with the hope of kingdom come
Shepherds’ sacrificial sheep are fed
Heaven’s host awaits the promised One
O Bethlehem, within your house is born
The bread of life, the light of breaking morn

Note: Bethlehem means “house of bread.” A tannur is a clay oven where bread is cooked by the light of fire, a rough analogy to Christ as bread in Mary’s womb.

"And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened." ~Luke 2:9 (NASB)

SHEPHERDS

Slumbered silence stills the darkened hours
While shepherds watch their sacrificial sheep
Dreaming hope beneath a cloak of stars
Until the voices waken them from sleep
A mother’s labor, borne with love, she gives
One final painful push and wearied sigh
A fluid flush of life, the infant lives
Swaddled, held, a newborn’s crimson cry
Into the deathly dark a shining shout
Of glory joy that shatters dull despair
Lives enlightened, angels in a cloud
The promised one of God has come, is here
Bright with burning words the silent night
Is riven by the blinding sound of light

“A light, for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” ~Luke 2:32 (NET)

SIMEON

Hope enfleshed in blood-warmed infancy
His opened arms with aged care embrace
Blessings raised up by a heart set free
That sees salvation in a young child’s face
Isaiah’s promised light has come to life
His glory born of heaven’s heart revealed
Prepared, so Simeon sees with Spirit eyes
Deliverance disclosed, no more concealed
In prophets’ visions, exiles’ aching tears
On altars stained with sacrificial blood
In temple stones Messiah’s name inheres
Redemption’s peace comes in a baby’s touch
The hope of revelation held and shared
This firstborn son a naked light laid bare

Note: The primary meaning of the Greek term apokalypsis (“revelation”), in addition to, instruction and manifestation, is that of “laying bare, making naked.”

“Where is the one who is born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” ~Matthew 2:2 (NET)

MAGI

Rising lights across God's vaulted dome
Dancing on the depths of heaven's dark
Constellations, astral signs that shone
To chart a journey wise men would embark
To follow and to find a newborn king
In Leo's land, where Virgo gives him birth
In Bethlehem where prophets had foreseen
A light of revelation come to earth
One star stood still above one humble place
Where entering with joy the child they found
Pagan sages who, by no mean grace
Worshipped him who wears their saving crown
Starry signs, a story divinely planned
Delivered by the lights of heaven's hand

Note: The Magi were led by God with heavenly lights—stars, planets, constellations. By divine design, Jesus’ prophetic light was seen in those heavenly lights.

“Because of our God's tender mercy the dawn will break upon us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” ~Luke 1:78-79 (NET)

JESUS

Fragile infant, swaddled, manger lain
With tender mercy of our God most high
Innocent enigma by an angel named
Yeshua, son of God, child of light
Of revelation, of a kingdom come
Of redemption, from all mortal fear
Of salvation, by the chosen one
Immanuel, God is with us, he is here
Those who sit in darkness now will see
Who wander blindly now will find a way
By shining light, heaven’s perfect peace
Turns even darkest night to brightest day
The sunrise from on high has come alive
Breaking in with his great light of life

Note: Jesus’ Hebrew name, Yeshua, means “salvation” or “one who saves.” He is the light of salvation of all the world.

“After they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to look for the child to kill him.’” ~Matthew 2:13 (NET)

EGYPT

Covered by the dark of moonless heavens
Exiles from the womb of Bethlehem
Temple torches glowing in Jerusalem
No time to wait, they must flee with him
With Jesus, chosen child of David’s throne
From Herod, jealous dying tyrant king
To journey into Egypt, great unknown
With God’s great light of life in Mary’s sling
To find not what has been but what’s to come
What angel words and voices have foretold
This little child, Messiah, God’s own Son
The hope of Israel that Mary holds
Awaits with them the coming break of day
The rising sun, when he will light their way