A TREE BY THE SEA

The sky is grey. Colors are muted. The sun has set but only a few lights appear in the sky. A short time between the ending of day and the beginning of night. It passes unnoticed unless you are watching for it.

It is written. A long moment ago. There is a child sitting beside his mother. He hears words spoken. The same words were spoken from his very existence. Light. A vast darkness and void. A nothingness. The light transformed the nothing. A voice speaking into the dark. He sits listening to the priest read these words written on a page. A marked scroll scribed for the ears of this young one. He listens and his body reverberates with the word light. He feels an energy flowing through his being. His fingertips and palms tingle. Flashes of light. His eyes are closed.

His mother watches him intently. He opens his eyes and looks into hers. His face is full of wonder. “I remember,” he whispers quietly. The mother smiles at him and places her arm around his small shoulders. A heat is emanating from him. This child is a source of constant amazement to her. He remembers? She thinks to herself as her attention once again is returned to the priest’s voice.

The account of creation. The first verses of the Torah are familiar to her. Most of the people silently mouth the words of Moses as he speaks of hidden mysteries. Let Us make mankind in Our own image. She again glances down at her boy. He is growing quickly. Most of his baby chub has been replaced by the lean smooth muscles of a more mature child. Dark eye lashes are resting against his smooth olive cheeks. He looks like he is praying. A smile has spread across his rosebud lips.

Mary has treasured every moment with her son. She understands that God has sent him. He is the prophesied Messiah. She has spoken with angels and felt the Spirit of God overshadow her. Yet here they are in a land far from home. The land of her ancestors bondage. There is no temple here to offer sacrifices. The Levite reading now is elderly. He has allowed this small group of Jews to call him priest though he is unable to carry out his full ministry so far from the temple in Jerusalem. The place where God’s presence rests. Mary is grateful to have this opportunity to hear the law being read.

They have returned home to their modest house. They live quietly observing their customs as foreigners. They are outsiders here yet the people treat them kindly. Her husband is a skilled craftsman. He transforms rough wood into beautiful furniture. His work is a favorite among their neighbors, and his hands are always busy. Today, however, they are still as they observe the Sabbath rest. God’s rest. She enjoys this time with her family. Work is halted and they take time to notice the goodness in their lives. She is grateful for their safety tonight.

She watches her son. His face is turned towards the open window that faces the west wall of the city. An orange light casts shadows in the small room from a bright sliver of sun that still hovers on the horizon. “Day. Night.” Her boy says. She acknowledges him by looking up from the baby that nurses at her breast.

“Day than night,” he repeats softly.

Dark shadows fill the room as the last of the light slips beyond the wall. Her husband lights the oil lamps that are set on their window sills. He will close the shutters against the night soon but for now the light spills into the street. “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” Jesus speaks and a slight breeze blows causing the flames to flicker and the shadows to dance. His father sits down beside him. His son’s face is illuminated. “There is life in me.” He says looking into his fathers eyes.

Joseph thinks back over the last several years. From the time Mary told him she was pregnant his life has changed drastically. His plans to live out his days quietly in the town he was born were gently discarded. His decision to take Mary as his wife and raise this boy as his son has pulled him into a maze with unexpected twists. Shepherds and kings. Angels and dreams. A hasty  journey begun in the night fleeing from the murderous envy of royalty. Joseph looks at his son who is serious and contemplative. He is still watching the flames burning brightly against the darkening sky.

“That life is the light of all mankind.” Joseph hears these words coming from this son not born by his own will or decision yet his heart is filled with love for him. The light of all mankind. His son’s words tug at his heart.

He watched this child come into the world with blood and water spilling from his young wife. The child’s flesh covered in a waxy white substance. Joseph had rubbed his skin dry with a cloth and cleaned the blood from his hair. Before swaddling the newborn tightly both he and Mary examined him closely. He looked like any other new baby with his fingers curled into balled fists and his legs drawn to his chest. Joseph had not been sure what to expect upon the arrival of this little one.

Now looking at him he is again struck by his son’s ordinary features. He looks like every other boy with dirt pressed beneath his fingernails and smudges of dust on his clothing, yet Joseph knows he is not like them. He knows that though he is his own son there are times that his words rattle him to his very core. Joseph wonders if the world will recognize this child who sits here. A light in the darkness.

Twilight. A brief time between light and darkness. The separation of day and night. There is a moment in time. A splitting of the day from the night. The darkness that covers the earth is pierced by a light spoken at the very creation of the world. A word went forth. A light spread out. A voice was heard. A light is a shout. There is a message spoken into the existence of man. Though you stand on the edge of day and night feeling a darkness overshadow you, know that this word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He has come. Don’t be fooled by the darkness. Don’t be afraid in the night. He is the light of all mankind. Created in His image His light reverberates in the flesh of man.

Joseph gets up to go outside to close the shutters. The street is quiet. Most people have gone inside for the evening. The darkness is thick. He would trip if he didn’t know his way so well as he walks carefully around the house. He can hear the low murmur of voices. Jesus and Mary are laughing together inside. Joseph feels small as he looks into a starlit sky, yet he knows that in his humble humanity he is noticed. He is not alone in the dark. He is not left to stumble blindly along. He opens the door of his home and is enveloped in the light and love that dwells there.