Luz en la oscuridad + Nochebuena / Christmas Eve 2014 (Christmas 1 Readings)

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John August Swanson (johnaugustswanson.com)
M. Campbell-Langdell+
All Santos, Oxnard
(Isaías 9:2–7 (= 9:1–6 DHH); Salmo 96; Tito 2:11–14; Lucas 2:1–14, (15–20))

Imaginen el escenario conmigo. Imagine the scene with me, if you will. It is dark. They are bone-tired. Posiblemente la dulce María está bien enojada con Jose, porque él esta llevándola, encinta, por cerca de cien millas desde Nazaret a Belén. They are almost to the end of their journey, having traversed almost 100 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem. It has taken several days. Por días él ha estado caminando, con ella montada en su burro. This is no vacation, folks. Ellos no están tomando una vacación. And really in her gentle heart Mary knows that it is Caesar they have to thank for this not so great road trip.
Este es el Cesar de quien dicen “bajo el reino de [Cesar] Agosto, el simple nombre de Roma significaba riqueza, poder y la autoridad.”[1] They didn’t have a choice. They had to come to the city. María y Jose no tenían la opción de no seguir las reglas.
Así que aquí están, en la oscuridad de la noche, entrando en Belén, la cuidad histórica de David, y no hay lugar para ellos. They have been forced on this grueling journey that must have taken days, must have been scary for Mary, pregnant as she was, and to top it off there is no room at any of the inns for them.
Ellos deberían haber sentido como la gente menos importante en el mundo en aquel momento. In the realm of the powerful Caesar Augustus, Mary and Joseph must have felt like ants in a realm of giants. En el mundo de este momento, el poder de Cesar fue tan grande que la gente le percibió como un dios. María y Jose parecen los más humildes que han vivido. Sin techo aparte del techo que comparten con los animales. Their only shelter one shared with the animals.
Jose y Maria viven en un mundo en que un hombre tenía mucho poder y la otra gente no tenía mucho poder, especialmente si fueron de una provincia tan humilde como Palestina. Mary and Joseph were powerless in this world, at the mercy of the state. Ellos tenían que seguir las reglas.
Pero había alguien mucho más poderoso en control de todo.
Y ¿Cómo nos muestra esto? How does this someone much more powerful show that power?
Amazingly, with the smallest sign in the human realm, a baby. Es un bebe que Dios ocupa para mostrarnos su poder tan grande. Este poder que puede derribar un imperio.
Que me hacer pensar en otra bebe, mucho más recién nacido. This brings me to another baby, born a lot more recently. Muchos de Ustedes conocieron a Yomaira, la bebe de Martin y de Marily. Había una paz en el salón del hospital cuando conocí a Yomaira. Creo que la familia posiblemente pensaba que era raro, porque solo la miraba mucho antes de orar y dar gracias a Dios por ella. I think the family might have thought it was weird because I just gazed at her for long moments before finally giving thanks to God for Yomaira in prayer. Ella pesa tan poco—6 y medio libras en su nacimiento. She was just six and half pounds at birth, and she is still tiny! Llevarla es algo asombroso, pero también uno teme hacerla daño. She is just so delicate; you both wonder at her and might fear hurting her. El primer domingo que ella vino a la iglesia, ella fue el enfoque de todo el asombro, la más fresca de Dios. She is the one freshest from God at church. Yomaira’s parents want her to be a blessing to the world, and I believe she will be. Y ¿qué bendición más grande hemos tenido en el mundo, que Jesús?
Jesus was like that, only more. Jesús fue un poco así, pero aún más así. Dios vino al mundo en el cuerpo frágil de un bebe. And he had a humbler birth than any of us, and a brighter star. Su nacimiento fue más humilde de la de cualquier de nosotros, y su Estrella tenía un fulgor más brillante.
And in coming to us this way, all the darkness of empire was pervaded with God’s light. Si es correcto que aunque el imperio de Roma cayó hace muchos años atrás, que el nombre de Jesús todavía vive en cada corazón. Y esto empezó este día, este día tan humilde en Belén, a gente tan humilde como Jose y María.
Jesús tomó nuestra humanidad y lo permeó con la luz de Dios.
God took everything in this world, and stooping down to earth, filled it with God’s light. En inclinarse hacia el mundo en forma de Jesús, todo el mundo llenó de su luz. Now, empire and death cannot hold sway, and people like Joseph and Mary are no longer nobodies, but part of the family of God. Ahora el imperio y la muerte no tienen el poder máximo, y Jose y María ahora no son nadie, pero son parte de la familia de Dios. And we too, brothers and sisters, are a part of that same family of God. Y nosotros también somos hermanos y hermanas de Cristo. Todos somos importantes a Dios. We are all important to God. So we know:
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
una luz ha brillado
para los que vivían en tinieblas.
Así que, juntamos con los ángeles. Let us join the angels in their song: "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"
“¡Gloria a Dios en las alturas!
¡Paz en la tierra entre los hombres que gozan de su favor!” Amen.


[1] Walter Russell Bowie, “Luke—notes,” New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. VIII, p.49

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