John Newton was born in Great Britain in 1725. His father was the captain of a merchant ship and at the age of 21 John became the captain of his own ship. However, John was the captain of a slave ship which was transporting slaves from Africa to the West Indies. On May 10, 1748, God spoke directly to John. God said, “Can’t you see how you are hurting my people? I want you to do just the opposite of what you are now doing. I want you to do your best to put an end to slavery.” To John’s credit, he was quick to see the error of his ways. He finally saw that each human being is a person of great dignity in the eyes of God. In fact, he called himself a wretch for participating in the slave trade. John became the leader of the movement which was successful in banning slavery in Britain.
Meanwhile, John did not give himself any credit for his conversion. He said that it was an act of grace and he gave all the credit to God. Then he wrote these words which later became a famous song: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. And that will be my message for today. We were blind but now we can see. The birth of Christ helps us to see what we could not see before.
In today’s First Reading the prophet said to us, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” We can see clearly now because the Great Light, the Light of the World, has taken up residence in Bethlehem and in our hearts.
Christ is the light shining in the darkness of the stable and He is the Light shining in the darkness of our hearts. Jesus of Nazareth is the amazing grace that has appeared in our world and in our hearts according to St. Paul in today’s Second Reading. We have some darkness inside because of the sins that we carry within us. We might have pride or prejudice or resentment or selfishness or laziness or jealousy.
Each of us has some form of sin and darkness but we also have the light, the light that was born in our world on Christmas Day. The light always overpowers the darkness as St. John says so poetically in Chapter One of his First Letter. The light of Christ is so powerful that it takes away our sin. But more than that it helps us to see clearly what we could not see before. Like the song says: We were blind but now we can see. We can see that love is more powerful than hate. We can see that hope drives out despair. We can see that love drives out fear as Saint John says in Chapter Four of his First Letter.
Time for another story: A very short story. Several years ago, a scientist used a net to capture a golden eagle at a National Wildlife Refuge. Then he put a harness on the eagle and tethered it to a stake in his back yard. The eagle was well cared for and it spent the better part of each day walking in circles around the stake in the lawn. After observing the eagle’s behavior for a full year, the scientist cut the cord and the eagle was free to fly away. But it was a creature of habit and it kept walking in the circle which it had created in the lawn. The eagle had forgotten one of its basic freedoms. It forgot that it was free to fly. Then the scientist picked it up and threw it into the air. The eagle flew away and was never seen again.
The eagle had a basic freedom and it couldn’t see that basic freedom until the scientist tossed it into the air. And so it us for us. We have some spiritual freedoms that we can’t see. Sometimes we are spiritually blind and the newborn savior is helping us to see. We are called to be free in the sense that Jesus was free. He was free to be faithful to God’s plan - and so are we.
He was free to work for the common good - and so are we. Jesus was free to see God’s goodness in each person - and so are we. He was free to defend the rights of the weak and vulnerable persons in society - and so are we. Jesus is our liberator in two different ways. He sets us free from the power of sin and then He gives us spiritual freedoms. I will name a few more freedoms that Christ the Light is helping us to see.
We are free to pray many times each day. We are free to include everyone in our circle of friendship. We are free to call people to accountability when they were hurting the community. We are free to serve those who were suffering from poor health. We are free to make friends with the outcasts of society. We are free to forgive those who have caused us pain and anguish.
When Jesus makes His home in our hearts on Christmas Day our spiritual blindness goes away and we can see all of the freedoms that we have. We were blind and now we can see. We take a moment now to thank our savior for being the Light of the World, the light that takes away our blindness and helps us to see all the spiritual freedoms that we have.
Like the song says, “We were blind and now we can see.”
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