Kate Toretti (North America) currently lives in and writes for OM from Israel. She has served with OM for eight years.
When I think of Christmas, I think of lights in places of darkness.
In the northern hemisphere, Christmas Day falls in the darkest time of the year. Typical decorations always include lights — twinkling on Christmas trees, windowsills or hanging around the windows themselves, strung along rooflines, lining bushes, hedges and driveways or wrapped around trees.
During short days and dark nights, these lights pierce the darkness. They can guide passers-by, invite all into cozy places of comfort and transform a wintry world into one of warmth and wonder.
More than 2,700 years ago, the prophet Isaiah proclaimed, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” — Isaiah 9:2 (NIV). Isaiah mentions the tribal lands Zebulun and Naphtali (9:1), which are in the Galilee area of northern Israel. Isaiah prophesied this after the Assyrian army invaded the Northern Kingdom and took its 10 tribes into slavery and exile in 722 B.C. Isaiah was proclaiming that light would dawn in the very place where the invasion happened.
Later in the chapter, Isaiah clarified that the light was the promised Messiah, coming as a child: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” — Isaiah 9:6 (NIV).
More than 700 years after this prophecy was made, Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. He grew up in the village of Nazareth and spent the majority of His three years of ministry in the Galilee, both of which are located in the areas of Zebulun and Naphtali.
Jesus came at a time of great pain for the nation of Israel, which was subjugated by the Roman Empire. In addition, it had been 400 years since God had ceased speaking through His prophets in what is known as the ‘400 years of Silence’. The people of Israel felt the darkness of that separation deeply.
And then suddenly, that silence was broken by the cry of the newborn Messiah.
Jesus brought light into darkness, life in places of death, through how He lived and through His death and His resurrection. And, He would not only be the promised Messiah of the Jewish people, but, as Jesus confirms in Matthew 12:21*, He would also be the Messiah for the Gentile nations — literally, for all of the world.
If there is one thing this world needs right now, it is hope. It seems that almost daily we hear of wars, political crises, natural disasters and social conflicts across the globe. There are so many people crying out in pain.
This is true as well for those living in Israel, where I have lived for several years. These past two years, since further conflict broke out in October 2023, have been filled with questions, profound grief and a search for hope. As an OM team, whether we are speaking with Israeli Jews, Arabs, Druze, Bedouins, Circassians or foreign travelers, we often hear one question above all: “Why?” This is a search for something much deeper than logic or reason. And the solution is not a ‘what’ but a ‘Who.’
Only Jesus can transform a heart of stone into a heart of flesh. Only He can bring shalom (complete peace and wholeness) to a world contaminated by sin. Only He can heal broken hearts, set captives free and call forth life in a place of death. It is He who brings salvation, justice and righteousness to all the earth.
A world where He is not known is a dark and hopeless one. For those who do not know Him, there is no shalom. There is only pain without promise of relief or comfort, of redemption, restoration or resurrection. With Jesus, there is consolation of pain and hope in Him for all of these things, which is the definition of shalom.
Like a light guiding passers-by in the darkest of nights, His name invites all to follow and place their hope in Him. It is as Isaiah proclaimed and Jesus confirmed, that His name is the hope of all the world.
*this is a reference to the sacrifice of the Messiah in Isaiah 42:1-4
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