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Commentary on the Gospel – December 24, 2025
The Way of Peace
“Tonight is Christmas Eve, and tomorrow is Christmas Day.”
Tonight really is “night.” It is cold outside. There is darkness, pain, fear, violence, and injustice. The night acts like a symbol for all the negativity that dominates human history.
This history is present in the people of Israel, too. David is a king who wants to secure a lasting dynasty, one that lasts “forever,” and so he seeks God’s favor. But the powers of this world, the powers of this “night,” cannot last forever. And God is not here to serve them. God does not allow a temple to be built for Him; He does not let Himself be boxed in by human plans.
However, this doesn’t mean God exiles Himself from the world He created. Within humanity’s tormented and dark history—full of struggles and schemes—another story is interwoven: the history of salvation.
It won’t be David who builds a temple for God. Instead, God Himself promises to build a house, a dynasty that will last forever. But this certainly isn’t a dynasty like the powers of this world. We have to wait centuries to begin to understand what kind of house, temple, and dynasty this is. Only those with a willing heart can understand it.
Zechariah, despite his initial disbelief, is one of those people. The promise made to David begins to be fulfilled now—not through power and force, but in the signs of life in a son born in old age. In this child, the saving power announced by the prophets begins to show itself—a power that frees us from enemies and hate, pours out His mercy upon us, and asks us to prepare ourselves through service, holiness, and justice.
The son of the woman they called barren, the prophet of the Most High, is going to prepare the way for the One in whom the often-dark history of humanity and the history of salvation will be united forever. Human history will run its course, with its darkness and shadows of death. But within it, if we are willing, we will be illuminated by the Sun rising from on high.
The temple God is going to build is the Body of Christ. The dynasty that will have no end is not a power that subdues us, but a path that leads us to peace, because it reconciles us with God and with one another.
Tonight is Christmas Eve. It is night, but “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Is 9:1). Tonight is truly a Good Night, because the light overcomes the darkness. Because tomorrow is Christmas.