It was my son’s first time playing the game. After the Thanksgiving meal, the dads and older boys met at the kitchen table to play an expanded version of a family favorite. To win, a player needed to amass thirteen points. It’s normally a long game, but this was getting ridiculous. I could hear my brother-in-law asking my son, “Haven’t you won yet? Are you sure you haven’t won yet?” Cameron insisted that he hadn’t, but everyone could see that round after round, he was sitting with twelve points – on the cusp of victory, but unable to finish it out.

Finally, my brother-in-law got his thirteenth point and won. As they were packing up, my husband took a look Cameron’s cards and realized that for at least two rounds, maybe three, Cameron had been holding the winning point in his hand. When told about this, Cameron replied, “Oh. I didn’t know that card was worth a point.” For multiple rounds, victory had been his, and he didn’t know.

As events unfolded in my kitchen, I thought of the Christmas story. I thought about the people bustling about in the crowded town of Bethlehem – how they went about their business while Jesus lay in the manger, unseen by them. Victory in the form of a savior had arrived. He was sleeping in their midst, and they didn’t know.

They had been told that he was coming. Isaiah had prophesied that one day a light would dawn in a land of deep darkness; a son would be born – the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:2,6) On the night that Jesus was born, the light dawned. The son had arrived. But nobody, except Mary and Joseph and a few shepherds, knew.

As Jesus grew and matured, he made it clear through his words, attitudes, and actions, that the prophecy in Isaiah 9 had come to bear. He was everything the prophecy had promised. He showed it when he healed the lame, touched the lepers, and dined with sinners. He showed it when he extended grace to a woman who was about to be stoned for her transgressions. He showed it when he begged his father to remove the burden of the cross from him, but resolutely walked through it out of obedience to God and love for us. He showed it when he prayed for us even as he faced down the horror of his crucifixion. He showed it when he hung humiliated and dying, but asking his father to forgive his killers. His divine light shone in the darkness, but the people didn’t understand it. They didn’t know who it was, walking in their midst, lighting the path to life.

Reflecting on this later, the apostle John wrote:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. (John 1:1-5, 9-11, NIV)

Victory had come to the world in the form of a light that darkness could not overcome. Victory had come to the world in the form of the creator of the world.  And the world – his own creation – didn’t recognize him. He was in their midst, and they didn’t know it. Think about that. People who met him came face to face with their creator, and they didn’t even know it. Even the people closest to him – who loved him as a friend, a healer, and a teacher – didn’t fully understand who he was.

…until he rose from the grave. That’s why it’s hard to talk about Christmas without talking about Easter.  Because Jesus came to earth for the express purpose of dying, only to rise again. He came to us so that he could die for us and show us his power over death. He came to be our victory. Prior to his resurrection, between the moment of his death and the discovery of the empty tomb, it seemed to Jesus’ disciples that his “game of life” was over. Darkness had won. The magnificent life that had begun in a stable had ended on a cross. All the “points” amassed during his lifetime seemed irrelevant.    Jesus had lost. His light had been snuffed out.

When the disciples discovered the empty tomb, when they realized that he had risen from the dead in victory over death, they finally understood. Jesus had been holding the winning card all along. He was the Mighty God and he was victorious over all things – every despair, every element of darkness. Nothing beats that.

That’s why John, after seeing Jesus raised in victory, was able to write in chapter 1, verse 14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, NIV)

When Jesus was born, he came to us as a precious baby, but in reality, he was already a victorious king. Today, he reigns in glory and to anyone who believes in him and calls on his name, he extends his victory.

Do you know that Jesus’ victory is available to you today? That he wants to be the light that shines on the dark paths of your life? That he wants to help you live victoriously over all the difficulties and despairs in your life? How many more rounds will you go in life without claiming the victory that is freely available to you? If you don’t yet understand it all, find a church in your community, dust off the Bible you keep on the shelf, or ask God to show you the way. He will answer the simplest prayer from an earnest heart. If you have friends who already know Jesus, ask one of them. Or ask me. I’d be happy to explain it all to you.

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:35-40, NIV)

May Jesus’ victory be real in your life today.