Director’s Letter
Christ’s Light Still Shines
From Jesus’ empty tomb, we see the light of salvation, which was and is to be for all people.
“The work of redemption is done and accomplished … but if the work remained concealed so that no one knew about it, then it would be useless and lost. So that this treasure might not stay buried, but be received and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to go forth and be proclaimed.” (Large Catechism II 38)
“Christ was born in the cave and Christianity in the catacombs,” writes G.K. Chesterton in The Everlasting Man (Ignatius Press, 2008, p. 181), referencing the ancient tradition that places Jesus’ birth in a cave on the hills of Bethlehem. There, sheltered under the rock of a hillside cavern and in the midst of lowing cattle, God of God and Light of Light came into our world, under the world. The Lord of heaven and earth was under the earth, and “the whole universe had been turned inside out” (p. 172).
Immanuel entered our world like a buried treasure, but He did not stay hidden in that cave. Immediately He was visited by shepherds from neighboring fields who had seen angels, and those shepherds went and proclaimed that news of great joy to others. Still, God was not content that this news would be shared in this way only, so the Lord of heaven sent a sign so that the Magi from far-off lands would be drawn to His light. Jesus’ light would continue to shine out in His ministry (John 8:12), reaching both Jews and Gentiles until that day when the mob would conspire to put Jesus back into a cave — this time as a tomb.
Thanks be to God, this was not the end of Christ’s light, but the start of a new dawn that broke upon the earth that first Easter morn. From His empty tomb, we see the light of salvation, which was and is to be for all people. As you read this issue of Lutherans Engage the World, you can see how the light of His redemption is still shining out to us and to the ends of the earth through the work of His church today.
In Christ,
Rev. Dan Galchutt
Interim Chief Mission Officer, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
