The red lantern

In the film «The She­p­herd», it is impres­si­ve­ly shown how Jesus chan­ges the life of the she­p­herd Simon. With a limp, a gaping wound on his arm and a defec­ti­ve sacri­fi­ci­al lamb, he is humi­lia­ted. He brings up the rear and car­ri­es the Red Lan­tern. When Jesus is born, he is sud­den­ly first. Jesus turns his life upsi­de down. Jesus – the light of the world – took the Red Lan­tern from him and – he still does.

Holding the Red Lantern

This lan­tern with the red cand­le stands sym­bo­li­cal­ly for the so-cal­led red lan­tern, for the tail­light. We know the expres­si­on: to car­ry the red lan­tern, to bring up the rear. Last weekend, the preli­mi­na­ry round of the Super League was com­ple­ted. FC Luzern, cal­led «the shi­ning city», is in last place and car­ri­es the red lan­tern. Simon, the she­p­herd, is also such a typi­cal last-place finis­her. Always a litt­le late. Full of shame. Then he brings a sacri­fi­ci­al lamb that is not spot­less. The priest reproa­ches him: «You won­der why the Mes­siah is not here yet? It is peo­p­le like you who are kee­ping him away.» His fel­low she­p­herds then snub him: «Make sure you keep up or you’ll be going it alo­ne in the future.» Simon is asha­med, very sad, he falls down and hurts his arm.

In par­al­lel, he hears pro­phe­tic texts about the Mes­siah being read in the synagogue:

«But to Beth­le­hem in the ter­ri­to­ry of the clan of Efrat the Lord says: «You are inde­ed one of the smal­lest towns in Judah, but from you comes the man who will lead the peo­p­le of Isra­el in my name»(Micah 5:1 HFA).

«Streng­then the feeb­le hands! Let the trembling kne­es beco­me firm again! Say to tho­se who are afraid: «Take cou­ra­ge! Fear no more, for your God is with you! Now he will repay your enemies for all the wrong they have done you. God hims­elf is coming to save you.» Then the eyes of the blind are ope­ned, and the deaf can hear all at once. The para­ly­sed leap like a deer, and the dumb sing at the top of their voices. Springs burst forth in the desert, streams flow through the bar­ren step­pe» (Isai­ah 35:3–6 HFA).

We all know the fee­ling of hol­ding the red lan­tern in our hands. What does it mean to be in last place? Until recent­ly, we were still in the lead and had some­thing to show for it. Then came set­backs: An ill­ness that pulls the rug out from under you. Busi­ness was going gre­at until Coro­na came along. Ever­y­thing fell apart for him. Insol­ven­cy. His wife moved out, divorce. His fami­ly was fine until it came out that he was lea­ding a dou­ble life, the affair beca­me known, and now the war of the roses is raging. Health-wise, ever­y­thing was fine, then a litt­le twin­ge and tweak and now, at 63, the devas­ta­ting can­cer dia­gno­sis. The tumour has spread ever­y­whe­re. That’s the tail­light. The red lan­tern. Well, what to do then? Often the last wagons are uncou­pled, you feel com­ple­te­ly left behind.

Handing over the red lantern

«Now the Lord gives you a sign of his own accord: The young woman will beco­me pregnant and have a son. Imma­nu­el («God is with us») she will name him»(Isai­ah 7:14 HFA).

Simon, the man with the tail light, was the first to rea­li­se on the field that some­thing epo­chal was hap­pe­ning right now. In recent years, he has never tra­vel­led as fast as he did in the sprint to Beth­le­hem with his han­di­cap. Sud­den­ly he seems vital and healt­hy. When the she­p­herds storm the sta­ble, Joseph feels dis­tur­bed in his inti­ma­cy. He stands pro­tec­tively in front of Mary, who is car­ry­ing Jesus in her arms. But when he reco­g­ni­s­es Simon, he beck­ons the she­p­herds and places Jesus in Simon’s arms. Full of deep joy, Simon says: «We have wai­ted so long for this, end­less­ly!«Mary hands Simon a ban­da­ge from Jesus to bind his inju­red arm. When he then lear­ned that the child Jesus (the Lord saves), all the dams break. Full of enthu­si­asm, Simon lea­ves the sta­ble to bring the good news to all the peo­p­le. Simon’s gaping wound on his arm and his bro­ken foot have healed.

«For a child is born to us! A son is given to us! He will take over the reig­ns. He is cal­led «Won­derful Coun­sell­or», «Strong God», «Ever­las­ting Father», «Prin­ce of Peace». He will extend his reign far and wide and bring las­ting peace»(Isai­ah 9:5f HFA).

On his prea­ching tour, he meets the priest who brusque­ly rejec­ted him some time ago. «I told you, you’­re not wan­ted here. So whe­re is it, have you final­ly found a spot­less sacri­fi­ci­al lamb?», he asks him. Simon reflects and smi­les mischie­vous­ly. He knows that Jesus is the spot­less sacri­fi­ci­al lamb! Becau­se Jesus is spot­less, I am right with him with my ble­mis­hes.

And this Jesus came into the world as a light (Isai­ah 42:6). One of the tasks of this light is: «He will not break the bent reed or extin­gu­ish the smould­e­ring wick. Unwa­ve­rin­gly he stands up for the right»(Isai­ah 42:3 HFA). Jesus does not extin­gu­ish even a tail­light. On the con­tra­ry: the incon­ceiv­a­b­ly bril­li­ant mes­sa­ge of Christ­mas is: Jesus makes lights out of tail­lights! And as such they shi­ne into the dark world.