CHRISTMAS EVE - C - 15 LUKE 2. 1-20
What it is we really celebrate at Christmas, if not
Christ’s taking on our human flesh; his taking on our human form to be among
us, fully man and fully God. How Jesus could be fully God and Man
simultaneously is incomprehensible to the mere workings of the human mind. The
Incarnation is a “mystery,” something we would never have imagined had it not
been revealed to us by God in Holy Scripture.
Thus Luke’s familiar story of the birth of the
Christ-Child is our focus tonight. In the gospel Mary and Joseph fulfilled the
requirements of the law - they were included in the census. That is why they
left Nazareth and traveled to Bethlehem in Judea. They did not expect the child
to be born there, and they certainly did not expect the visit of the shepherds.
Jesus being born in Bethlehem, a city of David, confirmed
the prophet Micah’s prediction of the place of Messiah’s birth. The shepherds
finding the infant Jesus in the manger as the angel said, confirmed the angel’s
message, and the shepherd’s telling Mary and Joseph what they had heard from
the angel concerning the child confirmed what Mary and Joseph had kept secret
in their hearts.
Luke turns the spotlight on the shepherds as they
were the first to hear the good news of the Savior’s birth. It was something
they never would have imagined had it not been for the angel’s revealing it to
them. The appearance of the angel of the Lord and the bright light that
accompanied the angel’s presence both frightened the shepherds and interrupted
their routine.
“Be not afraid,” the angel told them, “for behold I
bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all people; for to you is
born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
After overcoming their fear and the angelic choir’s
departure, the lowly shepherds do the unthinkable; they leave off watching over
their flock and descend the Judean hillside to the little town of Bethlehem to
seek out this newborn king; to see if what the angel said was true.
Were it not for the angel’s revelation the shepherds
would not have known what child to seek, or where to look. Bethlehem was filled
with people, men, women, and children, not only the locals, but now, with all
those who had come to be counted. Surely the infant Jesus was not the only
infant in town. But the only one, the shepherds found lying in a manger.
The story of the excited shepherds created a
temporary astonishment in the village, as you might imagine, going from manger
to manger as they did until they finally found him of whom the angels did sing.
With bated breath they revealed to Joseph and Mary what the angel had told them
concerning this child. But Luke says, Mary kept a resolute silence.
What does God’s coming to us in the flesh
demonstrate if not His desire to have an authentic relationship with us? He has
dwelt among us in the most humble of settings beginning with His birth which
Luke presents in perfect simplicity. The
same Lord who came among us in Bethlehem, and who will return as our King at
the end of the age, is also among us in the present - in the here and now. I wonder
how often we pause to realize that?
We encounter Him in the liturgy and sacraments of
the Church, in the silence of prayer and contemplation, and in the faces of His
people, and yes, even in the midst of commercial and cultural turmoil. He knows
where we live and how we live and the anxieties we all face. In all these ways
He makes His presence known, He builds
us up in the Love of God and neighbor.
The Word made flesh demonstrates God’s Love for us
and just how much He regards His relationship with us. Our life in Christ has
nothing to do with our riches and prosperity. It has everything to do with
accepting that we are nothing, save the grace and mercy of God given in Jesus.
What matters is not the beauty of our language or our liturgy, but our actions
- actions that reflect and glorify Him.
He is not a
gift we would have thought to purchase for ourselves in a million years. Beyond
all utilitarian value and yet the only gift we all truly need. The coming of
Jesus is an extravagant expression of incalculable Love; the Love of God for
the world which He has made.
God has invited all of us here tonight to renew our
commitment to the Christ-Child and to accept the herald angel’s invitation to
worship the new-born king whose humble birth is a sign that points to the great
things that God will do through Him for us and our salvation, and for the life
of the world.
Christmas points to the Love of God for all people.
Christmas points us to the young Mary who said “yes” to God’s invitation and to
her child’s name, Immanuel, God with us. Christmas points us to God’s becoming
one of us and suffering with us and for us so that we may become “partakers of
the divine nature.”
I wonder, with all the commercial and cultural
turmoil surrounding Christmas, just how much we truly take pause to realize
that God so desires a Loving relationship with us, that He became one of us, so
that we might become one with Him.
The Incarnation is a “mystery,” something we could
have never imagined if it had not been revealed to us by God in Holy Scripture
and confirmed again and again in all the ways Christ continues to make His
presence known by building us up in Love - Love for Him and love of neighbor.
“And the angel said to them, ‘Be not afraid; for
behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people;
for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the
Lord…And suddenly there was with the angel a heavenly host praising God and
saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he
is well pleased.” AMEN+
No comments:
Post a Comment