Luke 2: 1-14
The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122523-Night.cfm
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O God, who have made this most sacred night
radiant with the splendor of the true light,
grant, we pray, that we, who have known
the mysteries of his light on earth,
may also delight in his gladness in heaven.
Who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
(Collect: Mass at night)
The popular English essayist C.S. Lewis referred to Christmas as: The Grand Miracle. A miracle indeed it is and even beyond a sudden physical healing or the restoration of sight. It is the grand act of love. The mysterious, hidden, creator of the universe and all that there is or will ever be, of his own initiative, chose to reach out to us, tiny and limited creature, and to literally enter his material world to become one of us; to embrace humanity in all of our beauty and ugliness. As St. John puts it so beautifully in the prologue of his Gospel: Yhe Word was made flesh and dwelt (pitched his tent) among us.
The image of the beloved Christmas scene at a cave outside Bethlehem has become the iconic image of this beautiful time of year in the Christian world. C.S. Lewis also stated that God came, “Slipping behind enemy lines,”which implies a battle scene, one waiting to attack the enemy and proclaim victory in the end and will use power to overcome the opposition without warning.
Even the prophet Isaiah, like a trumpet that is blown, begins our first reading from the Christmas Mass at night with the words: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” He goes on to speak a message of hope and healing to a people who have been downtrodden, burdened, held in slavery. But it’s more than just a comforting promise. He quickly gives a human identity to the message and speaks of a child to be born, a “Son is given to us who is named: “Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-forever, and Prince of Peace.”
So, we might imagine as the chosen people hoped for centuries, that a mighty figure would be a man of great power and influence over humanity. The Messiah or savior would expel the Romans and raise up a mighty nation to overcome all enemies and occupiers. In fact, in the coming of Christ two powers do clash, that of the earth and that of God - the earthly and the divine. The two faced each other in the most unlikely way.
Luke begins the familiar Christmas story with the most powerful person in the ancient world, Caesar Augustus Emperor of ancient Rome. This man who saw himself as a great peacemaker, also bore the title of Savior and Lord. Whatever Caesar wants or wills, Caesar gets. He speaks his “good news” and it happens at his will. His power is absolute, unquestionable and he rules by fear and force with a mighty army. Into this world, another power appears on the scene – quietly and clandestinely – “behind enemy lines.”
The scene then shifts to a young, obscure and poor Jewish couple who obediently travel to the village of Bethlehem to register for the census the powerful Caesar has demanded, and the mother is very near childbirth. Luke’s continued focus on this scene powerfully tells us that the child which Mary bears will be the center of the new order arranged by God. It is this child we now center on. This child, we believe, is the prince of peace. In fact, Luke’s narration has more to do with this couple and child than it does with mighty Caesar. The power of this child far outshines that of earth.
If we can remove sentimentality around the manger scene for a moment it brings us to see this as a great playing out of God’s plan from the beginning. If we can see this as the culmination of centuries of human experience planned in the mind of God to send his Son among us then we cannot ignore what God is saying. What drama do we participate in? The Christmas message is a proposal to all humankind that we cannot reduce to a passing emotion or a momentary celebration of sharing gifts.
God invites us to participate in the grand “Theo drama,” as Bishop Robert Barron explains. In other words, the play or drama that God is directing and his invitation now like Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zachariah and John the Baptist to take our place on the stage of life directed by God according to his will. This is God’s plan and his story that he has written and directed in the birth of this child to whom everyone looks as the central figure in the new order as God has arranged. God came to give us hope for the present and the future. The final word is not death, despair, domination, or a meaningless life. God has the final word and that is “life.” Life in Christ Jesus.
But he seems powerless. The contrast could not be starker between the fearful Caesar in a palace the most powerful man on earth and a young couple in a tiny stable with animals and what seems an ordinary Jewish baby whose coming challenges us to recognize who truly rules the world and by what force – that of love and mercy.
So, the Christmas story assures us that the power of God has come. That power, unlike that of ancient Caesar or any present-day leader, brings about an interior change in our hearts. Earthly power affects the external world. Laws can be changed or enforced, and other economic fallout is measured but the power of the God-Man overcomes all of that through an interior change with the greater power of love, forgiveness, healing and hope. That is a power we are called to exercise ourselves and to reject fear, force, greed, indifference, and selfishness from our hearts.
God chose to do this. He came purely out of love as one writer stated, “to accustom himself to humanity.” He chose to come in smallness. Not through great and influential people in the large and dominant Empires of the ancient world. He chose a different course; that of the simple and obscure. Instead of Jerusalem or Rome he came to an unknown girl in the tiny village of Nazareth. God directed this drama from the beginning and continues to do so.
What can we learn? That we must look for God in the ordinary and the margins around us. We see that real power is that of a love which gives itself away as the infant was laid not in a comfortable crib but on straw, in a manger, a feeding trough for the animals in the cave. As one person said, “Could you imagine the strench with large animals, and the unsanitary conditions of the manger itself. Filled with straw and who knows what else from the chew of the animals as they ate. Surely Mary and Joseph would have cleaned out that temporary crib for the newborn. Still, here Jesus, offers himself as food for the world, as the bread of life, as the Holy Eucharist at each Mass.
As we gather around Word and Sacrament at Holy Mass this Christmastime, let’s reflect, rejoice, and embrace this new good news of the Savior that is both ancient and new. There may be large crowds everywhere at whatever Mass you attend but God came for us all, regardless of our state in life. He loves us to the end and calls every one of us to leave the old behind and to embrace his grace. God entered secretly in Bethlehem so that we might find him and rejoice at his coming.
“Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.”
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