CHRISTMAS DAY
FIRST READING: Isaiah 62.6-end
NEW TESTAMENT READING: Titus 3.4-7
GOSPEL Luke 2:1-20
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
Christmas is a festival of great joy, a festival that we look forward to as individuals, as families, as the church and as a community. There is a surge of interaction with each other as people are remembered and Christmas cards are sent, presents are shared, carols sung and listened. Churches visiting people in care homes, hospitals etc. All this because God began an interaction with humanity and the entire creation. God sent his Son to be born as a little baby in Bethlehem.
St. Paul tells us that every thing that exists were created for Jesus and through Jesus. St. John in his gospel introduces Jesus as the eternal word, and everything was created by him. In this little village in Bethlehem, this magnificent creator is incarnated as a vulnerable baby, lying in a manger.
The Birth of Jesus is God’s response to the world that is groaning with pain as people suffer due to war and violence, by conquests and destruction, by poverty and hunger, by hate and prejudice. A world that was found to be good has become a place without peace and a place where people are in great suffering. God responds to this reality by giving his Son the creator to be born as a human child to re-create the world.
Mary and Joseph are the human response to God. Mary, a young woman from Nazareth is chosen to bear the son of God in her womb and after an expression of wonder and bewilderment, says yes to God, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word’. She surrenders to the invitation and it is a surrender that is going to impact her life. But still she says yes to God. And when the child is born, she was amazed when the unknown shepherds visited the baby Jesus and narrated their experiences. Mary treasured these words and pondered them in her heart, waiting to see how the words of angel Gabriel and the words of the shepherds are going to unfold as the Son of God grows up and begins to fulfil all that has been said about him.
Joseph, a carpenter is brought into the plan of God, a good person, the first thing that he has to do is to leave the idea of walking away from Mary. To walk away from Mary will be to walk away from God. Joseph as well says yes to God. The second thing he had to do was to take care of Mary and together journey to Bethlehem. Saying yes to God is to leave his comfort zone of his home town, his work, his customers and friends and relatives. In Bethlehem, he stands with Mary as the child is born and is laid in a manger.
Christmas was a cosmic event as there is interaction of the heavenly angels on the earth meeting people and announcing the good news of the birth of Jesus. In the birth of Jesus a part of heaven has come to earth and the angels of heaven come to meet people and assure them, they need not be afraid but become part of the Christmas event by receiving Jesus as part of their life and like the shepherds to make the effort to go and meet the saviour of the world.
God is associated with heaven and on earth God is associated with the temple, and the people who are associated with God’s presence are the priests and the theologians. Christmas opens our eyes to see God in the manger, places not so attractive, places not worth visiting. Yet in such places God surprises the world with his revelation. Christmas opens our ears to listen to people like the shepherds who are not scholarly theologians but they have something about what is doing and is going to do in the world.
All this tremendous and wonderful.
The Christmas Eucharist is wonderful yet this one service breaks our heart. In this service, we are celebrating the love, joy, peace and wonder of the birth of Jesus and soon in this service we are going to commemorate Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection.
At Bethlehem he was laid in a manger and this service tells us that he came into the world to give his life on the cross for the redemption of the world.
We receive him yet again born as a little baby and we receive him broken on the cross to help us to be born anew and to heal or brokenness.