Homily for the Solemnity of Christmas. Gospel of St. Luke 2:1-14. Theme: We Would’ve Never Thought of This!
I never cease to be amazed every time I look at a Nativity scene and gaze at the animal’s manger. For I see something astounding, something beyond belief, something that cannot be ignored. I see God, the one True God, Creator of our amazing vast universe, lying there as a human child, a baby, an infant. And there He is…vulnerable…dependent…having come to share our humanity in the flesh, so that we can one day come to share in his divinity by grace.
Back when I was an unbeliever searching for belief, one of the reasons I found the Nativity story so authentic was precisely because it is so totally opposite of anything and everything we human beings create concerning God and religion. If we look at the history and the practice of religion across the ages, we see that when it comes to worshipping gods, we humans design them simply as superhuman-versions of ourselves. All one has to do to see this is look at ancient Greece and Rome, or examine the Vikings of Scandinavia or the Druids of the British Isles and see what manmade gods and religions look like. These manmade gods are reflections of what we ourselves in our innermost selves aspire for and want to possess: Power. Prestige. Position.
But now look at the Child in the manger and try if you can see any hint of that power, prestige or position. Is this a god we would create to edify us, to empower us, to motivate us, to provide us with great things? Or is this a God whose life story turns everything we humans ever thought about God and religion upside down? There’s no way we would have ever imagined that the God who is almighty and eternal would love each one of us so much, so passionately really, that it would break his heart to remain apart from us. There’s no way we would have dared to believe that this awesome God would become one of us and roll up his sleeves to get dirty with us in the messiness and busyness of living as a human being! Man-made gods just don’t act like that! It would be too far beneath them. And yet, that’s exactly what the Word and Son of God set off to do with his birth in Bethlehem!
This Child lying in a manger would grow up to preach and teach a Gospel of truths that are very different from seeking power, prestige and position.. He will teach mercy and forgiveness, compassion & generosity. He will inspire and instruct us to serve one another even to the giving up of our very lives, which He himself would one day do to prove His great love for us. There is just no way we humans would have ever come up with a god and a birth like this one our own.
And that’s why every time I see the Nativity scene of Bethlehem with its Child in the animal’s manger, my faith becomes more and more deepened. And it makes me want to echo to others the good news which the angels announced at that first Christmas: “I bring you tidings of great joy…today in the city of David the Savior has been born for you, he who is both Christ and Lord.” Merry Christmas!
No comments:
Post a Comment