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Christmas
Is 9: 1-6; Tit 2: 11-14; Lk 2: 1-14
Dc. Larry Brockman
The waiting is over! The darkness that filled the world has been overcome by a bright light. The Lord came to live and dwell among us! And things will never be the same. Because we were given a great gift, the Incarnation, God made man. We now have a closeness, an intimacy, with God now and forever that is unique among the religions of the World. It is something no other religion preaches or teaches; that God would become one of us and share His divinity with us. And so we have much to rejoice about because the one and only almighty God sent His son to live as we do- in the form of a human being.  Â
Now we only know about 3 years in Jesus life- his public ministry. We know very little about the other 30 years. But there are things that are certain, things that are obvious for any human being: This small child that we welcome at Christmas was helpless, cried, and needed to be nurtured by His mother to survive. He had to learn how to eat and drink, crawl and walk; talk and play, and go to school and work. He was just like us in every way, except for sin. He experienced hunger and good food; joy and sadness, likes and dislikes; sickness and health; cold and hot. He learned how to speak and write and read; He learned about the scriptures; and He even learned a job skill- carpentry. Jesus experienced the dark emotions of humans as well, like fear and doubt and anger because that’s all part of becoming an adult human being, it’s all part of learning who we are. Jesus learned who he was with the help of loving parents; and by living and working as a normal person does for 30 years. Just think about that. Jesus lived just like one of us for 30 years, growing up and becoming an adult and working to make a living. In that time, He probably wondered what life was all about for him; what was he destined to do; and how was He destined to do it. At the right time, He needed some answers. And so, Jesus spent 40 days in the desert and thus confirmed in his mind who He really was, and how His Father wanted Him to live His life.  In other words, Jesus heard and responded to His calling. And so, He went out and did His Father’s will for Him. He conducted his public ministry of preaching and teaching about the Kingdom of God.  Â
Because His message shook the establishment, he experienced suffering and death rather than violate God’s plan for Him. And because He was sinless and also divine he was resurrected and returned to God the Father in glory. It was a glory that he returned to His disciples to announce, to announce that we who believed in Him would share in the kingdom and His glory.  Â
Yes, there is much to rejoice about in such a fully human life because we have been shown the way. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is His story. It shows us the values and mores we need to live as God intended us to live as humans, and yet be pleasing to Him. St. Paul tells Titus that Jesus “trained us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age as we await the blessed hope, the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ”. Indeed, this is another element of our joy, the knowledge that we who follow Jesus have been promised a share in the Glory of God.  Â
All of us have our own lives to live- we have our learning and discovery and working and reflecting to do. Most of us have heard God calling us, maybe not the first time, but God is relentless and we are like branches growing on a tree.  No matter which way we grow, as parents or bosses or retirees, God is there to nourish us. And yet, we are likely to be pruned once and a while. Sometimes it’s an illness or a loss or a setback.   But new buds form and so, we change our direction of growth, and God is there to help us follow our revised course whenever we ask Him, until eventually, our tree dies.  Â
Life as a human is a gift from God, as it was to the baby Jesus. It is God’s gift to give; and God’s alone to take away. But because of this day- Christmas, the celebration of the Incarnation, we share in the glory of the second more glorious life with Jesus in the kingdom of God. So rejoice, Jesus is born!Â