In the feast of Christmas, we celebrate a miracle of divine love: that God united Himself to humanity not in some abstract, general way, but in the most down-to-earth, intimate way, by taking on a human life, the human life of one, unique, particular Person, one Person who really was born a baby over two thousand years ago. In our culture, we announce the birth of our particular babies in the local newspaper, in postcards, and on Facebook; and in these birth announcements, parents are sure to include pertinent information – full name, length and weight, a photo – that establishes the unique, particular identity of their new child. In the Gospel for this feast, we hear, most fittingly, the most glorious birth announcement the world has ever heard: The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.” Christ and Lord: these are the two, distinct words with which the angel announces Jesus’ unique identity. Christ and Lord. On this Christmas Eve, there is a great mystery for us hidden in these two words. For Jesus is Lord by His very nature, because He is the Son of God from all eternity. He is born today in the flesh by the Virgin Mary, born as the Lord and God and Creator of the very world He comes to save. And yet, for all this, even Jesus’ divine nature on its own is not enough to justify calling Him the Christ. For the Christ is literally the Anointed One, the promised Messiah anticipated by the Jewish people, and God has promised through the prophets that this Messiah must come from the line of King David, the greatest of Israel’s ancient, anointed kings. And so, St. Luke makes sure to recount that the Virgin Mary’s husband Joseph…[is]… of the house and family of David. Amazingly, then, Jesus can become who He is, the Christ, only because Joseph adopts Jesus as his own Son and thereby makes Him a Son of David. God, then, has chosen to send His Son into the world in such a way that He might be Lord by birth but Christ by adoption. Both are necessary; both are indispensable. And what’s more, in the mystery of God’s Providence, even a few more elements come together to complete the story of Jesus’ identity in this Christmas Gospel. For the prophets have foretold not simply that the Christ, the Messiah, would come from David’s line, but also that He would be born in David’s own ancient hometown of Bethlehem. But Joseph and Mary hail from Galilee from the town of Nazareth, many miles away. However, as St. Luke famously proclaims, In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled….So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went… to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, …to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. Most likely, this kind of enrollment, imposed by the foreign Roman occupiers, would have been experienced by the Jewish people as a humiliation, or at least as a serious inconvenience -- and even a dangerous inconvenience for a couple whose Baby is due to arrive any day. And yet, this unjust act of Roman pride and power also serves God’s hidden and deeper purpose to establish and announce His Son as the promised Messiah, the Christ. And in this beautiful, complicated story behind Jesus’ birth announcement, we all can understand more fully the truth of our own stories. For, of course, much of who you are – much of what makes you the unique person you are -- is simply given to you by nature in your birth. And yet, each of us cannot become who God really calls us to be until we are adopted, adopted in our Baptism, adopted as a son or daughter of God, adopted as a brother or sister in Christ. In this Baptism, Jesus Christ becomes your Savior. At this Baptism, you are anointed as a priest, a prophet, and a king. By this Baptism, the Holy Spirit calls and equips you to use your natural gifts, your natural, human identity, to give glory to God in the highest and to be an instrument of peace on earth. Your birth and your adoption, then, establish the overall scope and meaning of your life as a Christian in this world. And because of this overarching truth, even the details of your life can serve a deep and sacred purpose. For with the gifts of faith and hope -- virtues given to us at our Baptism – we can experience all of life’s realities -- joys and struggles, successes and failures -- in a new way. With the Church as our teacher, with prayer as our guide, with Christ’s own life as our model, we can slowly discern how God’s Providence and purpose can be at work even in those parts of life that are inconvenient or painful or unfair. On this Christmas feast, we celebrate that God has chosen to take on an entire, real, human life as His own. And because of this miraculous truth, your own – our own -- entire, real, human life can be caught up in the mystery and meaning and story of God.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 20:43:13 +0000
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