Christmas 2023

As preached by Brother Christopher
Holy Wisdom Church

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.” Gal 4:4

 

 

Christmas is such a blend of powerful stories that have the potential to renew us. In Luke’s presentation of the incarnation which we heard last evening, the angel announces to the shepherds, “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior is born to you, the Messiah, the Lord...” Truly this is good news, news we have waited for during the entire pre-Christmas season. Yet with every Christmas there is always the temptation to reduce its mystery to a historical event long past, one that makes us feel sentimental and nostalgic but misses its real significance for this present hour. Today Christ is born, born anew in our hearts if we allow the mystery to be rekindled again. This is what we do at liturgy. Part of what makes the liturgical year so engaging is its unique ability – year after year – to re-open the mysteries of our faith at ever deeper levels, allowing us to become contemporaneous with them, knowing them from the inside, from the heart, and in the process, continuing to grow and change. We get to become Christ bearers, not only to each other, but to a world that is in desperate need of Christ’s presence.

          For this is the longing of every human heart, which is highlighted in this morning’s gospel from Matthew. We can easily imagine the Magi, symbolizing the entire Gentile world, traveling miles and miles over desert sands responding to that inner yearning. They travel principally at night, by faith, doggedly following the star that illumines their path. For this was no ordinary star; as St John Chrysostom observes, ‘no other star has this capacity to guide, not merely to move but to beckon, to go before them, drawing them and guiding them along their way, first to Jerusalem where they learn of the biblical prophecy, then on to Bethlehem, directly over the place where the child is to be found. There, in the most ordinary of circumstances, they find Jesus with his mother Mary and significantly, they immediately prostrate themselves and do him homage. They prostrate on behalf of the whole Gentile world, all those who are not part of Israel. Here, at the very beginning of the Gospel we see the tearing down of the dividing walls between races and cultures. This Messiah, the true King of the Jews, is God’s revelation to the entire world and from an eschatological perspective, it is already being realized.

          These stories are formative, having shaped our identity as Church and as individual believers. The fact that they have been retold so often over the centuries points to their power, and their potential to transform us. But only if we allow them to speak to our hearts. Can we find ourselves in these stories? Can we feel the joy of the Magi as they see the star long-guiding them reappear after their meeting with Herod? Can we know the awe they experienced as they gazed on the newborn Jesus with his mother? Can we, just like them prostrate before the newborn child and offer him our lives? Finally, can we feel Mary’s continued bewilderment and awe at the infant nursing at her breast, the one who just as surely holds the universe in the palm of his hand?

These stories are the very antithesis of anything nostalgic or sentimental. They seek to be living and active in us, agents of transformation that bring us into ever deeper relationship with the mystery that reveals itself this day. Let us use this feast as a launching point for the renewal that God seeks to inspire in our lives and in our world.  Christ is Born! Glorify Him!