December 25, 2022
Christmas
A pastor/preacher like me may add some stress on him or herself by endeavoring to have a super sermon or homily on Christmas to captivate his listeners so the congregation will leave uplifted and spiritually nourished. What I have discovered is humbling. It is not what I say that is so important but what has already been said by God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the word was God… And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of Grace and truth.†(Gospel according to St. John, Christmas Day)
For 2,000 years no one has done better telling us how the “Word became flesh†than St. Luke in his Infancy Narrative. Simply, Joseph and Mary journey to Bethlehem to take part in a census. Mary is with child. There is no room for travelers. They find refuge in a cave or shelter. Mary gives birth and wraps or swaddles the baby in cloth and lays him in a manger, a trough or grain box for animals. There are shepherds nearby keeping night watch over the flock. An angel of the Lord appears and bids them to seek the newborn savior who is the Messiah. And suddenly there is a heavenly host with the angel, “praising God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.â€
The Infancy narrative, told by St. Luke, has profound meaning for us. St. Luke is giving us clues about Jesus – who he is and his destiny. In the phrase “no room for them in the inn,†in the original Greek text, the word “room†is the same word as the “guest room†where Jesus will celebrate his last supper with his disciples. Mary places the baby in a manger or food box prefiguring Jesus giving himself at the Last Supper as the Bread of Life. Mary wraps or swaddles the baby in cloth that foretells when the lifeless body of Jesus is wrapped “in linen†and placed in a tomb hewn from rock. Angels at his birth return near the end of the Gospel to announce that Jesus is risen!
We may feel alone and abandoned. Our world seems to be falling apart. A place and time of despair. When we listen to the Gospel and are drawn to meditate at the creche, we have a sense of calm, inner peace, joy and hope. At the beginning of our Gospel, St. Luke recalls that Joseph and Mary must journey to Bethlehem, the City of King David, for a census. A census is taken for the purpose of imposing taxes and recruitment for war. In contrast, the birth of Jesus, God’s gift to us, can never be counted by a human census. It is immeasurable.
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4th Sunday of Advent A
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Mary, Holy Mother of God
