CHRISTMAS: GOD AMONG US, GOD TO SAVE US.

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December 25, 2020
The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) - B

Readings: Is 52:7-10; Ps 98:1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6; Heb 1:1-6; Jn 1:1-18.

A Swahili proverb says, “When you go among one-eyed people, put out your own eye.” And an Ivorian proverb adds, “A man does not run among thorns for no reason; either he is chasing a snake or a snake is chasing him.”

"A child is born for us, and a son is given to us; his scepter of power rests upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Messenger of great counsel." (Is 9:5)

We are celebrating today the great mystery of the incarnation. We are recalling the day when God humbled himself to share in our humanity. What we say in our opening prayer and the antiphon of today's holy Eucharist can easily resume everything about Christmas. God wonderfully created the dignity of human nature and still more wonderfully restored it. So, we pray that we may share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity. God today becomes man so that man who lost his original beauty and dignity in sin may be restored to it and share in God's divinity. Christmas in that sense is an admirable exchange: God to man, man to God. And such an exchange can only provoke rejoicing and gladness.

Our today's first reading is a song of joy. The prophet Isaiah invites us to rejoice for the Lord is consoling his people, redeeming Israel. From these words of the prophet, it sounds obvious that the nativity of the Lord is the start point of redemption. Incarnation and redemption are only one mystery that has the Nativity as a starting point, is carried on in the passion, death, and Resurrection of the Lord, and will only know its completion when the Lord comes again in Glory.

Meanwhile, while waiting for the fulfillment of all the mysteries, our existence is called to be a song of all the wonders of our God. One of these wonders is what the author of the letter to the Hebrews states: God in this day has spoken to us through his Son. The one who of old addressed his people through prophets and seers has today come to them through his own son. Humanity is visited by divinity. The prologue of St. John is the most theological proclamation of the mystery of the incarnation. “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...”

Here is the greatest mystery we should treasure. Today is a day for joy. Thus, this Christmas hymn, “Joy to the world! The Lord is come. Let earth receive her King! Let every heart prepare Him room. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven, and heaven and nature sing…” Let us then rejoice, even though the COVID-19 pandemic seems to bring us hopelessness and sorrows... Rejoice and be glad. For, the long-awaited God is now among us, Emmanuel! The pandemic may well have a second, third, fourth, or even tenth wave, its effects cannot undermine the spirit of Christmas, its joy, and light. For that joy, we know, flows from the Lord and not from circumstances and situations. God is with us!

But then the magic of Christmas is that the Lord who is with us leads us in return, to be with our brothers and sisters. Christmas is a celebration of life and love. At the same time that we celebrate the life and love of the Lord for us, we are urged to share our life and love also with others. May this be clear to us all, Christmas loses its meaning if we live it without the others, and without love. The word of God became flesh out of love for us and to be with us so that in return we may be with God and with the needy who are the true image and likeness of God. The Son of God became man for a reason, to save fallen humanity from sin and bring them back to God.

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