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Dec. 25, 2011
Christmas Day,
Fr. Gerry Swieringa
While they were there, the time came for the baby to
be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. Luke 2:6,7.
So begins the earthly life of Jesus, son of Mary, who was to bring
salvation to the world. The verse itself is almost innocuous, folded into
Luke’s long narrative that begins with the announcement to Simon regarding
the birth of John the Baptist, and ends the shepherds returning to their
fields praising God for all the things they had heard and seen.
The simplicity of this verse disarms us. It could have been said of
anyone, any first born male child. We are strongly and rightly attracted
to the celestial aspects of Luke’s narrative, from annunciations by
Gabriel to Simon, May and Joseph; to the host of angels in heaven
proclaiming the savior’s birth to the shepherds. But here at the very
heart of it, we read simply that she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.
And so the Christ child slipped into a world that largely paid no
attention to what transpired in a small Judean town, in a stable, under
starlit skies, among the sheep and goats.
But of course we cannot separate out this very human story from the very
Holy and celestial circumstances that surround it. The mystery of the
incarnation is that God did come into the world in a completely human
form, and for all that was wholly and completely God. As believing
Christians we cannot separate out the mortal from the immortal in the life
of Jesus because the mortal is made glorious by the immortal and the
immortal is made humble by the mortal. We cannot say that in this Jesus
was human, and in that he was the Son of God. But we often try to do just
that.
This week I watched a program on PBS that claimed to be a true historic
account of the events of the New Testament, beginning with Jesus’ birth
and going through to the mission journeys of Paul. The narration was
provided by various noted Biblical historians, from the most respected
Universities and seminaries in the country, who commented on passages from
the New Testament with regards to their historical accuracy. It was
lavishly photographed with scenes from the Holy land, and remained true
for the most part to the narrative of the Gospels. Except there were no
miracles. There were no angelic pronouncements. There was no outpouring of
the Holy Spirit. There was only the narrative shell of the Gospel story,
stripped of anything that could not be proven by scholarship and
historical archeology. Jesus was born in Bethlehem as the first born son
of a young girl, Mary, not a virgin but a young girl, and her husband
Joseph. Nothing more needs to be said about him because nothing else is
exceptional about him until he begins to acquire a following in rural
Galilee. Then he attracts the attention of the Roman authorities who
eventually crucify him just like many other people who pose political
threats to the Pax Romani . Nobody pays any attention. It is an ugly but
common death. Then his followers claim to see him in the flesh after his
death. In one of the most outlandish statements made, one of the scholars
states that there can be no doubt from the historical record that Jesus
appeared after his death in the flesh to his followers. He ate fish with
them. He broke bread with them. He talked and walked with them. There can
be no doubt. But, says the Biblical historian, this says absolutely
nothing about Jesus and everything about his followers. Come again? This
historical record says everything about Jesus the Son of God and nothing
about his followers. If we deny the divine and the supernatural, we need
to twist history to have history make sense. And what we end up with, as
the PBS show ironically demonstrated, is an incredibly boring and
inconsequential story blown out of all proportion and best left on the
cutting room floor.
How do you explain the heavenly host proclaiming the Glory of God?
How do you explain shepherds so moved by what they have seen that they
return to their fields glorifying and praising God?
How do you explain Gabriel, and Simon and Elizabeth and John the Baptist
and the annunciation and the prophetic voices from down the centuries, and
the virgin birth and Joseph’s dream, and the journey to Bethlehem, and the
visit of the Magi? Because all that and more is wrapped up in the
swaddling clothes around the child born in the manger.
You can’t explain it. You have to believe it. And you know it is true by
how it changes you, how it has changed the world, how it remains as alive
and present for us today as it did to the shepherds that night outside
Bethlehem.
Mary gave birth to her first born, a son, and laid him in a manger. That
simple statement by Luke contains in it the hope of the world. May you
find in it your hope this Christmas season. May the child Jesus be born in
your hearts and in mine, again.
Glory to God in the Highest. Amen. |
