Christmas
First Reading: Isaiah 9:1-6
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom
a light has shone.
You have brought them abundant joy
and great rejoicing,
as they rejoice before you as at the harvest,
as people make merry when dividing spoils.
For the yoke that burdened them,
the pole on their shoulder,
and the rod of their taskmaster
you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.
For every boot that tramped in battle,
every cloak rolled in blood,
will be burned as fuel for flames.
For a child is born to us, a son is given us;
upon his shoulder dominion rests.
They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero,
Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.
His dominion is vast
and forever peaceful,
from David's throne, and over his kingdom,
which he confirms and sustains
by judgment and justice,
both now and forever.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this!
Gospel: Luke 2:1-14
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus
that the whole world should be enrolled.
This was the first enrollment,
when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town.
And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth
to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem,
because he was of the house and family of David,
to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
While they were there,
the time came for her to have her child,
and she gave birth to her firstborn son.
She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger,
because there was no room for them in the inn.
Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields
and keeping the night watch over their flock.
The angel of the Lord appeared to them
and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were struck with great fear.
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.
And this will be a sign for you:
you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger."
And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel,
praising God and saying:
"Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."
“Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.”
Surrendering to the story-teller’s enchantment, I follow the mythological trail even unto
Bethlehem, a little town clinging to the side of a hill some 8 km to the south of Jerusalem.
The gospels give us image upon colourful image stacked like parcels round a Christmas tree. I
am picking my way through, marvelling at the artful, engaging simplicity of the narrative,
intimate cameos set against backdrops of majestic splendour, broad brush cosmic allusions
and homely details of joy or sorrow sharply felt and keenly remembered.
Wander with me just a little. A young man and his very young and heavily pregnant wife,
trekking four or five days (or did it take them twice that time in her condition?) down the
Jordan valley and up the long climb from Jericho, then through those rounded hills down to
Bethlehem, coming at last, near exhaustion, to knock on the door of the local travellers’
comfort, to be shown out the back to the stables because there was no room inside for a
woman to give birth. No family to help, no friends to run messages, no ‘amenities’ whatever,
so they laid the baby in the manger. It was convenient, the only convenient thing in the whole
place, and symbolically, mythologically, it speaks of food. [Bethlehem:
Hebrew: בֵּית לֶחֶם Bēṯ Leḥem, literally means "House of Bread."] This
one would be the nourishment a starving family needs down the winding
desert tracks of time.
‘Shepherds watch their flocks by night.’ Painters, musicians, poets, lyricists and the makers of
Christmas cribs have been enthralled by the story sketched so vividly in the oral traditions of
early decades and captured forever in its written form. An angel - a messenger with a message
for these simplest of country folk: Why to them? Why not wake the town crier, send
messengers to Jerusalem, let the whole empire of Rome know that history turns on this silent
night?
Would the prophet Isaiah have proclaimed to shepherds on the night-watch as the angels did?
Are the shepherds typical of the people who dwelt in darkness? Is this throng of heavenly
hosts in the night sky the great light Isaiah said would dawn? No, Isaiah has grander scenarios
in mind: the child he sees born will wear his imperium on his shoulders, like a 5 star general,
or a 19th century European king in full dress uniform. Isaiah’s vision is of one who will
conquer the oppressors, take his seat on the royal throne, and rule his kingdom with such
strength that peace will prevail. He is one born to rule:
Wonder-Counsellor : Mighty-God : Eternal-Father : Prince-of-Peace
So the shepherds hurried away and found the stable (not a grand building for the housing of
coach horses but a lean-to against the back wall of the hotel yard where an ass might have a
bed of straw on the dirt floor), and bending down they peered into the darkness and by the
light of a flickering candle saw Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger.
“When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told about him, and everyone was astonished...!” And so it has been every since, and still today in going over the story for one more Christmas I am as astonished as ever, or even more so.
Is this silent night the still point of the turning world? Do not hold back in hesitating faith that
this may or may not be true, but plunge in to wonder. There is no need to doubt that God
became a little child for God becomes in every baby born - in the palace and in the ghetto.