Christmas Day – The humble way joining earth with heaven

Hebrews 1:1-12       St John 1:1-14

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us
full of grace and truth."

Today we celebrate one of the two deepest mysteries of the Christian faith – the Incarnation – that God took flesh and came to dwell as a human being in our midst.

In the medieval painting, which you can see on the front of our service sheets (see above), something of the incomprehensibility of this mystery of the Incarnation is expressed.  Mary, recovering from childbirth, looks with incredulity at the gifts from complete strangers.  Joseph, in the background, is in a daze.  He tries to recover in the face of the miracle of birth, and this birth especially, by being useful, cooking something.  Like the other deepest mystery of the Christian faith, the Cross, we ponder these mysteries year after year during these seasons of Christmas and Lent.  We try to allow them to sink in, and so accept God's gifts of grace that come about in us because of them.

The Incarnation has something to teach us, there is some understanding for our minds that comes about by our reading about it in the Bible, God’s Word.  But there is also something transformative, beyond our understanding, that becomes possible, something that happens in us, because of God taking flesh in Jesus Christ.  Let’s look at both of these aspects of the Incarnation.

So first, what is the understanding for our minds?

The Incarnation is a profound lesson for us about humility.  The One who is All Powerful, God, chooses to enter this world and make himself known not in pomp and ceremony, but in a lowly stable, and in a small village, an obscure corner of the world.

As one preacher puts it:

[Quoting St Paul] “God has chosen the weak things of this world to confound the strong” [1 Cor 1:27] – by coming as a helpless infant, he shatters our pretensions of wisdom and maturity: by his helplessness he shames all our striving for security.  He shows us the emptiness of the struggle for wealth and power, for prestige and vainglory – the ways of God he shows us to be the humble and the lowly paths which lead to denial of self… In the birth of Christ, God shows us the emptiness of a vanity of life as most of us live it most of the time.  He shows us that the things which finally count most are humility, obedience – self denial.  He shows us the truth about human life.” [Robert Crouse, Sermon for Christmas, The Soul’s Pilgrimage, Vol. I]

But God’s appearance in this way is not intended to lead us today on this great feast day to remain in the sackcloth and ashes of repentance.  At the same time we feel humbled, the One who is all powerful reveals that he gives dignity to the lowliest, and to the highest, and those in between, He cares about each individual.  He has come not to shame or condemn us but to save us.

The lowliest Shepherds are met by the host of heaven, heralds of great tidings, they are to come and see this tiny king, and they are the first to have a glimpse.  At the same time magi from the East are encouraged to seek out this tiny king, to worship Him, they come next.

God thinks differently about our status, or perhaps better said, is indifferent.  Children will later be held up by Jesus as the example of those fit for the Kingdom of heaven. … The Apostle James will later warn us against making distinctions between believers based on wealth or poverty. [James 2]

We are focussed on a lowly birth today.  And we, in our homes this day, in our lowly positions on earth, looking at those around us, our family or friends, are given new eyes to see.  We come to recognize the incalculable gift of the presence of our loved ones, each bearing the image and likeness of the Divine, each capable of changing the world for the better.  As Gandalf says to Frodo, in the Lord of the Rings, “even the smallest person can change the world.”  This phrase of encouragement from Tolkien comes from our knowledge of the Incarnation.  And it fills us with hope and joy.

The Incarnation is a devastating critique of post-modernism’s focus on (and obsession with) power and with group identity.  Post-modernists say that our fundamental identity is shaped by the group you are a part of – your class, your race, your gender, your gender identity.  And if that group is not doing so well it’s necessarily because another class, race, gender or gender identity is victimizing you.  There is only a power struggle between groups – victim and victimizer.  Everything becomes unstable, and there is only a continual battle for power between groups.  And the truth becomes irrelevant in that struggle.

Contrary to this, in the Gospel account of Jesus’ birth, lowly shepherds and educated, wealthy, magi alike are called by God to go and humble themselves and worship this baby Jesus.  Jew and Gentile alike are called to go and worship Him.  God cares profoundly about the individual, not the group identity of a person.  There is no interest in a battle for power but rather for humbling ourselves before one another, serving one another, confessing our sins before one another, forgiving one another from our hearts. This is how peace and freedom and joy are found, not in trying to ascend by grasping for power over another group.

As St John says in our Gospel today,  “To all who receive Him, who believe in his Name, to them gave he power to become children of God…” [John 1:12]  Power to become children!  That’s something worth pondering.

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This is how the Incarnation is transformative for us and in us beyond the important changing of our minds by knowledge.

In the Incarnation is the joining of heaven and earth – first in the body of Christ, and in the womb of Mary.  In Jesus, God “tabernacled” among us – became the locus of the presence of God on earth.  God’s purpose in taking flesh is to make this union possible for all humanity.

God took our flesh to open a new manner of human existence.  [Benedict XVI, The Infancy Narratives p. 21]

St John says In the Word was life, and the life was the light of men... and he describes Jesus as The true light, which gives light to everyone. It is not cattle that receive this light, it is human beings who can perceive and be filled with wisdom. [Augustine] (Although cattle and all Creation will benefit when we receive that Light.)  It is our souls that are prepared, being made in the image and likeness of God – capable of being illuminated from above.

So into a world prepared by our very nature and by prophetic promises – God takes flesh in one person, Jesus Christ, to be the Light that lightens every person.  Paul says of Jesus, that he is the radiance of the glory of God.  And Jesus declares in the Sermon on the Mount that we his followers are the light of the world.

The lighting of our souls happens as the mists that darken our hearts – the guilt, the shame, the hurts, the sins – are cleared away – it is the pure in heart who see God [Matt 5] and so reflect Him.  And St Paul assures us this morning that Jesus made purification for sins before he returned to the Father [Hebrews 1:3].  God took our flesh to provide us with the perfect sacrifice to bridge the Creator with His creation.

And as we accept this perfect sacrifice, through faith and baptism, we become children of the living God, our souls united with the Divine life: thinking as God thinks, willing the will of God, becoming like Him in our very being.  God “tabernacles” in us.

Today, we are very near to the True Light.  Are we ready to receive him today?  We need only confess our neediness, confess our sins, and come forward with open hearts and hands.  Jesus says, take and eat this, drink this, for the clearing away of the mists in our minds, and for the warming of the coolness of our hearts.

And God will become incarnate in us.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, is coming into the world.

A Happy Christmas to you all!

Gezegend Kerstfest!

Amen +