The simple message of Christmas - God is with us

Homily for Christmas Year A 2013-2014

Vigil Mass: 2 Sam 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16  • Luke 1:67-79

Mass of the Day: Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:18

Introduction

When people realize that I am from Africa, one of the questions they often ask me around this time is this: “How do you celebrate Christmas in your country?”

Let me give you the short version.  You see Uganda is about 85% Christian, about 10% Muslim and the rest belong to a few other religions.  So in my village, Christmas day is celebrated practically by everybody, even by our Muslim neighbours, with food, drink and music.  Throughout the year families pool their money together to buy a cow for meat and to brew beer for the Christmas party that lasts from Christmas day until about New Year’s Day.

The reason our Muslim neighbours and people of other faiths join us in celebrating Christmas is first of all, because they too want need an excuse to have a party.  But for Muslims especially, a second and more serious reason is that they honour Jesus as a great prophet sent by God, just like Mohammed.  And so they celebrate his birth and honour his mother.  In fact Mary is mentioned more times in the Koran than she is mentioned in the Bible.

What about us here: Why does Christmas attract so many people in the world today?  Why are you and I here today on this Wednesday morning (on this Tuesday evening), and not at work (or at home having dinner)?  There are probably various reasons for which people celebrate Christmas.

·        Some people probably celebrate Christmas as the birth of a great man, in the same way we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King in January or the birthdays of Presidents Washington and Lincoln in February.

·        Others celebrate Christmas as the birthday of a chubby and happy baby Jesus, seeing Christmas as a time for the kids.

·        Others still, like some of my neighbours in Uganda, celebrate Christmas because they want to have a kind of end-of-year party.

Christmas certainly celebrates all these things: the birth of a great man, the birth of the child-Jesus, a festive occasion.

Scripture and Theology

But let me suggest that for Christians, Christmas means something more than a birthday or an anniversary.  What makes Christmas unique is that on this day, God became human, being born as the child of Joseph and Mary.  By celebrating Christmas we Christians make a very radical claim.  Every religion has great prophets, every society has its great men and women, but only Christians claim that Jesus the man is also God.  And Christmas celebrates that great event when 2000 years God left the high heavens and took human form in the man Jesus.

VIGIL: This was the message we heard the angel give Joseph in today’s gospel.  “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.  For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.  She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”  They shall call him “Emmanuel”, which means “God is with us.”  St. Paul echoes the same message in today’s second reading, reminding us that this Jesus is the Messiah God had promised his people for centuries.

DAY: This was the message we heard in today’s gospel.  John told us that: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  And then he goes on to say: “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” as we say in the Angelus prayer.  The Letter to the Hebrews, our second reading is even more direct saying: “In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son . . . .”  God himself has come down.

The Bible, therefore, does not mince its words in telling us what Christmas is all about.  Christmas celebrates the birth of a great prophet as Muslims would say, or the birth of a great man as others would say.  But this man Jesus is God.  We celebrate God coming into our world, for our salvation.  Now I know that some mothers treat their little boys and girls as if they were gods.  Christmas is not the same thing.  For Christmas, the child Jesus was really God.

Christian Life

We celebrate Christmas using a variety of customs and practices, which, rather than obscure this simple Christmas message, can actually bring it to life, if we pay attention to the meaning of these symbols.

1.    That beautiful Christmas tree in your house, a type of tree that does not shed its leaves even in winter, can remind you of God’s everlasting life, a life he sent his Son to share with you and me.

2.    The wreath, which is round and therefore has no discernible beginning or end, can similarly remind us of God’s eternity, an eternity to which he invites us through his Son born on Christmas.

3.    Then you have candy canes, shaped like a shepherd’s staff.  This candy cane reminds us of the lowly shepherds of Bethlehem, the first ones to receive the good news of Christmas, the kind of people Jesus our Good Shepherd draws to the Father, the kind of people we should treat with kindness.

4.    The Christmas lights, even that outrageous display of your neighbour, can remind us of Jesus the Light of world, giving us joy, warmth and direction.

5.    And you have Christmas gifts.  People keep telling me what a hustle gift-giving is, especially for the givers.  Perhaps as you fought back the crowds on Black Friday to buy that special gift for someone or as you battled the traffic (this morning), last night doing some last-minute shopping, you probably were not thinking about spiritual things and may even have been tempted to use a few choice words.  But the Christmas gift can remind us of the perfect gift we receive at Christmas, the gift of salvation in Jesus, given to us by the Father.

6.    Perhaps the most important Christmas practice, even more important than the Christmas tree and wreath, the candy canes and lights, the cards and gifts, is your coming to Mass today.  For what is the Mass, if not coming to receive this Jesus who came into our world, and left us his Word and Sacrament!  In fact, the word Christmas literally means, Christ’s Mass, the Mass of Christ.

And that is why it is important to use the word “Christmas,” which keeps alive this central message that God has come into our world, to bring peace, joy and salvation.  Speaking of Christmas as a holiday, as is often heard in the phrase “Happy Holidays,” has the value of including it among the other holidays celebrated around this time: Thanksgiving, Hanukah and Kwanza.  But it also has the downside of diminishing the unique meaning of this feast for Christians.  Christmas celebrates the birth of Saviour of the world, which none of these other holidays claim to do.  And so that is why we say “Merry Christmas” to each other, because we want to profess our Christian faith in the fact that Christmas is not just a holiday or an excuse for a party; it means something important and serious for my soul and your soul – the birth of our Saviour.

Conclusion

And because this feast means something really important for us, we celebrate it not just for one day, but for Twelve Days, as the famous carol says.  Christmas begins today and continues on!  So don’t be in a hurry to dump the Christmas tree is on the curbside, first thing on Thursday morning.  And for those who did not get to do all their Christmas gifting, well you still have until January 6^th, to spread that Christmas cheer, that Good News which we are going to profess in a few moments, that for us and for our salvation Jesus “came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate [became flesh] of the Virgin Mary, and became man. . . .”  Merry Christmas to you all.