Christmas Eve, Year A

The Contradictions of Christmas

Readings: Isaiah 9:2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-20

What a way for a king to be born! What was God thinking? God took a chance with humanity. We received God's most precious gift. Humanity is threatened by goodness. We resist it. We reject kindness and healing. Yet God sent Jesus into that very world. God continues to love, hope, trust, even as we bungle through our mistakes. What does God see in us?

What a way for a king to be born! And yet he was. He was born into a world of contradictions. His earthly parents, Mary and Joseph had to uproot themselves, and leave their home in Nazareth to go to Bethlehem, several days journey at the best of times. When they arrive there, the few inns to be found are filled to capacity. And so they are led into a stable. And there the baby is born, and they name him Jesus. The Son of God, the bringer of peace, the king, the Saviour, is a baby whose family cannot find accommodation. The child is born in poverty, without a proper roof over his head.

The contradictions continue, for on a hillside outside of Bethlehem some shepherds are watching their flocks that night. These are poor humble folk, despised for their way of life. It is not the kind of occupation you choose for your sons, scarcely the best livelihood. Shepherds are the outcasts of society, not trusted, even scorned. Because of the nature of their work they are not even able to attend synagogue. But they are the ones God chose to bear the message of the angels.

As darkness falls, they settle down on the hillside with their sheep. They look out over the rolling hills toward the town of Bethlehem, resting but remaining alert. After all, a marauding animal could decimate the flock if they are not awake to protect them. They warm themselves over the fire. The sky is bright with stars. Although it is the middle of the night, there is a glow in the darkness. Colours begin to dance and weave like the Aurora Borealis in the northern sky. Suddenly the whole sky is a blaze of light. The heavenly messengers come to them with great news. “To you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour who is the Messiah, the Lord.” The jubilant song of the angels rings out over the hills. “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours.”

God sends messengers all the time. But they are only as effective as the ones who share the good news. Can you imagine what it would it have been like if the angels had come to the CEO of a large corporation? He would have called a meeting of his Vice Presidents. They would have discussed the options. They would have bought up all the vacant land in and around Bethlehem. And no one would have discovered the significance of the event.

But God did not go to the CEO of a large corporation. God did not go to the high priests, or to the king or to the military commanders. God did not go to the university professors or the scholars. God went to the shepherds. And the amazing thing is that the shepherds got the message. They not only got it. They acted on it. They hurried to Bethlehem, praising God all the way there. Then they went out and told the good news to everyone who would listen.

There is a deep mystery at the heart of Christmas that makes it a time of transformation. The secular world cannot begin to understand Easter, but it can identify with the homey human scene of a newborn baby, a courageous mother, a faithful husband, poor shepherds and rich kings. It can identify with our need to reach out to the poor and those in need. So in that stable on that holy night, a strange diverse crowd huddles around a baby. Such is the mystery of the Incarnation. It does not simply symbolize. It incarnates, it embodies what we know to be true. God is with us. The birth of Christ is a perfect introduction to his life, death and resurrection. The clear message of Christmas is that God is love. Love came down and dwelt among us. The purpose of the loving act was so that God could reveal to us the nature of the divine. It came about so that we might come to know and love our creator.

It is a message that continues to be shared. Christmas, even if the person celebrating does not call it that, is a time of giving, a time when peoples’ hearts open to those in need, when they give for once of themselves. It is a time when people make an attempt to reconnect with their faith community. Our churches fill up. Even those who do not make it to church take on some of the festive spirit and reach out to others in a spate of generosity. We greet each other in a different way. It is a time to give. It is a time of outreach to the poor and to those in need. The celebration is everywhere. One cannot miss it. And secularized though it may be, the world continues to get the message. And it becomes a better place, even if for a few fleeting moments.

But we Christians seek a deeper meaning in our celebration. Without the truth of the Gospel story the lights, the trees, the carols, the gift giving, all become something else, something very fine, something well intentioned and desirable, but something quite empty. For Christmas has become secularized in a way that leaves out the most important, and the best part.

We may look at the story in all of its improbability, all of its contradictions. We may view its squalor one moment and its splendour the next. There is the stink of the stable and the aura of the angels; the violence of the Roman Empire and the peace proclaimed to God’s people; the exclusion of the unacceptable shepherds and the wonderful inclusivity of God’s realm. We may well say, “Is that any way for a king to be born!” And yet he was. He continues to be born in poverty. He continues to live with rejection and betrayal. He continues to be nailed to a cross and crowned with thorns. He continues to burst through the tomb of death and echo in the souls of those who believe. He continues to be born in us day by day. He continues to call us, his messengers, to share the good news that Christ is born in us.

Tonight we celebrate God's message of new life and new love. We celebrate God coming anew into our lives. A loving creator wants to enter our world and our lives. We can keep Christ out. We can ignore the message of the angels. We can keep ourselves so busy that we utterly fail to reflect on its meaning and impact in our lives. We can have too little time to make it personal. We can become too absorbed in the material world. We can become too self-absorbed to even care. We can become obsessed with power or riches or anything that we can find to substitute for God and we are so good at finding substitutions.

But hopefully we will remember that we have good news to share. Christ is born in us. We are the bearers of Christ in the world. Our mission if we choose to take it up, is to make that known to the people in our community who so need to hear good news. Our mission is to draw people into the caring and vibrant community of faith that we have to offer, not just at Christmas, but every day of our lives.

For we know the significance of this holy night. We know that the birth of Jesus has made the stable the very centre of the world. May Christ be born in us this night! And may we with all the angels of heaven sing glory to God!