Galatians 4:4-7; Matthew 2:1-12
Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
We gather today to celebrate the Nativity in the Flesh of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ for the salvation of the world. He is born to fulfill the vocation of every human person to become like God in holiness as “partakers of the divine nature” by grace. Because He has truly become one of us, every dimension of our life in this world may become a point entrance into the blessed peace of the Kingdom of Heaven. In contrast with that high calling, the lack of such peace today in so many parts of the world, including especially the Holy Land and Ukraine, as well as in our own society, relationships, and hearts, becomes quite apparent.
The Prince of Peace was born in the context of a brutal
military occupation that required the elderly Joseph and the pregnant Theotokos
to take a long and difficult journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem for a census. There
He came into the world like a homeless child, born in a cave used as a barn
with an animal’s feeding trough for his bed.
Herod, who reigned over Judea under the authority of Rome, plotted to
kill the Messiah from His birth, for he certainly did not want a rival king of
the Jews. He cared far more about his
own power than the lives of innocent people, as do so many rulers of the world
as we know it today. That is why Joseph had
to lead the family to Egypt at night as they fled for their lives, just as refugees
do today in the land of our Lord’s birth and in so many other places.
When the One Who spoke the universe into existence
becomes part of His creation, the tension between the way of the Lord and the path
of slavery to the fear of death becomes obvious. Angels proclaimed His birth and the promise
of peace to lowly shepherds who had no power or prominence at all. Though many expected the Messiah to be a nationalistic
religious hero, Gentile astrologers from Persia traveled far to worship a Lord
Whose Kingdom transcends the divisions of empires, nations, and ethnicities. He
fulfills the ancient promises to Abraham such that all who believe in Him become
the adopted children and heirs of God. The
New Adam is born to restore all to the blessedness of Paradise. He comes to make us radiant with holiness and
“perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect,” which requires especially
love for those we are tempted to hate, condemn, and disregard as strangers and
enemies. (Matt. 5:38)
The Savior born this day is the Prince of Peace, but not
of the illusion of peace that comes from being so self-centered that we blind ourselves
to the needs of our neighbors, who bear the divine image every bit as much as
we do. He is the Prince of Peace, but
not of the illusion of peace that comes from intimidating and manipulating people
so that they do our will. He is the
Prince of Peace, but not of the illusion of peace that comes from projecting
our hopes for wellbeing on some fleeting standard of worldly success that can
never heal our souls. To know Christ’s
peace is to share in His life to the point that we become those who are blessed
in His Kingdom: the poor in spirit; those
who mourn their sins; the meek; those who hunger and thirst after righteousness;
the merciful; those who acquire purity of heart; and the peacemakers. To know
His peace is to become so much like Him in holiness that, regardless of what sufferings
and obstacles come our way, we make even the deepest challenges of our lives
points of entrance to the joyful blessedness of His Kingdom. (Matt. 5:3-12)
Even as the circumstances surrounding His Nativity were
not peaceful by conventional standards, welcoming the Prince of Peace into our
lives requires embracing the inevitable tension of mindfully entrusting
ourselves to Him as we share in His fulfillment of the human person in the
image and likeness of God. That is not a
matter of sentimentality or of using religion to build ourselves up over
anyone, but of responding with true spiritual humility and integrity to the
gloriously good news that the Son of God has become one of us—in the world as
we know it--for the salvation of all.
The more that we undertake the struggle to do so, and to treat every
neighbor as one for whom the Savior was born, the more we will experience the
true peace of Paradise brought by the God-Man.
Let us celebrate this glorious feast by doing precisely that this day
and every day of our lives.
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