We live in a
world which is obsessed by time. The pace of modern life is quite different to
that of a generation or two ago. Despite the advent of labour-saving devices
and technology we seem if anything busier than ever as other things come along
to fill our time – we can feel pressured, worried, and anxious. This isn’t good;
we can’t help feeling that this isn’t how it is supposed to be. Thankfully God
doesn’t work like this. The people of Israel have been waiting for a Messiah,
for a Saviour to be born, who will save Israel from their sins, but it isn’t a
case of birth on demand. As St Paul writes to the church in Galatia (Gal 4:4-5)
‘But when the fullness of
time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the Law, to
redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.’
God’s time is not our time, and the Incarnation happens not at a convenient
time, but in the fullness of time – after the message has been proclaimed by
the prophets, who prepare the way for the Saviour; after Mary has said ‘yes’ to
God, a ‘yes’ which can undo the ‘no’ of Adam and Eve.
This is why, at the start of his
Gospel, St John, the beloved disciple, can begin right at the start of
salvation history, indeed with Creation itself: his opening words ‘In the beginning’ point us
straight back to the opening words of Genesis, in Hebrew Beresith ‘In the beginning’. This is
where it all starts, where everything that is starts, and the Word through which God speaks creation
into existence, this creative power of God is what will take human flesh and be
born of the Virgin Mary. The enormity of this situation should not be lost on
us, we cannot think about it too much, the helpless infant born in a stable is
God, who created all that is, or has been, or will be, and who comes among us
weak, helpless and vulnerable, dependent upon the love and support of father
and mother for everything. Christ shares our human existence from birth to
death, so that we may know that ours is a God who comes among us, who comes
alongside us, who is not remote, but involved, a God of love.
St John take us back to the
beginning so that we can see what we are dealing with, and how it fits into the
bigger picture. What we are celebrating at Christmas is something which extends
through time, both in its nature and its effects. It is why we as Christians
make such a big deal of Christmas – it isn’t just something to do in the middle
of winter, but along with Our Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection , the
most wonderful and important moment of history, which affects us here and now.
What was made known to the shepherds we now proclaim to the world, what symbolically
is shown in the Solemn Feast of the Epiphany, which we prepare to celebrate,
where the Wise Men point to the manifestation of Christ’s Divinity to the whole
world.
‘And
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the
glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.’ The
reality of the Incarnation, of God with us, Emmanuel, that God lives with us,
sharing our human life, shows us the glory of God, that from which Moses hid
his face in the Exodus is now made plain, and displayed for all to see, a
proclamation of the glory, the love, and the goodness of God, shown in our
adoption as children of God, given an inheritance – eternal life and a
relationship with God – a humanity restored and healed. This is the light which
shines in the darkness of our world, which it cannot overcome. John the Baptist
testifies to this, the Wise Men kneel in adoration before Him, bringing gold
for a King, Incense for the worship of God, and myrrh which points to His Death
on the Cross for our salvation. Their gifts show that they understand and value
who and what Christ is, and what He does.
Are we to be like the world, which
though it was created through Him does not know him? Or like his own people,
who did not accept Him? Or do we receive Him, and believe in His Name, which is
above every name? Do we accept the invitation to become children of God, and do
we respond to it? Do we accept the challenge to live as the family of God,
loving and forgiving, as those who are loved and forgiven by God, so that our
lives, yours and mine, proclaim the glory and truth of God, and the message of
salvation for all the world to hear? If we accept our inheritance, the fact
that there is now a familial relationship between us and God, we need to
understand that with that relationship comes duty and responsibility.
And yet we do not see this as
something imposed upon us, but rather as the truth which sets us free: a
relationship with a God whose service is perfect freedom. So let us walk in His
light, dwell in His love, and know the fullness of His joy, let us be glad that
as a pledge of His love He gives Himself, under the outward forms of bread and
wine, to feed us with His Body and His Blood, a sign that His promise is true,
that we can have a foretaste of Heaven, food for our journey of faith here on
earth, so that we may know his love, and touch it and taste it, so that we can be
strengthen to live that faith and to proclaim it by word and deed, so that all the
world may enter into His joy, and live His life.
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