Isa 9:1-6; Titus 2:11-14; Lk 2:1-14
Theme: The Birth of Christ is the Good News of a Great Joy To All of Us.
Today, we celebrate the birth of Christ. The angel that came to the shepherds said to them: I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people. We now ask:
How is this birth to be a great joy to all the people?
The Israelites were waiting for a king like David who would save them from their enemies. They have suffered a lot both externally (exile etc) and internally (bad readers like Ahaz). They were desperately looking forth for the emergence of a king who will free them from their enemies, unit them and fortify their city. God, through the prophets, made them a promise of a new David who will save them.
When the time came, God sent angel Gabriel to Mary, to announce to her that she would bear a son who would be called Jesus (Lk 1:31) to whom the Lord God will give the throne of his father David (Lk 1:32), and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever. Hence this new David is to be the saviour of Israel.
Reading through the narration in Lk 1, one will be expecting to encounter how finally this new king would be born. Then in Lk 2, the evangelist brought the whole world together for the census ordered by emperor Augustus. At this time, the world was under Roman empire.
It was in this situation, when an account of all nations was being taken, that this new king was born (Lk 2:6-7). It is like saying that ‘king Augustus gave an order for the whole world to gather, but the real king to whom all nations shall be gathered to just came into the world. This new-born king brings with him a great joy, which will not be only for the shepherds but for all
people. What is this joy then? It is the joy that we now have Emmanuel which means “God is with us”. And when God is in our midst, it means that we live with our saviour and our salvation.
I will tell you a story. I worked in a village where there was no hospital nor medical provision. If any of the members of the community got sick, he/she had to be taken to the nearby town where there was a hospital, about 50 minutes’ drive from the town. So one day, there was an accident and one of the victims hit his head on the ground and the brain broke open. Before we could reach the hospital, the young boy was dead. And things like this used
to happen in that village. After series of requests and interventions, a health care unit was built in this village. This was for the whole community, a great miracle from God. They do not need to travel distance as to receive medical attention because they now have one in their midst.
The community now gives everything they have as to see that the health care remains active and functional. My dear ones, this is the great joy which the birth of Christ brings to us. God is no more very far from us. We do not need to travel to heaven or post him a letter or send him an email. He is now with us. He is Emmanuel, Wonderful-Counsellor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. His names indicate his works in our midst.
Secondly, the birth of Jesus dispels the darkness of our lives and makes us not to be afraid anymore. The shepherds were in the darkness of the night. But at the birth of Christ, the glory of God shone around them, dispelling the darkness of the night. Our darkness and our fears have been conquered by the presence of God. I remember when I was a small boy. I never
allowed myself to be alone in the darkness. When night approached, I would be very uncomfortable. I was not sleeping alone. One night, there was no light in the room where I was sleeping, and by chance, I woke up. Thinking that I was alone, I started screaming. But immediately, my dad called me, held me and said to me “Do not be afraid. I am here with you”.
Knowing that my dad was lying with me, my whole fears disappeared, and I continued to enjoy my sleep. This is what we celebrate today, dear friends. The presence of Christ in our lives should give us the courage to live without fear; to be courageous in living as God’s children.
The great joy of this new-born Christ is that we have been made participants of the salvation of God. No matter whom we are, no matter what our lives have been, no matter what has happened to us, no matter how far we have gone in life, Christ remains our only true joy.
We may be looking for this joy in the things of the world, in what we have and are, but the true and enduring joy for us is Christ. And so, as St. Paul tells Titus, we have to give up every other thing that blocks us from experiencing this joy and embrace the things that keep us close to the manger where Christ, our great joy is lying. Christ in fact, has made for himself a manger in our hearts.
No matter how dirty our hearts are, no matter how materially occupied, he still wishes to come in there and dwell because only him can give and sustain our joy. There was no inn for him to be born, all the beautiful accommodations were occupied, but they found a manger, a place meant for animals, and laid him there. Christ is ready to dwell in the manger of our hearts, even if it is dirty, we only need to open it for him. Nobody has monopoly of this joy.
Let nobody or anything discourage us from allowing Christ to come into us and furnish us with this blessing of a great joy. Let nothing stop us from having a daily experience of this joy which continuously waits for us to come to him. And when we experience this joy, as the shepherds did, may we bear witness of it with everything we have.
May the joy of the new-born king encounter us in our different life’s situations. May it come into our families, into our places of works, into our works. May God make us worthy of harboring him in our hearts and of desiring to encounter him always. Amen.
FR. CHUKWUEZUGO NNAMAH