We just heard an amazing passage from the Gospel of
John. Even though it is Christmas morning, the Gospel
today does not mention Bethlehem, it does not talk about the shepherds keeping
watching or the angels singing. It does
not mention the baby Jesus being more in a manger in that lowly stable. We might even wonder why we read this specific
passage of Scripture on Christmas morning. Last night, at Christmas Eve mass, was when we did
hear that familiar story of Mary and Joseph traveling from Nazareth to
Bethlehem, of Jesus’ birth as an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes in the
manger. Today, however, we look a little deeper at the
significance that Jesus’ birth has for us. Thus, from the Gospel of John, we hear a much more
poetic and theological view of Christ’s birth into the world. Not only is the infant Jesus in the manger truly
God made flesh, but he is the very Word of God who had existed with the Father
from the beginning and throughout all eternity.
Perhaps the very reason the Gospel of John begins
with the divine identity of the infant born of the Virgin Mary in the manger in
Bethlehem is that Christ's identity is so significant to our own identity as
believers. Christ’ identity is integral to our very
being. And as believers, we cling to the belief that the
Christ child was born human, but that he is also divine.
The image that stands out to me in today’s Gospel
reading is the theological image of light. In Jesus’ day in the ancient Mediterranean world, light and darkness were two very separate
realities. Darkness did not mean the
absence of light. Darkness meant the
presence of darkness, just as light meant the presence of light. As light can push out the
presence of darkness, darkness can push out light.
In John's Gospel, light
is associated with life. Jesus comes to the world
as light and life. The Gospel tells us that
Jesus is the Word in whom all living things came into being. Since we all have light
as living beings, light and life go hand in hand. Light and life have their
origin in God’s created work. As created beings, we can
hand down this light to others, but we can’t create it ourselves.
We use the symbolism of
light to explain what happens in the Sacrament of Baptism. We receive the light of
Christ in our lives when we are baptized. During the Sacrament of
Baptism, the godparents light a candle for the baptized child from the paschal
candle that represents Christ. The parents and
godparents are to keep the light of Christ alive in the life of the child who
was just baptized.
We take the presence of
light in our modern lives for granted. My first Christmas as a
missionary in South America, I found myself in a village deep in the interior
of the rain forest with no electricity at all. As we walk to the church
in the middle of the night in order to begin our celebration of Christmas eve,
I couldn’t how dark everything was. We sat in the middle of
the church with just a few candles giving off light – with the beating of drums
and joyful singing filling the night air. In one sense, this felt
so far away from the United States from where I had lived and had grown up. But
in another sense, I felt a unity in my Catholic identity, where I can be
attending mass as a missionary half a world away, celebrating the way that
Christ the light entered the world as a little baby in the manger in Bethlehem
so many centuries ago.
As we celebrate Christ’s birth tonight, we
might think about how easily the things of the world can absorb our lives and
take our focus off Christ. The Roman philosopher
Cicero, who was born a century before Jesus, described the Roman Empire as “a
light to the whole world.” We can make so many other
things in our lives the light that we focus on to the exclusion of our faith:
our work, our personal ambitions, our national identity, and our desires for
success or material possessions. Those lights can outshine
our Catholic faith and Jesus the light of the world.
As part of our Church's
faith, we believe in the Word of God, the Logos, the Word that created the
world and came to earth as the baby Jesus as a light to our world. This truth about Jesus
can seem so distant from the reality of our world, especially now with secular
message that is taking over our society. We need that light from
God to serve as our compass – to lead us and guide us.
As we celebrate Christmas
day, we as Catholics strongly reaffirm with our lives the salvation that comes
with the birth of Christ as a light in our world. In the humble manger in Bethlehem, this
light that now illuminates our lives was made manifest to the world. Christ as a light is the
way that leads to the fullness of our humanity as it is revealed to us. And we as Christ’s
followers – we live out our faith by bringing Christ’s in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment