First reading                    Isaiah 52:7-10

Responsorial Psalm         Psalm 97(98):1-6

Second reading                 Hebrews 1:1-6

Gospel                                John 1:1-18

“At various times in the past and in various different ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through His Son…” Throughout the Advent season, dear brothers and sisters, we’ve heard many of the ancient oracles read to us in church from prophets such as Jeremiah, Malachi and most especially Isaiah. In the prophets, whose utterances all point towards the sending of the Christ (which is the literal etymology of the word “Christ-mas”), God had instilled His Word, calling his people to repent from sin and turn their hearts to God. But in these the last days, that very Word by whom the prophets spoke, has become flesh and dwells among us. He is, as the Letter to the Hebrews instructs us this morning, “the radiant light of God’s glory and the perfect copy of his nature, sustaining the universe by his powerful command…”

Now, brothers and sisters, consider this. If Jesus is not who the Scriptures say He is, if He is instead a good moral teacher or philosopher like Buddha, or a so-called prophet like Muhammad, or some kind of magic man or healer such as we see in many traditional cultures today, then we are wasting our time here this morning. If Jesus is not who the Bible says He is, then we should abolish Christmas and get back to work. But if He is who the Scriptures say, then we can’t go on living the way we do in this country! For to be frank, in practice, most people live as if God does not exist, even if we do have some sense of belief in Him. Unrepentant, unworshipping, forgetful of God, caught up in the cares of life which appear important but, in view of eternity, prove to be quite worthless. This stands in stark contrast, however, to the drastic lengths that God has gone to, in order to enter our lives. 

Let us consider, for example, the manger, and just how radical it is. It looks cute on the front of a Christmas card, or in a nativity set such as the one in front of me. But if that’s all we see, how blind we are indeed! For in the manger we have the Word, the Logos of God and “fabric” of all being, whose traces are borne by all created things, “the radiant light” of God the Father’s glory and “perfect copy” of his divine nature, who while “sustaining the universe by his powerful command”, lies there: weak, vulnerable, and utterly dependent on the very creatures He has made. In the manger lies the creator, weeping the tears of all mankind; weeping for the sins of all since we fail to weep. The babe cries out with the cry of all the broken hearted, for all who have ever suffered and for all who shall ever suffer. The child is totally poor and bitten by the cold winter’s night, no room in the inn, he embraces both the material and existential poverty of the human being, for a world grown cold with lovelessness and bloodshed. He who loves the whole human race unto death on the cross is loved by just two people, who gaze upon him with the same fearful love and adoration which is now asked of us. In the manger –a feeding trough for farm animals– the one whose breath would fill the disciples at Pentecost, transforming brutes into men, is warmed by the breath of brutes as they chew upon the hay. As they chew, their food serves as a bed for the one upon whom all generations would chew in the Eucharist, whose flesh would become bread for the life of the world (Jn 6:51). 

Shepherds would soon come to witness this astonishing marvel and then announce it to others. Uneducated, poor and outcast, shepherds dwelt on the limits of society. They are the first to behold the Good Shepherd, who would himself go in search of the outcast sinner. He would himself appoint shepherds after his own heart, who would would go out to the ends of the earth to announce the astonishing marvel of the manger, and to call us sinners to repentance. And here we are today, dear friends, ourselves standing at the ends of the earth, in this place, pondering in our hearts such a glimpse into the heart of God, so often lost upon a postcard.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us never think that the manger is once upon a time! The feeding trough presents to us still the one who lies within it, the Word made flesh whose flesh has become the bread of angels and men, full of grace and truth. He who became what we are, invites us to repent and to eat, that we may become what he is and truly live in the heart of the Father. As you go off today and spend time with those you love, remember the one who first loved you, who went to such extreme lengths to be with you, and who now calls you to himself.