CHRISTMAS HAS CHANGED US FOREVER
Author: Fr. Michael Byron
December 24, 2020
The greatest miracle of Christmas is not that God showed
himself to us in Jesus. God had already been speaking to us from the time of
creation and had been appearing to people for centuries earlier in the form of angels
or of holy men and women, right up to the time of Jesus’s conception and birth.
No, if it were merely a matter of God communicating with us,
or even revealing himself to us, then Christmas wouldn’t be so special. But this
is different.
God didn’t just give a glimpse of himself in Jesus or pass
along some useful information through him so that we might know how to live
well here and get to heaven eventually. God became one of us, and we Christians
have struggled from the start to actually believe and understand that. In Jesus,
God wasn’t merely keeping in touch with us humans. In Jesus, God was human! That is the miracle of Christmas. That’s how much we are loved. That’s
how much God is willing to do in order to draw us in to his most intimate self.
An ancient theologian and Saint of our church, Athanasius,
put it this way:
“God became human, so that
humans might become God.”
If that sentiment sounds shocking, then it’s why we need Christmas so much. It’s
not that there’s more than one God, or that any of us will ever be God. But
it is to insist that God was and is willing to do absolutely everything to
break down the barriers – whether real or imagined – that keep us from being
drawn in to the very essence of God’s life – not just after we die, but
starting right now.
The gospel of John tells us not that the Word of God was sent
along a message to human flesh from God, but rather that God’s “Word” became
flesh, and dwelt among us at his birth. It’s mind-boggling! And although I’ve
quoted him here before it is for that reason that the great late German Jesuit
teacher and priest Karl Rahner reminded us that in the light of the Incarnation,
“To think little of human beings is to think little of God.”
We are more dear to God than we are often tempted to believe
we are. So this is not only a feast day for Jesus. It is ours too, because God
wants it that way. The greatest miracle of Christmas is not confined to a
history story. It is today. And whenever we are tempted to despair of our own
human condition, whether personally or as a race or a culture – let us remember
Christmas.
|