In the first reading the prophet Isaiah prophesies that the northern kingdom of Israel, which had been destroyed would be liberated and its inhabitants would be set free when the Messiah comes. But their liberator would not be a mighty warrior but a little child. God’s ways are not our ways! This little child is God’s answer to man’s needs. A surprising answer but full of promise; this child has many titles foremost among them will be ‘Prince of Peace’.
In deep shadow, a light has shone
High in the Andes, an Indian prince is anointed in the
darkness. Then, on a large raft in the centre of a sacred lake, his naked body
is plastered with gold dust by members of his tribe. They turn away so that
they do not look on his face. They all wait in silence. Then the sun comes over
the horizon and bathes in its light the Indian prince, gold in glory. He
plunges into the lake, and the people cast jewels and sacred objects of gold
into the water to sanctify the place where he swims. He is the legendary
Eldorado, the gilded one. The ceremony is the annual ritual to the god of the
sun on behalf of the people who depend on its power. The feast of
Christmas originated when the cult of the sun was particularly strong in Rome.
The pagan festival was baptized by the church in Rome which used the same date
to celebrate the birth of Christ. We do not know the date of Jesus’ birth, but
we do know why December 25th was chosen as the date to celebrate the
birth. For us the Yule logs and candles symbolize the warmth and light of
another sun: the Son of God. In the darkness of this night we celebrate the
birth of the light of the world. Anonymous
Today’s gospel focuses on the deep significance of the birth
of our Lord Jesus Christ into the world. The details of the narrative are
symbolic and biblical; they are meant to communicate the mystery of our
salvation and are not a diary of earthly events. The birth of Jesus is situated
in time –when Quirinius governor of Syria ordered a census of all the people of
the empire. Mary and Joseph accepted this order and set out from the town of
Galilee and travelled to Judea to the town of David called Bethlehem. Mary and
Joseph respond with faith and accept the situation as God’s plan for the coming
of his son and theirs in the world. They do not understand but accept and
believe that this frail weak infant is God coming into the world through them.
The coming of Jesus is firstly a coming as a messenger of peace, announced to
the shepherds by the host of angels. The initial reaction of the shepherds was
fear and terror. We will always be terrified of meeting God if we keep thinking
that we must be worthy of meeting him. The angel had to urge the shepherds to
let go of their terror, only then did the wonder of the night enter into their
souls. They are directed to Bethlehem, they believed and set out on their
journey to find the new-born king and their faith was rewarded. The shepherds
were outcasts, the poor and despised, to them was revealed the great mystery
and they became the first to acknowledge the saviour of mankind. They also
became the first missionaries who proclaimed the birth of the messiah. Only
those who know their littleness can be exposed to the wonder of greater
realities. Mary the littlest of all, treasured these things and pondered them
in her heart. Besides bringing peace to the world, the coming of Jesus was to
bring hope to the poor and the oppressed. We don’t have to do anything to deserve
this peace, we only have to believe and accept it in hope. His blessings
descend on all on whom his favour rests. No matter who we are, or in what state
we are, he comes to bring us peace and hope!
A Saviour is born to us
The Russians have for centuries told a legend about a young
medieval prince, Alexis, who lived in a sumptuous palace, while all around, in
filthy hovels, lived hundreds of poor peasants. The Prince was moved with
compassion for these poor folk and determined to better their lot. So, he began
to visit them. But as he moved in and out among them, he found that he’d got
absolutely no point of contact with them. They treated him with enormous
respect, but he was never able to win their confidences, and he returned to the
palace a disappointed young man. Then one day a very different man
came among the people. He was a rough and ready young doctor who devoted his
life to serving the poor. He started by renting a filthy rat-ridden shack in
one of the back streets. His clothes were old and tattered and he lived simply
on the plainest food. He made no money from his profession because he treated
most people free and gave away his medicines. Before long, this young doctor
had won the respect and affection of all those people as Prince Alexis had never
succeeded in doing. He was one of them. And little by little he transformed the
whole spirit of the place, settling quarrels, reconciling enemies, helping
people to live decent lives. No one ever guessed that this young doctor was in
fact the Prince himself, who had abandoned his palace and gone down among his
people to become one of them. That’s just what God did on that first Christmas
Day. He came right down side by side with us to help us to become the sort of
beings he intends us to be.Anthony Castle in ‘More Quotes and Anecdotes’
That’s what Christmas is all about!
One Christmas Eve a man was sitting quietly, listening to Christmas carols.
Suddenly he heard the sound of geese. He went to the door and saw several geese
wandering about in the snow, cold, hungry, dazed, and confused. The man went
out and tried everything he knew to get the geese to go into his warm garage,
but they were too frightened to understand. Then he thought himself, “If just
for a moment I could become a goose to tell them what to do in their own
language.” Suddenly it hit him. That’s what Christmas is all about. It’s
celebrating the fact that God chose to become one of us so that he could speak
to us our own language and tell us what was for our own good.
Marl Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’
Christ missing at Christmas
Fr. Prakash could hardly believe his eyes. Christmas evening, he stared at the
crib in the Church vestibule and was shocked to see the baby Jesus missing.
Worried, Fr. Prakash commissioned the sacristan out to retrieve it. Scouting
around the parish, the sacristan saw little Christopher, riding his new
tricycle with the statue of the child Jesus precariously placed besides him.
“Chris, you scoundrel,” cried the sacristan, “Why did you steal that statue?”
Unfazed the boy replied, “I promised baby Jesus that if I got a tricycle for
Christmas, I’d give him the first ride!” Two points are worth reflecting on:
Christ seems missing from our Christmases, and it’s our responsibility to
ensure that Jesus is taken forth to transform today’s world.
Francis Gonsalves in ‘Sunday Seeds for daily Deeds’
Beethoven’s Gift
A story is told about Beethoven, a man not known for social grace. Because of
his deafness, he found conversation difficult and humiliating. When he heard of
the death of a friend’s son, Beethoven hurried to the house, overcome with
grief. He had no words of comfort to offer. But he saw a piano in the room. For
the next half hour he played the piano, pouring out his emotions in the most
eloquent way he could. When he finished playing, he left. The friend later
remarked that no one else’s visit had meant so much.
Philip Yancy from ‘Helping the Hurting’
The First Crib
Once there was a parish which had a beautiful crib. The parishioners, who for
the most part were white and well-off, were very proud of it. Mary was depicted
as a handsome young maiden with snow-white hands. Joseph was a strong man with
a serene expression on his face. The smiling child had the face of an angel.
The shepherds were dressed in the garb of gentlemen. All the figures of course
were white. The background consisted of low hills with a gorgeous castle
perched on the summit of one of them. The star-strewn sky completed the idyllic
picture. Then a new parish priest was appointed to the parish. One of the first
things he did was to change the crib. Mary and Joseph and the infant Jesus were
now coloured. As were the shepherds. The backdrop consisted of a shanty town
with row after row of impoverished shacks. The whole scene spoke of poverty and
marginalization. The devout parishioners took an instant dislike to it. They
insisted that their traditional crib be put back. When we look at the crib,
everything seems so pretty, so peaceful so orderly. Not a cry is heard from the
child, not a sound from the donkey or the oxen, not a smell of any kind. The
straw is clean. The coloured but subdued lights add a surreal quality to the
whole scene. With our inward ear we hear the singing of the angels, and with
our inward eye we see the star which led the Magi to Bethlehem. We have a
tendency to pretty up the Christmas story. But in doing that we remove it from
us. We empty it of much of the meaning it carries for us. -It was St Francis of
Assisi who assembled the first crib in a cave on an Italian hillside in the
year 1223. His aim was to make the Christmas story come alive for the people of
the locality. His idea was to show them how close it was to them and their
lives. And it seems that he succeeded. On Christmas Eve the friars and the
people assembled with candles and torches around the crib. Francis spoke to the
people, who were mostly farmers and shepherds, about God’s Son coming among us
to teach us that we too are children of God, and that as such we have an
eternal destiny. The shepherds and farmers got the messages: God had time for
simple folks like them. At the end of the vigil they all returned to their
homes, full of peace and joy, feeling very close to God and to one another.
Flor McCarthy in New Sunday and Holy Days
****
From Father Tony Kadavil's Collection:
1) Extraterrestrial child:
After explaining childbirth, the biology teacher asked her 3rd graders to write
an essay on "childbirth" in their families. Susan went home and asked
her mother how she was born. Her mother, who was busy at the time, said, “A big
white swan brought you darling, and left you on our doorstep.” Continuing her
research she asked grandma how she got her mother as a child. Being in the
middle of something, her grandma similarly deflected the question by saying, “A
fairy brought your mom as a little baby, and I found her in our garden in an
open box”. Then the girl went and asked her great-grandmother how she got her
grandma as a baby. “I picked her from a box I found in the gooseberry
bush," said the surprised great-grandma. With this information the girl
wrote her essay. When the teacher asked her later to read it in front of the
class, she stood up and began, "I am very sad to find out that there was
not even a single natural birth in our family for three generations. All our
children were extraterrestrials." (Rev. Fairchild). Today the words of
Isaiah tell us of another non-normal birth. It’s a non-normal birth, never
before, nor after, seen or experienced, because it is the birth of God as man –
Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man, as our Savior.
2) Thanks for listening:
In the Cable TV episodes Inside The Actor’s Studio, James Lipton invites
celebrities – famous actors, writers and directors – to talk about their
careers and how they do what they do. And he always ends each episode the same
way, with one particular question: “If you believe that God exists, what do you
think He will say to you when you finally see Him?” It’s a good question, by
the way, to ask ourselves periodically. It can make for an interesting
examination of conscience. Anyway: on this episode, the person James Lipton was
interviewing was Steven Spielberg, the famous film director. Lipton asked him
that final question: What do you hope God will say to you when you finally see
Him? And Spielberg thought for a moment and smiled. He replied: “’Thanks for listening.”
So much of the Christmas story is, truly, about listening. When Gabriel arrives
to bring Mary the news that she will bear a child…she listens. When the angel
tells Joseph in his dreams what is about to happen…he listens. The shepherds
listen when the angel announces the “good news of great joy.” Two thousand
years later, we confront this stunning message – “tidings of comfort and joy,”
as the carol describes it – and our hearts swell with the sentiment of the
season. We hear. But are we paying attention? Are we listening? Christmas
invites us to listen to God telling us how much He loves the world. (Deacon
Greg Kandra).2013
3) The first Christmas crib:
It was St Francis of Assisi who assembled the first crib in a cave on an
Italian hillside. It was in 1293 that the first crèche was set up in the woods
of Greccio near Assisi, on Christmas Eve. The crib was ready, hay was brought,
the ox and the donkey were led to the spot. Greccio became a new Bethlehem. The
aim of St. Francis was to make the Christmas story come alive for the people of
the locality. His idea was to show them how close it was to them and their
lives. And it seems that he succeeded. On Christmas Eve, the friars and the
people assembled with candles and torches around the crib. Francis spoke to the
people, who were mostly farmers and shepherds, about God’s Son coming
among us to teach us that we too are children of God, and that as such we have
an eternal destiny. The shepherds and farmers got the messages: God had time
for simple folks like them. At the end of the vigil they all returned to their
homes, full of peace and joy, feeling very close to God and to one another.
(http://www.catholicdoors.com/misc/christmascrib.htm)
******************
More Illustrations from Last Year:
It was a cold December afternoon. Rain mixed with snow
splashed against the windshield. Overhead dark clouds hovered seemingly just
above the treetops. All day long two men, a pastor named Jerry and a layman
named Jim, had been delivering Christmas boxes. Many of the families who would
receive these boxes would get nothing else for Christmas that year. The pickup
truck had been loaded when the two men started out on their journey but now,
only one box remained. It was covered with an old piece of tarp to protect it
against the rain.
The address on the card meant a drive of several miles
beyond the city limit. "What do you think?" Jim asked. He was the
driver and it was his truck. Pastor Jerry knew what Jim was thinking. Why drive
way out in the country when we could give this last box to someone close by and
be home in thirty minutes? It was a tempting thought. Pastor Jerry had a
Christmas Eve Communion Service scheduled for 8 p.m. and he could use the time
to prepare.
Jim, however, answered his own question, "Well, let's
give it a try. If we can't find the place, we can always come back and give the
box to someone else."
The rain was pouring down by the time they reached the
address on the card. The old white framed house stood on a hillside overlooking
the valley. It had once been an elegant place, the centerpiece of a large farm.
Now, the farm was gone and the house had deteriorated over the years...
________________________
The House of Bread
In the Hebrew, Bethlehem means the house of bread. What a
wonderful poetic description of a dwelling place. I remember frequently coming
home from school and smelling the aroma of baking bread, creating for our
entire family a house of bread. It awakens memories of good food, a warm
kitchen, conversation, fulfillment. Everyone who entered the house gravitated
towards the kitchen for a piece of bread with melting butter and to enjoy that
delicacy in the company of others.
At Bethlehem, at this house of bread, humanity is
irresistibly drawn to share in the good news of God. All things converge there
and our souls find their birth and their nourishment. The entire universe holds
its breath in wonder for it is here and nowhere else that we know our names,
and find our homes.
Susan Hedahl, Places of the Promise, CSS Publishing Inc.
__________________
God Is Interested in Our Life
Jim Moore recently served as senior minister of St.
Luke's in Houston, Texas. At a breakfast with a friend, who is now a sales
representative for a large national company, the friend told Dr. Moore about a
recent exchange with his new sales manager.
It seems Moore's friend was driving his new boss around town
when they happened to pass near the friend's home. This friend asked the new
sales manager if he would like to stop by his house and meet his family. His
wife was baking an apple pie, and his children would be coming in from school.
Would he like to meet them?
"Let's get one thing straight right now," the
manager replied. "I'm not interested in your family. I'm not interested in
your wife or your children. I'm not interested in you personally at all or any
of the circumstances of your life. All I'm interested in are results. All I'm
interested in about you is your sales record!"
The friend told Moore: "That really hurt. I felt as
though someone had slapped me across the face, but you know, I realized
something. I realized that God is the opposite of that! God is interested in my
home and family. God is interested in my wife and children. God does care about
me personally. He is interested in all of the circumstances of my
life."
That is the good news of Christmas.
James W. Moore, Christmas Gifts That Always Fit
__________________
The New Age
Every year at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, there is displayed,
beneath the great Christmas tree, a beautiful eighteenth century Neapolitan
nativity scene. In many ways it is a very familiar scene. The usual characters
are all there: shepherds roused from sleep by the voices of angels; the exotic
wise men from the East seeking, as Auden once put it, "how to be human
now"; Joseph; Mary; the babe -- all are there, each figure an artistic
marvel of wood, clay, and paint. There is, however, something surprising about
this scene, something unexpected here, easily missed by the casual observer.
What is strange here is that the stable, and the shepherds, and the cradle are
set, not in the expected small town of Bethlehem, but among the ruins of mighty
Roman columns. The fragile manger is surrounded by broken and decaying columns.
The artists knew the meaning of this event: The gospel, the birth of God's new
age, was also the death of the old world.
Herods know in their souls what we perhaps have passed over
too lightly: God's presence in the world means finally the end of their own
power. They seek not to preserve the birth of God's new age, but to crush it.
For Herod, the gospel is news too bad to be endured, for Mary, Joseph, and all
the other characters it is news too good to miss.
Adapted from Thomas G. Long, Something Is About To Happen,
CSS Publishing
________________________
I think the Grinch said it best:
And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?"
"It came without ribbons! It came without tags!"
"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"
And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store."
"Maybe Christmas. . . perhaps. . means a little bit more!"
Dr. Suess
_____________________
The Christian Gospel in a Nutshell
In Kurt Vonnegut's book, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Eliot
Rosewater, an eccentric do-gooder, was discussing with his wife the birth of
twins to a half-witted townsperson named Mary Moody. "I'm baptizing them
tomorrow," he says. "I didn't know you -- you did things like
that," Sylvia replied. "I couldn't get out of it," said Eliot.
"She insisted on it, and nobody else would do it. I told her I wasn't a
religious person by any stretch of the imagination. I told her nothing I could
do would count in heaven. But she insisted just the same."
"What will you say?" inquired Sylvia. "Oh --
I don't know. I'll go over to her shack, I guess, sprinkle some water on the
babies and say, 'Hello babies. Welcome to the earth. It's hot in the summer and
cold in the winter. It is round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies,
you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of
babies: Darn it, you've got to be kind.' "
Maybe that's the Christian gospel in a nutshell. God has
been very kind to us, and to live in God's sight means we must be very kind to
each other. If that is not the end of the Christian faith, it may be the
beginning.
Charles H. Bayer, When It Is Dark Enough, CSS Publishing
Company
_______________________
Humor: Hanging Lights for Christmas
Hanging lights on a Christmas tree can be most stressful.
Some nice person on the Internet has even made a list of Things Not to Say When
Hanging Lights on the Christmas Tree. Let me read some of them:
8. "Up a little higher. You can reach it. Go on,
try."
7. "What on earth do you do to these lights when you
put them away every year? Tie them in knots?"
6. "You've got the whole thing on the tree upside-down. The electric plug
thing should be down here at the bottom, not up at the top."
5. "I don't care if you have found another two strings,
I'm done!"
4. "You've just wound 'em around and around--I thought
we agreed it shouldn't look like a spiral this year?"
3. "Have you been drinking?"
2. "Where's the cat?"
1. And the number one thing not to say when hanging lights
on a tree? "If you're not going to do it right, don't do it at all. Don't
just throw them on, like you do the icicles. You're worse than your
father."
It's not easy getting ready for Christmas. Luke, in his
narrative concerning the coming of Christ quotes the words of Isaiah the
prophet: "A voice of one calling in the desert, `Prepare the way for the
Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every
mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough
ways smooth. And all mankind will see God's salvation.'" (NRSV)
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
______________
The Inner Galaxy
The story is told of Teddy Roosevelt entertaining guests at
his Sagamore Hill estate on Long Island. After a late dinner he invited his
guests outside to walk beneath the brilliant nighttime sky. After a silent,
reverent stroll Roosevelt said, "I guess we've been humbled enough now.
Let's go inside." And that's what Christmas Eve is all about -- about
stargazing toward the infinite to be humble in our finiteness. So in response
to the angel chorus and the angel announcement, the simple, rustic, stargazing
shepherds said, "Let us go even now into Bethlehem to see this thing that
has happened...." And they went inside the stable, and beheld in the
manger the inner galaxy -- the interior meaning of the universe. And what did
they experience?
For one thing, they experienced mystery. Luke tells us they
returned "glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and
seen...."
Abnormal birth:
After explaining childbirth the biology teacher asked her 4th graders to write
an essay on "childbirth" in their families. Susan went home and asked
her mother how she was born. Her mother, who was busy at the time, said, “A big
white swan brought you darling, and left you on our doorstep.” Continuing her
research she asked grandma how her parents got her. Being in the middle of
something, her grandma similarly deflected the question by saying, “A fairy
brought me and my mother found me in our garden in an open box”. Then the girl
went and asked her great-grandmother how her parents got her as a baby. “My
mother picked me from a box found in the gooseberry bush”, said the surprised
great-grandma. With this information the girl wrote her essay. When the teacher
asked her later to read it in front of the class, she stood up and began,
"I really wonder why there was not even a single natural birth in our
family for four generations..." (Rev. Fairchild). Today the words of
Isaiah tell us of another non-normal birth. It’s a non-normal birth never
before seen or experienced because it is the birth of God as man – Jesus
Christ, Son of God and Son of Man, as our Savior.
****************
Additional Anecdotes
1) "Man, you don't mess around when you're
hungry!"
Have you heard about the little boy who loved going to church? He enjoyed the
music, the stained glass windows, the homily and the fellowship. The only part
about going to church that the little boy didn't like, were those long personal
prayers which the pastor added to the intercessory prayers! Then on Christmas,
the little boy's parents invited the pastor home for lunch... and would you
believe it, his mom asked the minister to pray the prayer of thanksgiving
before the meal. "Oh, no," thought the little boy, "We will
never get to eat. I am starving and he will pray forever." But to his
surprise, the pastor’s prayer was brief and to the point. He said, "Oh
Lord, bless this home. Bless this food, and use us in your service, in Jesus
name. Amen." The little boy was so astonished by the pastor’s short prayer
that he couldn't help himself. He looked at the pastor and blurted out what he
was thinking: "Man, you don't mess around when you're hungry!" Well,
I don't want to "mess around" on this Christmas morning because I
know that whether we realize it or not... we are hungry. We are all hungry for
God. We are all hungry for our Savior. We are all hungry for Christmas...
because, you see, this is precisely what Christmas is all about. We need a
Savior, we are starved for a Savior, and a Savior is given in Jesus. In fact,
the name "Jesus" means literally "The Lord is Salvation,"
or Yahweh Saves, or Savior. Jesus came at Christmas to do for us what we cannot
do for ourselves. He came to save us from our sins.
2) “And all mankind will see God's salvation.”
Every year, the former President Bush and his wife Laura used to send out a
Christmas card with a Bible verse on it. For Christmas 2001, when the country
was still coming to terms with the Sept. 11th attacks, the Bushes decided to
choose a verse that conveyed their faith and hope. They picked this verse from
the Psalms: "I believe I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of
the living." (An interview with First Lady Laura Bush by Ellen Levin, Good
Housekeeping, Jan. 2002, pp. 105, 130.) That is the promise of Christmas.
Isaiah put it like this: "Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain
and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways
smooth. And all mankind will see God's salvation.'" That is the hope that
sustains us in good times and bad. We shall see God's salvation. Christ came
because the world needed saving.
3) "We'll all be home for Christmas.”
Senator John McCain spent 5½ years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam in the
1960s. During that time, he was frequently tortured or held in solitary
confinement. He reports that his lowest point came on Christmas Eve 1969.
McCain was giving up hope of ever getting out of Vietnam alive. To compound his
homesickness, the captors played the song "I'll Be Home for
Christmas" over the PA system. Just then, McCain heard tapping on his cell
wall. This was the communication code the POWs used to communicate with one
another. On the other side of the wall was Ernie Bruce, a Marine who had been
imprisoned for four years already. In spite of his dire situation, Bruce was
tapping out, "We'll all be home for Christmas. God bless America."
These simple words of comfort restored John McCain's hope. ("The tapping
on the wall" by Senator John McCain, Ladies' Home Journal, July 2002, pp.
107-111.) The message of Christmas is always one of hope. This world needs
saving, but God began that process of salvation two thousand years ago with the
birth of a babe in Bethlehem. There's something about Christmas that elevates
us. Christmas is about hope of a better world to come.
4) Kierkegaard has a fable of a king who fell in
love with a maid.
A king fell in love with a poor maid. The king wanted to marry her. When he
asked them, "How shall I declare my love?" his counselors answered,
"Your majesty has only to appear in all the glory of your royal raiments
before the maid's humble dwelling, and she will instantly fall at your feet and
be yours." But it was precisely that which troubled the king. He wanted
her glorification, not his. In return for his love he wanted hers, freely
given. Finally, the king realized love's truth, that freedom for the beloved
demanded equality with the beloved. So late one night, after all the counselors
of the palace had retired, he slipped out a side door and appeared before the
maid's cottage dressed as a servant to confess his love for her. Clearly, the
fable is a Christmas story. God chose to express His love for us humans by
becoming one like us. We are called to obey not God's power, but God's love.
God wants not submission to his power, but in return for his love, our own.
5) Camel on the roof of royal palace:
The king of Balkh (northern Afghanistan) named Ebrahim ibn Adam was wealthy
according to every earthly measure. At the same time, however, he sincerely and
restlessly strove to be wealthy spiritually as well. One night the king was
roused from sleep by a fearful stumping on the roof above his bed. Alarmed, he
shouted: “Who's there?” “A friend,” came the reply from the roof. “I've lost my
camel.” Perturbed by such stupidity, Ebrahim screamed: “You fool! Are you
looking for a camel on the roof?” “You fool!” the voice from the roof answered.
“Are you looking for God in silk clothing, and lying on a golden bed?” The
story goes on, according to Jesuit theologian Walter G. Burghardt, to tell how
these simple words filled the king with such terror that he arose from his
sleep to become a most remarkable saint. Every Christmas Jesus asks the same
question to each one of us: “Where are you looking for Me? In the majestically
adorned and illuminated cathedrals or in the stables of the poor and the
needy?” Tonight’s scripture readings tell us where to look for Christ the
Savior.
6) “No Room in the Inn”
The Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful and costly tombs ever built, but
there is something fascinating about its beginnings. In 1629, when the favorite
wife of Indian ruler Shah Jahan died, he ordered that a magnificent tomb be
built as a memorial for her. The shah placed his wife’s casket in the middle of
a parcel of land, and construction of the temple literally began around it. But
several years into the venture, the Shah’s grief gave way to a passion for the
project. One late evening while he was surveying the sight, he reportedly
stumbled over a wooden box in the dark, and he had some workers to remove it
and put it in a common store house. It was months before he realized that his
wife’s casket that had been carelessly kept in a common store along with
useless articles. The original purpose for the memorial had become lost in the
details of construction. [Dr. James Dobson, Coming Home, Timeless Wisdom for
Families, (Tyndale House: Wheaton, 1998), 122, & “Story of Christless
Christmas,” taken from Max Lucado, The Applause of Heaven, pp. 131-132.] This
seemingly unrealistic ancient legend is a painfully relevant parable of the way
some people celebrate Christmas today. Sometimes we become so involved in the
tasks and details of Christmas that we forget the One we are honoring. Five
little words in the Gospel of Luke say it all: "No Room in the Inn.”
7) The golden rice grains:
There is a beautiful poem by the mystic poet of India, Rabindra Nath Tagore,
extolling the reward of generous giving. It tells the story of a king who
regularly visited his people, passing through the streets in a chariot. One
morning as the king was passing by, a beggar woman who planned to ask him for
alms, stood on the road side with her begging bowl. As the king approached her,
however, he descended from his chariot and stretched out his hand as though he
was expecting a gift from the woman. Excited and surprised, the woman put her
hand in the cotton bag on her shoulder, took out a pinch of rice, and with
trembling hands gave it to the king. The king was well pleased; he smiled at
her put her offering in his pocket and gave her back a pinch of grains from his
other pocket. When the woman returned to her small hut that evening and
examined the grains she had gotten that day, she was surprised to find a few
grains of gold in the rice. You can imagine both her surprise and despair when
she realized she should have given all her rice grains to the king. We are here
to offer our gifts to Child Jesus in the manger as His birthday gift. Let us
remember that Jesus does not want our material gifts as much as He wants our
own selves, with all our weakness and temptations, our merits and demerits. Let
our Christmas gift to him be a heart full of love and a strong and sincere
resolution to share it generously with others.
8) “I want somebody who has skin on."
Leonard Griffith, the outstanding pastor in Toronto, tells the story of a
mother who was putting her little daughter to bed in the midst of a
thunderstorm. She told her daughter that she did not need to be frightened,
that God was with her and her mother and father were close by in the living
room. The girl replied to her mother, "Mommy, but when it thunders this
way, I want somebody who has skin on." This simple, homely story, in
essence, is the essential truth of our text. The invisible spirit of God did
clothe himself in skin, flesh, and blood and came to dwell among us with grace
and truth.
9) A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, is all about
Ebenezer Scrooge, the mean banker who hoards all his money, and goes around
saying, "Bah! Humbug!" On Christmas Eve, he is visited by the ghosts
of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future. Then he wakes up on
Christmas morning, and finds out he's been given a second chance. He buys the
biggest turkey for Bob Crachett and Tiny Tim, is reconciled with his family,
serves everyone, and loves everyone for the rest of his life. What makes this
such a great story is that Scrooge wakes up on Christmas and decides to spend
his life consciously loving and serving others, to live every day as if it were
Christmas, loving and serving Christ in everyone.
11) “I wish I could be a brother like that”:
Paul received an automobile from his brother as a Christmas present. On
Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin was walking
around the shiny new car, admiring it. “Is this your car, Mister?" he
asked. Paul nodded. "My brother gave it to me for Christmas." The boy
was astounded. "You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn't cost
you nothing? Boy, I wish..." He hesitated. Of course Paul knew what he was
going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what
the lad said jarred Paul all the way down to his heels. "I wish," the
boy went on, "that I could be a brother like that."
Paul looked at the boy in astonishment, then impulsively he
added, "Would you like to take a ride in my automobile?" "Oh
yes, I'd love that." After a short ride, the boy turned and with his eyes
aglow, said, "Mister, would you mind driving in front of my house?"
Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the lad wanted. He wanted to show
his neighbors that he could ride home in a big automobile. But Paul was wrong
again.
"Will you stop where those two steps are?" the boy
asked. He ran up the steps. Then in a little while Paul heard him coming back,
but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled brother. He sat
him down on the bottom step, then sort of squeezed up against him and pointed
to the car. "There she is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His
brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn't cost him a cent. And someday
I'm gonna give you one just like it...then you can see for yourself all the
pretty things in the Christmas windows that I've been trying to tell you
about."
Paul got out and lifted the lad to the front seat of his
car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them
began a memorable holiday ride. That Christmas Eve, Paul learned what Jesus
meant when he had said: "It is more blessed to give..." [Dan Clark.
From Chicken Soup for the Soul, (1992), pp. 25-26.]
12) Erik’s Jesus in rags:
A Christmas story: (Erik's Old Man by Nancy Dahlberg. From Chicken Soup for the
Christian Soul (1997), pp. 307-309)
It was Sunday, Christmas Day. After the holidays in San
Francisco we were driving back home to Los Angeles. We stopped for lunch in
King City. The restaurant was nearly empty. We were the only family and ours
were the only children. I heard Erik, my one-year-old, squeal with glee.
“Hithere,” the two words he always thought were one. “Hithere” and he pounded
his fat baby hands- whack, whack, whack – on the metal high chair. His face was
alive with excitement, his eyes were wide, gums bared in a toothless grin. He
wriggled and giggled. Then I saw the source of his merriment: an old, dirty
smelly bum in rags. He spoke to Erik: “Hi there, baby. Hi there, big boy, I see
ya, Buster.” My husband and I exchanged a look that was a cross between “What
do we do?” and “Poor devil.”
Our meal came, and the banging and the noise continued. Now
the old bum was shouting across the room and Erik continued to laugh and
answer, “Hithere.” Every call was echoed. Nobody thought it was cute. The guy
was a drunk and a disturbance. I was embarrassed. My husband, Dennis, was
humiliated. Dennis went to pay the check, imploring me to get Erik and meet him
in the parking lot. “Lord, just let me get out of here before he speaks to me
or Erik,” and I bolted for the door. It soon was obvious that both the Lord and
Erik had other plans. As I drew closer to the man on my way out, Erik, with his
eyes riveted on his new friend, leaned over my arm, reaching up with his in a
baby’s "pick-me-up position." In the split-second of balancing my
baby, I came eye-to-eye with the old man. Erik was lunging for him, arms spread
wide. The bum implored me: “Would you let me hold your baby?” There was no need
for me to answer since Erik propelled himself from my arms into those of the
bum. Suddenly a very old man and a very young baby consummated their love
relationship.
Erik laid his tiny head upon the man’s ragged shoulder. The
man’s eyes closed, and I saw tears hover beneath the lashes. His aged hands,
rough and worn from hard labor, gently cradled and stroked my baby. I stood
awestruck. The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms for a moment. Then
he opened his eyes, looked into mine, and said in a firm voice: “You take care
of this baby.” And somehow I managed to say “I will." At last the bum
handed Erik to me. As I held my arms open to receive my baby, the old man said,
“God bless you, Ma’am. You’ve given me my Christmas gift.” I said nothing more
than a muttered “thanks.” With Erik in my arms, I ran for the car. Dennis
wondered why I was crying and holding Erik so tightly. And why I was saying,
“My God, forgive me. Forgive me”
13) Will you take Christ home with you this
Christmas?
When a little boy named Davis came to Christmas morning Mass with his parents,
he was surprised to find that baby Jesus was not in the Nativity Set. His
parents immediately went into the sacristy and asked the pastor who had removed
the Baby Jesus. The pastor rushed to the crib only to realize that some
miscreants had stolen the Baby from the manger after the Midnight Mass. Later,
during the morning Mass, the pastor informed the congregation of the theft and
told them that he couldn't understand the motive behind such a callous act.
Then, he asked them to see that the Baby Jesus was returned. The manger,
however, remained empty.
Later that afternoon, depressed and sad, the pastor was
walking through the wintry streets when he saw his neighbor, little Tommy.
Shabbily dressed against the cold, Tommy was proudly walking with a new, bright
red wagon. The pastor knew how much his parents must have scrimped and saved to
buy him the wagon. With a surge of Christmas spirit, the pastor wished Tommy a
Merry Christmas and congratulated him on his beautiful Christmas gift. It was
then that he noticed that Tommy’s new red wagon wasn't empty. The Baby Jesus
stolen from the church lay on a pillow in the wagon. The pastor was
disappointed. He told Tommy that stealing was wrong and that the entire parish
had been hurt by his action. Wiping from his cheeks the flowing penitential
tears, Tommy said, "But, Father, I didn't steal Jesus! It wasn't like that
at all. I've been asking Jesus for a red wagon for Christmas for a long time,
and, you see, I promised Him when I got it, He'd be the first one I took out
for a ride. I kept my promise and now I am on my way to the church to bring
Baby Jesus home!” Each Christmas invites us to take Jesus to our home, because
the only inn where He cares to find shelter is the inn of our hearts. If, like
the pastor in our story, we have misjudged others, we can take Jesus home with
us by asking their forgiveness. If someone has hurt us, we can forgive him or
her. Let’s make this a Christmas of reconciliation, love, peace and joy.
14) O. Henry’s story of sacrificial Christmas
sharing: “Gift of the Magi”:
A brief retelling of this old, but touching story is as follows: It was
Christmas Eve, during the days of the Depression of the 1930's. Della and
James, a newly married couple, were very poor. They loved each other dearly,
but money was hard to come by. In fact, as Christmas approached, they were
unhappy because they had no money to buy presents for each other. They had two
possessions that they valued deeply: James had a gold watch which had belonged
to his father, and Della had long and beautiful brown hair. Della knew that
James’ watch had no matching chain--only a worn-out leather strap. A matching
chain would be an ideal gift for her husband, but she lacked the money to buy
it.
As she stood before the mirror, her eyes fell on her long
brown tresses. She was very proud of her beautiful hair, but she knew what she
had to do. She faltered a moment, but nothing could stand in the way of love.
She hastened to the “hair-dealers,” sold her hair for twenty dollars, and went
round shop after shop, hunting for the ideal gift. At last she found it: a
matching chain for her husband’s watch. She was very happy and proud of the
gift. She knew he would love it, the fruit of her sacrifice.
James came in, beaming with love, proud of the gift he had
bought for Della. He knew she would be very happy with the gift. But when he
saw her, his face fell. She thought he was angry at what she had done. She
tried to console him by saying that her hair would grow fast, and soon it would
be as beautiful as before. That is when he gave her his gift. It was an expensive
set of combs, with gem-studded rims. She had always wanted them for her hair!
She was very happy, but with a tinge of sadness. She knew it would be some time
before she could use the precious gift.
Then, with tears in her eyes, she presented him with the gift she had bought.
As he looked at the beautiful chain, he said with a sigh: “I guess our gifts
will have to wait for some time. The combs were very expensive; I had to sell
my watch to buy the combs!” These were the perfect gifts: gifts of sacrificial
love. Both James and Della were very happy for, like the Magi, they had
discovered LOVE through self-sacrifice.
15) Two babies in the manger?
In 1994, two Christian missionaries answered an invitation from the Russian
Department of Education to teach morals and ethics in a large orphanage. About
100 boys and girls who had been abandoned, abused, and left in the care of a
government-run program were in the orphanage. It was nearing Christmas and the
missionaries decided to tell them the story of Christmas. It would be the first
time these children would hear the story of the birth of Christ. They told the
children about Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem. Finding no room in the
inn, the couple went to a stable, where the Baby Jesus was born and placed in a
manger. Throughout the story, the children and the orphanage staff sat in
amazement as they listened. When the story was finished, the missionaries gave
the children three small pieces of cardboard to make a crude manger. Each child
was given a small paper square, cut from yellow napkins that the missionaries
had brought with them since no colored paper was available.
Following instructions, the children tore the paper and
carefully laid strips in the manger for straw. Small squares of flannel, cut
from a worn-out nightgown discarded by a tourist, were used for the baby’s
blanket. A doll-like baby was cut from tan felt which the missionaries had also
brought with them. It was all going smoothly until one of the missionaries sat
down at a table to help a 6 year old boy named Misha. He had finished his
manger. When the missionary looked at the little boy’s manger, she was startled
to see not one, but two babies in the manger. Quickly, she called for the
translator to ask Misha why there were two babies in the manger. Crossing his
arms in front of him and looking at this completed manger scene, Misha began to
repeat the story very seriously. For such a young boy, who had only heard the
Christmas story once, he related the
happenings accurately until he came to the part where Mary
put the Baby Jesus in the manger.
Then Misha started to ad-lib. He made up his own ending. He
said, “And when Maria laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked
me if I had a place to stay. I told him I have no mamma and I have no papa, so
I don’t have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me that I could stay with Him.
But I told him I couldn’t, because I didn’t have a gift to give Him like the
shepherds and the magi did. But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I
thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift. I thought maybe if
I kept Him warm, that would be a good gift. So I asked Jesus, “If I keep You
warm, will that be a good enough gift?” And Jesus told me, “If you keep Me
warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave Me.” “So I got into the
manger and then Jesus looked at me and He told me I could stay with Him – for
always.” As little Misha finished his story, his eyes brimmed full of tears
that splashed down his little cheeks. Putting his hand over his face, his head
dropped to the table and his shoulders shook as he sobbed and sobbed. The
little orphan had found Someone Who would never abandon nor abuse him, someone
who would stay with him - FOR ALWAYS. Today we celebrate the great feast of
Jesus the Emmanuel – “God With Us. “
16) Did you see the queen? Remember that nursery rhyme?
"Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?"
"I've been to London to look at the queen."
"Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you there?"
"A frightened a little mouse, under her chair."
The pussycat went to see the queen, but it saw only a mouse. We have come to
Christmas to see Jesus coming to our lives as our Lord and personal Savior. But
do we see only the lights, the statues in the manger scene and the poinsettias
around the altar? We have come to experience the Light of the world shine on
us. But do we see only the darkness of our lives and that of the world? God has
communicated His love for us and His desire to be with us through the Babe in
the manger. Do we get the Message?
17) A Christmas Parable written by Louis Cassels:
“Once upon a time there was a man who looked upon Christmas as a lot of humbug.
He wasn’t a Scrooge. He was a kind and decent person, generous to his family,
upright in all his dealings with other men. But he didn’t believe all that
stuff about Incarnation which churches proclaim at Christmas. And he was too
honest to pretend that he did. “I am truly sorry to distress you,” he told his
wife, who was a faithful churchgoer. “But I simply cannot understand this claim
that God becomes man. It doesn’t make any sense to me.” On Christmas Eve his
wife and children went to church for the midnight service. He declined to
accompany them. “I’d feel like a hypocrite,” he explained. “I’d rather stay at
home. But I’ll wait up for you.”
Shortly after his family drove away in the car, snow began
to fall. He went to the window and watched the flurries getting heavier and
heavier. “If we must have Christmas,” he thought, “it’s nice to have a white
one.” He went back to his chair by the fireside and began to read his
newspaper. A few minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound. It was
quickly followed by another, then another. He thought that someone must be
throwing snowballs at his living room window. When he went to the front door to
investigate, he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the storm. They had
been caught in the storm and in a desperate search for shelter had tried to fly
through his window. “I can’t let these poor creatures lie there and freeze,” he
thought. “But how can I help them?” Then he remembered the barn where the
children’s pony was stabled. It would provide a warm shelter.
He put on his coat and galoshes and tramped through the
deepening snow to the barn. He opened the door wide and turned on a light. But
the birds didn’t come in. “Food will lure them in,” he thought. So he hurried
back to the house for bread crumbs, which he sprinkled on the snow to make a
trail into the barn. To his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs and
continued to flop around helplessly in the snow. He tried shooing them into the
barn by walking around and waving his arms. They scattered in every direction -
except into the warm lighted barn. “They find me a strange and terrifying
creature,” he said to himself, “and I can’t seem to think of any way to let
them know they can trust me. If only I could be a bird myself for a few
minutes, perhaps I could lead them to safety. . . .” Just at that moment the
church bells began to ring. He stood silent for a while, listening to the bells
pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. Then he sank to his knees in the snow.
“Now I do understand,” he whispered. “Now I see why You had to do it.” (Quoted
by Fr. Tommy Lane)
18) God has revealed Himself in his Son."
Theologian Karl Barth stood before students and faculty at Princeton in 1963
during his Princeton Lectures. A student asked: "Sir, don't you think that
God has revealed himself in other religions and not only Christianity?"
Barth stunned many who were present when he thundered, "No, God has not
revealed himself in any religion, including Christianity. He has revealed
himself in his Son."
19) Shuttle service to heaven:
The brilliant writer, C. S. Lewis, wrote a thought-provoking book called The
Great Divorce. It is not about the divorce that occurs between husband and
wife. It is about the divorce that occurs between our souls and God. In this
book, C. S. Lewis gives us a picture of Hell as a big city, with all its
pressures and problems. In this big city, the weather is always cold and wet with
a heavy rain. The light is always grey and murky. The people in this city of
Hell become more and more aware of the great divorce that has taken place
between their soul and God, and they sink deeper and deeper into their dismal
surroundings. Except ... there is a way out! There is a way out of this
terrible condition! God has provided a shuttle-bus service from Hell to Heaven:
regular bus service. All you need to do is get on the bus and let the power of
God carry you into the light. The incredible thing about the story is that very
few people get on board the buses, even though they are arriving and departing
all the time. The people find all kinds of excuses for putting the journey off
to some vague future time -- and they miss the opportunity to be carried by the
power of God from death to new life; from the misery of being estranged from
God to the joy of being in union with God. Though we may stand in the darkness
of the "great divorce," the Christmas Promise of God is that He will
carry us into the light if only we are willing to get on the bus.
20) Jesus sells:
One never tires of Jesus as a subject. The cover stories of Time, Newsweek, and
US News & World Report regularly mark His nativity. One reason for
featuring Him so often is that their circulation invariably increases. Born
twenty centuries ago, Jesus still sells. Mel Gibson broke all records with his
DVD of The Passion of the Christ. He sold nine million copies in three weeks at
$22 a clip. The first book published by Pope Benedict XVI is called "Jesus
of Nazareth." It quickly found a home on the Best Seller list of The New
York Times. Artists at their easels struggle to paint His portrait again. Have
you seen Andy Warhol's Nativity? Composers struggle to salute Him with a fresh
musical score. Will it ever be otherwise? I believe not. Tell others of Jesus.
But firstly allow Him to be born in you. He can't be born again, but we can.
(Fr. James Gilhooley)
22) “But I did show up”:
A story is told of an old woman who lived all alone. Each year as Christmas
drew near she would sigh and lament her loneliness, wishing that some people
would visit her. Since nobody would visit her, she decided to pray to the baby
Jesus and his mother requesting that they pay her a visit. Finally the baby
Jesus appeared to her in a dream and told her that her prayer had been heard
and that the Holy Family would visit her on Christmas day. Oh, how excited she
was! She began cleaning and polishing everything in her house squeaky clean in
preparation for the divine visitor. She cooked her best dish and baked her best
cake in readiness for the visit of Jesus and his mother. Who knows, maybe if
she pleased them well enough, they might decide to stay on and live with her!
When Christmas day finally arrived her house was squeaky
clean. Everything was in place to give her divine guests a befitting welcome.
She sat by the door and read a book, just to make sure the visitors would not
have to ring the door bell twice before she would open the door and let them
in. It was a cold and rainy day. At about noon she spotted a gypsy couple in
the rain making their way to her house. The man was dirty and disheveled. The
thinly-clad woman was nursing a baby who was crying in the rain. “Why can’t
these gypsies just get a decent job,” she said to herself. Then she screamed at
them, “Turn back, turn back immediately. Come another day if you like. Today, I
am expecting very important visitors.” The gypsy family turned back and left.
The woman continued to wait. She waited all day and no divine visitors showed
up. At sunset she fell asleep on the chair and there in her dream was Jesus.
“Jesus,” she screamed, “how could you disappoint me? You said you were coming
to visit me for Christmas and I waited all day and you never showed up.” “But I
did show up,” replied Jesus. I came with My father and mother in the rain and
you turned us away.”
23) “Your God Is Too Small.”
JB Phillips authored a book entitled Your God Is Too Small. One of the great
reasons for Advent is to celebrate the birth of Jesus and explore the BIGNESS
of our GREAT God. The irony of Christmas is this: the bigness of God can be
seen in a tiny baby. According to Paul in Colossians 1:15-23 this tiny baby is
the dynamic, omniscient, omnipotent creator of the universe!
