Today we pause along with the whole Church to recognize that Jesus Christ is not just one more teacher among great teachers. That he is not just one more prophet among great prophets.
The little boy born in the stable in Bethlehem 2000 years ago is God made man. When we contemplate the newborn child, we behold the face of God. The invisible God of the Old Testament of whom images were forbidden, has come to Earth and shown us his face! Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God.
This newborn babe would grow up to show us He truly is God: the seas and storms obeyed his commands, he spoke with authority, he forgave sins, he gave a new law and rose from the dead. The Gospels reveal to us that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Most High, he is the one who will rule forever and whose kingdom will never end. Saint John taught from the beginning, that the Word of God which created the universe became man and made his dwelling among us.
Our creator has become like us in all things but sin: this is the mystery of the incarnation, this is the source of Christmas joy and holiday cheer. Why has God done this? Why has our creator humbled himself to become a helpless baby? He has done this out of love for us and to show us the great dignity we possess as human beings.
God loves us so much that He came to earth to reconcile us to Himself. When we are in love, we want to spend every moment with that person, we want to be their strength, we want to be there in the hard times. God does the same, he loves us so much that he has come to spend time with us, to strengthen us and to console us in our pain and suffering. We know for sure He longs to be with us. The question for us is: do we long to be with Him? In prayer? At Mass? In our daily work? If we see God as a nuisance, as someone who gets in the way of our plans and desires, we then have the wrong concept of God. Our God is a God desperately in love with us that will do anything – even become one of us – to get our attention.
God has also shown us our great dignity as human beings. Take a moment to ponder this: would God ever take upon himself something that is junk, defective or deplorable? No, by no means no. When God takes upon himself a human nature, he redeems humanity completely, making it 100% good. In Christ we are completely redeemed, we are made good from the inside out and no trace of wretchedness remains in us.
How do we live differently because God has become man? If it’s such an earth-shattering event, it should affect and inform everything we do. Do we give Jesus what is due to Him as God? Do we come to Mass every Sunday to remember his redeeming work by dying and rising from the dead? Do we treat others with love and respect recognizing the presence of God in them? Do we live a morally lax life distant from Jesus Christ? How do you live your life in light of the incarnation?
Do you live differently because God has become man? I hope the answer is yes! Otherwise what we celebrate today would not matter. Just as Jesus came humbly and quietly to a stable 2000 years ago and almost nobody noticed, He comes to us today at this Mass humbly and quietly in the Eucharist. God continues to come to us, he continues to seek us and we encounter Him here at Mass.
As the shepherds came to adore Him at the stable, Come let us Adore Him here at the altar, it is Christ the Lord.
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