Homily for
The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Sunday 25 December 2016
The Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
A Parish of the Diocese of Bethlehem and The Episcopal Church
Readings:
Once more today we keep
Christmas, the Mass of the Nativity of Christ. Last night in the first
Mass of Christmas we heard the birth account from St. Luke the
Evangelist. Today in this second Mass we hear the account of St. John the
Evangelist. He gives us no record whatsoever of the birth. His
account serves the purpose of telling us who this Jesus is and why he is so
important.
I love this passage from
John's Gospel. It is one that we as Christians need to know well. I
say that because there are all sorts of opinions about Jesus the son of Mary,
born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth, who was put to death in
Jerusalem. Even history affirms these things, and among those who make no
religious claims whatsoever, these things are affirmed. Among the
religions of the world, there are a number of them who affirm that this Jesus
was a very wise man who taught very commendable teachings full of wisdom.
They will even quote his wisdom and use it to teach others how one ought to
live.
Things get interesting
when we look at the views of the offspring of the great Patriarch
Abraham. The Jews deny completely that Jesus is a prophet and the Messiah
long foretold by other prophets. The Muslims acknowledge Jesus to be a
great prophet, second only to Mohamed. In fact they even believe that
the one who shall judge the living and the dead on the Last Day is none other
than Jesus.
But we Christians stand
alone. Our view of who Jesus is is unique to us. When we are asked
the question, "who is Jesus; God or human?" our answer is this:
"Yes!"
This answer comes
straight out of John. This Evangelist tells us that: "In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God." Only it's even more powerful than this. We confess every
time we read the Nicene Creed that there is but One God. If we literally
translate what John has written, what he is in fact saying is that this Jesus,
the Eternal Word of God, is the God, the one and only God.
In this proclamation of
the identity of Jesus as true God in our midst, we find the true reason why we
keep glad Christmas. God has broken into our world. In Jesus we
have confronted not just a wise man. We come face to face with a God who
does not abandon us but rather who has chosen to be in our midst always and
ultimately to bring us through this life and into the heavenly life where we
shall stand before God and live with God forever.
It is fitting that this
year we keep this second Mass of Christmas on Sunday, the Lord's Day, the Day
of Resurrection. Today not only do we celebrate the birth of
Christ. More importantly we proclaim his resurrection, as we do each Sunday.
In celebrating his birth, we are mindful that Jesus was not simply born.
He lived among us. He performed acts of healing that can be attributed
only to God. And even as we behold the babe in a manger, we are mindful
of the cross on which Jesus died and the tomb where his lifeless body was laid
to rest.
If this Jesus were anyone
other than the God of heaven and earth, as John proclaims him in today's
Gospel, the cross and tomb would be the last word, a word of defeat and death,
an image that would rightly make us wonder at why we celebrate the birth of a
man now long dead. But Jesus is not dead! On the Third Day he rose
victorious from the grave. And in rising from the dead, the ultimate
affirmation that he is the one true God come among us, he gives us the promise
that as he lives forever, so also shall we live forever, first in this live and
in this world, and afterwards in the life of the world to come.
Today we keep glad
Christmas not as a people who look backward into history. We are a people
who believe that the presence of Christ gives us hope for better things to
come. How the world around us needs such hope for better things from God.
John gives us that
hope. But he also gives us a challenge. The world about us with the
setting of the sun on this day will revert back to life as normal.
Christmas in the eyes of the world comes to an end right here and right now
with this day. But for us we keep Christmas for this and the next 11
days. More importantly we show Jesus to be in our midst and
spreading the love of God not in the past but right here and right now.
Will others see Jesus and
behold God in our midst right here and right now, not only on such a holy day
as this, but on the most common ordinary days? The answer depends on
us. As we await the full revelation of Jesus our Lord and God, we are
called to be the hands and the voice of Christ. We are called to love and
to serve all persons, mindful that Jesus hung on the cross and rose from the
dead that each of them, all of them, might have the hope that knowing the son
of Mary is the God who loves us unconditionally.
With that in mind, my
friends, let me remind you of this. It is not enough that we keep Christ
in Christmas. We need to keep Christ in the world, pointing everyone to
God. And so as we live in this last week of this Year of Our Lord 2016,
and as we prepare to enter into a new year that we shall bring in with the
Feast of The Holy Name, the name above all names, the name of Jesus, let us so
recommit ourselves to live in such a way that in us and through us, the world
shall know that we are Christians and shall be encountered by none other than
the God who longs to be the one in whom we all live, not for a time and season,
but forever.
Alleluia! Christ is
risen! The Lord is risen indeed!
Alleluia!
Father
Timothy
Alleman
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