We were born beautiful, all daughters and sons!
Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-18
One day, a man was sitting between two ladies in a taxi. The lady to his right was very beautiful, the one to his left very ugly. Each time the taxi driver negotiates a bend and this man tilts towards the beautiful lady to his right, he yells out: oh Lord, do not lead us into temptation; but when the taxi tilts him towards the ugly lady, he cries: oh Lord, deliver us from evil!
Christmas brings a good tiding – everybody is a child of God, therefore, everybody is beautiful no ugly people exist, not least ladies! Human beauty comes from the divine that dwells in each one born of God – “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14). As we celebrate Christ’s taking of flesh, Christmas, our vision of humanity is transformed – we do not live in the world of saints and sinners, but in a society composed of sons and daughters of God.
One important fact in the lives of Christians is that we are messengers of God to announce the beauty of God’s creation, especially the beauty inherent in each human being. Baptism and Confirmation give us the identity of a Christian, and Holy Communion (Eucharist) reveals our identity, not as individuals but a community of believers, the Church and the Body of Christ. If we are Christians, other christs, Christmas is a communal and family celebration. The question is, how do we celebrate?
“Isaiah,” a name which means “God saves,” starts out, our first reading, with the bearer of good tidings/news. Every messenger has a message to deliver; in the case of Isaiah today, three massages are proclaimed – peace, salvation and God is king (Isaiah 52:7). Even though the historical context of our first reading is the liberation from Babylonian captivity and the Jewish return to their native country of Judah, our Christmas liturgy draws our attention to a different reality – our experiences individually and collectively of joy because of what the Lord has done in our lives and the lives of our friends and compatriots. It is a day of counting our blessings of life, health, family, friends, finances, survivals from harm and ill-luck, etc.
The triple reasons for happiness Isaiah enunciates, namely, peace, salvation and God is king, summarize the purposes of God’s actions in our lives. “Peace – shalom,” does not mean the absence of war, as far as its Jewish meaning is concerned. It means wholeness – financial blessing, good health, presence of children, long life/longevity, etc. To announce God’s peace-shalom is to count our blessings, those areas of our life where God’s intervention manifests itself. Next, God’s “salvation” is a reminder to us that we are sinners and undeserving of God’s blessings, but God forgives us our sins, in Christ Jesus, and qualifies us for his blessings, all the blessings we enjoy from him. Finally, “God is king” reminds us that life itself is a gift from God for the service of God and not for ungodly lifestyle.
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tides” (Isaiah 52:7) is God’s summons for messengers to proclaim that sorrows and misfortunes are not the only experiences of the human person; that joy and peace are still part and parcel of our experiences on the planet earth. That the oppressive and repressive regimes of the world, the greedy and exploitative economic realities of our world today are only living in borrowed time – God is king, so the joy and wholeness he offers us go on, despite man’s inhumanity to man.
The imperfections we notice upon earth do not stop a Christian from being happy because God’s peace-shalom is not premised on a perfect world but on God’s dominion over earth. This imperfect world receives the Son of God, baby Jesus, despite its imperfection. Our joy springs from imitating the Son of God, who, according to our second reading, comes to die for sins and afterward seats at the right hand of God (Hebrews 1:3). To listen to the voice of God directly, in his Son – Jesus Christ – is to have God among us, journeying through life with us, life in all its messiness and joys. As Gaudium et Spes (1) puts it: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.”
The beauty of it all is that God upgrades us in Christ. The statement of our gospel – “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14) – speaks of the divine dignity God accords us in Christ. Just like Christ, but through Christ, we are children of God because of the divine nature we received through the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. In other words, the human person is not an irreparable sinner but the image of God capable of great accomplishments!
The angels shouted “glory to God on high,” on Christmas Eve, but their voices are now silent so that our voices may be heard. John the Baptist witnessed to the life of Christ, but he is now dead, so that you and I may be God’s witnesses here and now. Since you and I are God’s messengers of peace and joy, let us shout it out “Iur God reigns,” despite Boko Haram and ISIL. Even in the midst of misunderstanding and economic meltdown, let us be convinced that even earthly sorrows cannot take away our happiness because we are the “favored” ones of God, just like Mary was told by angel Gabriel, and she hurried to share that message with Elizabeth. If Jesus was born in a manger, having animals as his entourage, money is not the source of our happiness, but Jesus is! Indeed, a voice cries out, not because everything is perfect, but because every voice has a message: the Christian message is “peace upon earth,” because God loves us!
Merry Christmas!