Christmas is a season of joy. Joy at events that took place two thousand years ago. Joy at the Christmas news - a mother and a baby; a stable and a manger; angels, shepherds, wise men. Joy for little Bethlehem, town of Jesse's son, David, and now of a greater king, Mary's son, Jesus. Joy expressed in carols, in nativity plays, in Christmas parties, in a desire for peace, in good will to all.
Traditionally, the joy unleashed at Christmas lasted twelve days, until Epiphany, the day when we remember both Jesus' baptism in the Jordan and Bethlehem's mysterious visitors from afar. Nowadays, it perhaps lasts until the season's sales. But the message of the angels is not just a message for December 25th. And what we sing in our carols is not only for Christmastide, but also for the whole year.
The love which came down at Christmas did not vanish back up into the heavens at the Ascension. The saviour "born this day in the city of David" can save us now, and indeed is saving us now. The baby to be called Emmanuel, With-us-is-God, is with us today, walking among us as we tread his way.
For the baby in the manger was born to share our life. To those who are ready to open their hearts, God is ready to come and to feel our joys and sorrows. And to feel, in a way that we are not capable of, the full sorrow of our sinful existence.
Through God's word the earth and the heavens had come into being. Through God's word we all were made. God's word had been cut in stone at Sinai, had been preached and put in writing by the prophets. And now, in Jesus, God's word was no longer something simply to read and obey. "The word became flesh, and lived among us", bringing life, bringing light into darkness.
"And we beheld his glory." There is not much that is glorious about a baby in a bed of hay. The shepherds had their eyes opened by a host of angels, the wise men by a star. There is not much that is glorious in a piece of bread, a sip of wine, and even less in our neighbour we meet in the street. But if we think this way, we have missed the message of Christmas.
Jesus came to raise us from the earth, and point us to heaven. May we see God's glory in the baby in the manger, in Jesus in Capernaum, on the Cross, in the church, in all whom we meet, so that we are not blinded when we see God's glory at the end of time.
HD