Christmas Eve III 2009

Let us go now even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which

Is come to pass; which the Lord hath made known unto us.

Our lections for this Christmas Eve are taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke, and he alone of the Evangelists records the visitation of the shepherds to the manger in Bethlehem. Tradition has it that Luke records the memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary, being for some time, after Christ’s Ascension, in her company. And how fitting it is for us to read this Gospel record at the first Mass of Christmas. For the Shepherds comprise a perfect image of who and what we must be like as human beings who come to see this thing which is come to pass. They form a major part of the fabric of that spiritual disposition which is essential for our approaching of our coming Saviour. You will remember that our Advent Season was all about making ready, preparing in heart and mind to welcome the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, once again at Christmas time. And so we become, as it were, one with them in spirit. And on this night with them we shall experience first a certain fear, then a definite hope, and a finally a confident joy in what our spiritual eyes shall come to behold.

With the Shepherds tonight we find ourselves beginning in the darkness. We are those who are out in the midst of the countryside, we are simple folk, or have become simpler through Advent, I trust and hope, and so, like them, tend to our business in the dark of this night. Darkness symbolizes a certain ignorance, obscurity and not knowing. With the Shepherds we might find ourselves not truly knowing what should come to pass. It is quiet and it still. Have we ever really known the true meaning of Christmas? Have we ever understood what did come to pass then, and should now? The Shepherds, under the darkness of this night, care for their lambs. You and I, under the darkness of this night care for our families and friends in hearth and home . We gather our loved ones around us, and a feeling of quiet tenderness fills our hearts. But does anything else confront us or visit our minds on this night?       

For the shepherds then, suddenly the natural order of their lives is interrupted by an Angel. “Lo the Angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.” As Hans Von Balthasar writes, “The tremendous, unearthly radiance shows that the angel is a messenger of Heaven and clothes him with incontrovertible authority.” They are afraid then. Blasting through the veil of time, disturbing the stillness of the dark night, the Angel of Eternity arrives with all the terror of God’s presence. They are assaulted, as it were, by that supernatural presence which most men spend their lives avoiding and ignoring. Tonight this is not an option for the Shepherds. Tonight, this is not an option for you and for me. With the Shepherds, you and I must ask ourselves who we are in the face of this divine interruption.  For should we become one is Spirit with the Shepherds, then with them we shall react to God’s coming with wonder, amazement, confusion, shock, and awe. God’s Word spoken through Angels terrified them then, and should do no less to us now.  We are frail flesh. With the shepherds we should know that we are nomads, not truly ever meant to be at home in this world. We are being called forth into a new life, a new beginning.

So we fear. The fear of the Lord, his nearness, is the beginning of wisdom. But we are bidden not to rest in fear. We know who and what we are. If we fear God, then truly with the shepherds we realize that we are poor, poor in spirit, without any real value, worth or profit in the face of God. We are humbled and brought low, and yet this time we cannot run, we cannot hide, for God is calling. But God will have us come to him this night, that we might become rich; God will have us come to him this night that we might fine true life. And so we hear the Angels say, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto to you is born this day in the City of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord”.  A Saviour is born then. A birth has come to pass which brings great joy. This Babe that has been born shall be for all people. His birth and life will bring great joy- gaudium magnum. Fear is overcome by joy. The Shepherds are, no doubt, with you and me, still confused and bewildered. But with them we listen. The Angel continues: “And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger”. They are bidden to walk by the light of the Angel’s revelation to the newly born babe. They and we, were and are called this night to move away from all of our fears, our anxieties, our doubts, our confusions, away from the idols that possess us, to the point where Eternity meets time. Where God meets man in the heart of the babe lying in a manger.

“And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men.” The Angel is joined by others who cry out and sing heavenly music to God’s glory and praise. But note this, the Shepherds, and you and I, are honored with such a visitation, blessed with such a call and anointed with a vocation or summons even to travel to Bethlehem.  This call is for us. The Saviour is for us. Our human nature is honored, it is blessed, it is chosen even in its fallen and nomadic, its roaming and lost state to move toward that new life which shall call us to new life, that new birth which shall give us new birth, that love which shall give us a love that never dies. The Angels depart, and we must make haste. We must obey. We must go even unto Bethlehem.

The Babe is born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem means in Greek “the house of substance” and in Hebrew “the house of meat.” to encounter a substantial thing that has come to pass, and with the shepherds, to feast with the eyes of our souls on the wondrous birth of the Saviour. We have been called from our roaming, our lost state, our exile and back on to the path that leads to new and true life.

© W. J. Martin†