Christmas Day Mass Homily
The “Word Of God” At Christmas
Homily by Fr. Robert Chiesa, SJ
2016 Christmas Day at 12 Noon Mass
St. Ignatius Church, Tokyo
What could be seen, what could be heard on the first Christmas night? A newborn infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, unable to move hands or feet. He can only cry. He cannot speak. He is totally dependent on his parents. And, just like us, he will have no memory of this in future years. He is truly human. Common sense tells us that an infant cannot speak, cannot walk, and cannot think sensibly.
So when we hear the opening words of John’s Gospel today we are amazed. Jesus Christ is the Word of God and was with God from the beginning, or rather from before this world began. We are told that it was through this Word that everything was made.
The Letter to the Hebrews also says that Jesus Christ is God’s way of speaking to us, and is indeed the very Word of God. God spoke at various times and in various ways throughout the history of the world and especially through the Old Testament prophets, but in our own time God has spoken through a Son. The Creator becomes a creature.
The historical person Jesus of Nazareth is God’s Word to us. This Word is what God wanted most of all to say to us. In giving us Jesus, God has exhausted all that he wanted to say. The words, the deeds, and the very face of Jesus are God’s way of speaking and acting in this world. They are God’s way of looking at us—with concern and understanding—and forgiveness for our sins and weaknesses.
According to this same Letter to the Hebrews, from all eternity the Father said “You are my Son. I have begotten you today.” That eternal “today” refers first of all to that point in our human history when the Father brought his Son into our world. The Word took on flesh and was born in this world. God was very concerned about us and wanted to be with us. That “eternal today” also includes “our today,” this very December 25, 2016. God speaks to each one of us here today, with concern and understanding for our situation and for the situation of our world.
In his retreat manual called the “Spiritual Exercises,” St Ignatius of Loyola urges us to approach the birth of Jesus by imagining the whole world as the Blessed Trinity sees it. Some people appear to have lost all orientation and hope. Some are in good health, others are sick and suffering, and some of these do not have the physical or financial ability to get medical help. Some hate and kill. Some nations are at peace and others are in the midst of war.
Looking at this scene, what does the Holy Trinity do? Something no one could ever dream of. The Second Person of the Trinity decides to enter into this world by becoming a human being. I wonder if you have ever heard this poem by Laurence Housman:
Light looked down and beheld Darkness. “Thither will I go,” said Light.
Peace looked down and beheld War. “Thither will I go,” said Peace.
Love looked down and beheld Hatred. “Thither will I go,” said Love.
So came Light and shone.
So came Peace and gave rest.
So came Love and brought life.
And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
To put it another way: The Son of God looked down and saw us and said “I will go there and live with them.” He pitched his tent among us.
There is something quite surprising here. The second reading tells us that the Son of God, Jesus Christ himself, is the perfect expression of the glory of God, the bright luminosity and exact image of God. We are told that he created all things by his powerful word and holds them all in existence. He keeps us from falling back into nothing. And here is the surprise. He begins his life in this world as an infant who cannot speak, cannot walk, and cannot think sensibly. He will have to learn how to talk, how to walk, how to work with wood to make house and farm supplies so as to support his family.
The Letter to the Hebrews also tells us that this Jesus is far superior to the angels, praised and worshiped by the angels, but in John’s Gospel we find that he came among his own people and his own people did not receive him. They even rejected him and sentenced him to a criminal’s death by crucifixion. But here, too, God’s glory shines out. As the Word of God, Jesus holds heaven and earth together, rejecting neither God nor humanity. He holds God and humanity together first of all in his own flesh, and then, in his last words from the cross, he destroys our sinful separation from God. “Father, forgive them. They know not what they are doing,” he says, and in this way he does not let go of us. Then, while holding on to us and experiencing a depth of solitude which even seems like abandonment by the Father, he prays “Father, into your hands I surrender myself.” With Jesus reduced to the most degraded state of humanity, the curtain closes on his brief life and opens out onto the path to eternal light and our future life in the bosom of the Father.
In his utter humiliation and death on the cross Jesus shows us that God loves us, sinners though we are, and wants to be with us, and wants us to be with him. The message of Jesus’ life and death is that God is our Father, or as some prefer to put it, our Father and Mother. In the prophet Isaiah God says: “Can a woman forget the infant at her breast? Can a loving mother forget the child of her womb? Even if these were to forget, I will never forget you.” The unique contribution of Christianity to the religions of the world is that God is our loving Father.
On this Christmas Day, we look at the bright side of life, both to give thanks for the blessings of the past year and to hope for a brighter year ahead. But we can’t overlook the downside of the past year—the shameful miseries that somehow escape our control but deeply involve us in an increasingly violent world: wars, terror, torture, executions, abuse, economic and nuclear meltdowns, and all the other things that fill the pages of our daily newspapers. While counting our blessings, we also share the pain of the many miseries that touch our fellow human beings.
Perhaps this mutual sharing is the greatest gift Christmas brings us. God sends his only Son to share our whole life and be with us, even in a miserable death, to show us that are not alone, cold, and helpless, if we give care and concern to one another and respect the human dignity of everyone as children of God with Jesus.
Christmas comes at a good time of year
--when it’s dark and we want light
--when it’s cold and we want warmth
--when the dying year heals old wounds
--and the new year invites us to hope for something better.
I pray that God may bless you and all who are dear to you.