If the wood of the Cross was the scandal at the end of Christ’s life, the wood of the manger was the scandal at the beginning.
At Christmas we fully encounter the radical reality of Emmanuel – God with us. We’ve been praying and singing in preparation for this event during the preceding four weeks, and just as the Mass re-presents Christ’s death and Resurrection for us, so Christmas (Christ’s Mass) re-presents the seminal moment when the Babe-God was born into this world.
What a world he was born into. In an inconspicuous place – Bethlehem (“House of Bread”) – to a carpenter and his young bride, in a region beset by political and religious squabbles between the Jewish people and their Roman rulers.
The presence of the God-Man, his very presence, is no neutral act. For before the Incarnation, a revolt and a battle over the Word Made Flesh took down a percentage of the
angels. And his birth in a manger, heralded by a star, brought about great bloodshed in the death of the Innocents, the first martyrs. Every one of us is born on that battlefield. The Prince of Peace demands a choice, says Father Robert Barron. We are either for him or we are against him.
Many writers have written about the paradox of the Babe-God. The King of the Universe born into poverty. God made flesh in a stable (or a cave). The Light of the World in the darkness. The King of the Nations with no place to lay his head. The Bread of Life, whom we consume at each and every Mass, laid in a place where animals consumed grain. The Son of God, the Lord of Lords, a tiny, vulnerable infant. The Messiah requiring feeding, comfort, warmth, and care. The Second Person of the Trinity born amidst the hay and the feed of ox and donkey. A God who wore diapers. A God with a human face. For all of these things are what it meant to be both fully human and fully divine and to enter human history, time, and space when and where and in the condition that He did.
No other religion teaches this about their founder. It’s no wonder that the Incarnation is a scandal to many.
“He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7-8) to show his great love for us, a love that resulted in Him giving himself entirely to us.
That God should become like one of us can be incomprehensible. Yet, he did, and that has changed everything. He became man so that we might become like Him, as St. Athanasius said.
Anyone who has held and beheld the wonder and the awe of a newborn babe can appreciate the mystery and the miracle of what our Heavenly Father did for us.
As you sing Christmas songs, visit with family, exchange and open gifts, and attend Mass this Christmas, reflect on the Babe-God with no place to rest his head. May we welcome Him and give Him a permanent home in our hearts so that He will prepare a permanent place for us with Him in Heaven.
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Beautiful! Thanks, Tim.
This is simple and beautiful. In my high school age religious ed class, I once used a clip from the movie Talledega Nights in which protagonist Will Farrell gives a Christmas meal blessing touting the joys of ‘Baby Jesus’, with his ‘fleecy diaper’, etc. It is sophomoric and hilarious, but resonated with the kids. (Most of the remainder of the movie is worthless, but I was happy to get an iota of piety and something akin to family values out of it). Merry Christmas!
Thanks, Tim. Evokes many emotions, not the least being that a baby needs defending and protecting…for many years. I know every new father or mother feels this new sense of responsibility made much more solid (incarnated, so to speak) amidst the joy of seeing a newborn babe. I’m sure we’ve all felt this. I suspect that we need to add to our celebration of Christmas this year the same sort of resolve to care for Christ—to defend the “scandal” and kneel down in obedience to it, asking ask for strength and grace to cherish this babe—in the days ahead, in our homes when the scandal demands too much sacrifice right now, in our families when the scandal seems so unfair to some, in our country when the scandal just seems too extreme and intolerant and uncompromising. Strangely, this responsibility, instead of being the opposite of gleeful merriment, in practice works “that our joy may be complete.” Merry Christmas
The best kind of writing…thought provoking, profound, and to the point. And I am not Tim Drake’s agent.
This isn’t the truth…why spread false words…christ mas….he was born no where on that day…read the scriptures with a open heart and you won’t be deceived. Love is beautiful.
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