The Nativity of our Lord: God enters our messy world

First Reading
Isaiah 9:1-6
To those in darkness, a child will be born who will have dominion over the earth.

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 96:1-2,2-3,11-12,13
Sing a new song to the Lord.

Second Reading
Titus 2:11-14
God has appeared, bringing salvation to all.

Gospel Reading
Luke 2:1-14

 

Jesus was born in a stable and laid in a manger. Why did God chose this messy condition, this dirty place to be born? The crib/the stable is a symbol. It is a symbol of our tainted nature, symbol of our wounded humanity and messy world. God wanted to be a part of this messy and sinful world. God wanted to be born to a broken and a wounded world. If the Word truly dwelt among us, then he was part of a family that, like most, was fairly dysfunctional, a mix of the good and bad, the saintly and the sinful, the glorious and the not so glorious. And this is such good news for us. The good news of Christmas is that God himself pushed into the dysfunctional and ambiguous family of man. And he continues to join us, even though we, like so many of his Israelite ancestors, are unworthy of him. Like them, we are flawed, compromised, half-finished. But he becomes our brother anyway. That's the amazing grace of the Incarnation. What appears to be our most chaotic, congested, convoluted times in our lives might be the best time for God to enter and be born (and flood us with his saving grace).