Homily

Merry Christmas! Tonight we celebrate the nativity of the Lord. The word “nativity” comes from the Latin “nativitas” which translates as “arisen from birth.” In our context, it is the proclamation that God miraculously was born into humanity through normal human means, childbirth. Such an event can never be explained in any homily nor by the most learned scholars. Its the stuff of mystery. So, tonight, I don’t pretend any presumption to be able to explain it. Rather, I would like to offer one simple message that Christ’s birth might offer us in the climate of today’s world events. The message? Vulnerability.

We live in a day and age when war and terrorism are fixtures in the landscape of politics and our day to day behavior. But, this is clearly not the will of God. Rather, God’s solution is one of contradiction that doesn’t make sense to many people. It is woven into the fabric of our sense of pride as well as our sinful desire for power.

God is all powerful and all knowing. These are dogmatic beliefs of all Judeo-Christian persons. We all believe this fact. Additionally, the Jewish people were expecting a worldly-powerful leader to come from the line of David to restore Israel’s independence and status in the world. Yet, God’s approach was altogether unexpected. God chose to empty himself as the means to fully reveal who he was. This expression, this revelation IS the Christmas event. We hear in Scripture, “He emptied himself and took on the form of a slave” (Phil. 2:7). He became fully human while still being fully divine. He did not become a powerful ruler in order to fully express himself. He became vulnerable in a way that we all know, that all can comprehend as being vulnerable. He became a baby. The nativity, the incarnation, Christmas itself is the the beginning of this new way of God’s expressing what we call the Good News.

And so what is one of the things that Christmas teaches us? It teaches us that the way of peace, the way of spiritual freedom, the way to holiness and orthodox Christian belief is through vulnerability. If we call ourselves Christians, we must ponder deeply upon how we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and how we allow our sin of pride to protect and defend ourselves. Furthermore, Christmas isn’t the end of the message. Christmas points us to the Crucifixion. Such a horrible event endured by Jesus once again speaks the same message. Recall, he offered no defense though he could have wielded the greatest power of all.

And so, this coming new year, among many of the resolutions you might make, consider making yourself more vulnerable to the will of God, vulnerable to Christ working in your heart, vulnerable to the loved ones who live with you, vulnerable instead of power-grabbing, vulnerable instead of defensive, vulnerable instead of headstrong. Be vulnerable in your life and you will find peace. By opening yourself up to God’s will, you imitate Jesus in the Nativity. You become, very profoundly, a child of God. If there is one present you can give yourself, try being vulnerable.