Christ is born! Glorify him! Glorify him in the manger, where he lay, weak and powerless, waiting for us to come to him and nurture him with our love. Look at him, the incarnate God-man having taken on the human condition, indeed, having become a new-born infant, needing us to take care of him! Look at him having become one of us, sharing with us our needs, and in doing so, see him, the one who is God, in solidarity with those whose needs are not yet met. Let us come to the little child, who, like all children, is eager to be loved and to love. Look to the little child in the manger, smiling at us. Look at his joy and do what we can to share in it with him.
Christ is born, not just in one point in time, but in all the hearts of those who receive him. Let us therefore find him born, not just in the manger over two thousand years ago, but in our hearts. “The birth of Christ took its inception from the shadow; yet not in Mary only did His nativity begin with overshadowing; in you too, if you are worthy, the Word of God is born.”[1] Let us open ourselves up to him, to the Sun of Righteous, so that, with our hearts open to him, we will follow him and the path of love which he set up for us to tread.
Christ is born, not just in one point in time, not just in our hearts, if we let him be, but in all the lowly ones all around us. That is, the presence of Christ is in them. The poor man and woman, the migrant, the refugee, the one fleeing oppression or persecution, the abused housewife seeking help, the orphan child living on the street, and all those whom who society looks down upon and tramples upon, have Christ born in them. If we want to worship Christ in his birth, we must honor him in them, standing with them like he did. What we do to them, how we treat them, truly represents how we treat Christ. How can we say we glorify Christ and his birth, how can we say we honor the Sun of Righteousness, if we ignore the way he is born in them? We cannot.
Your birth, O Christ our God, has shed upon the world the light of knowledge; for through it, those who worshiped the stars have learned from a star to worship you, the Sun of Justice, and to know you, the Dawn from on High. Glory to you, O Lord! (Troparion for the Nativity).
We must embrace true justice, the justice which is restorative and not retributive, the justice which is merciful even as it is demanding, if we want to honor the Christ-child. He is truly the Sun of Righteousness:. His light shines upon us all, revealing the injustices which we have let be hidden in the darkness. But he does more than that. He gives us the grace we need in order to change and follow the way of righteousness for ourselves. “But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go forth leaping like calves from the stall” (Mal. 4:2 RSV). Thus, the Sun of Righteousness not only gives to us a just judgment, but the means to change and make restitution for the harm we have caused by our wayward actions.
Today, as in the historical time of Christ, war is made upon the innocent with the hope of snuffing out the light which is in them: today, it is not Herod, but those who follow Herod’s path, seeking to maintain power through the way of death, who seek to eliminate Christ in the world. They are those who are causing grief by abusing migrants and the poor living among us. We see Herod in those who find all kinds of excuses to make war upon the earth. We find him with those who would deny basic human rights. And just as the Magi did not turn in Christ to Herod, so we should not help the Herods of our time; rather, we must follow their example and find a way to creatively resist them if we want to properly worship the Christ-child.
When we call to mind the birth of Christ, and all that led to his birth, we find ourselves called to join with all those who came to him to worship him, and experience what they experienced as we bring the event back to life. We are called to be like them, showing Christ love, giving to him the greatest gift of all, the gift of ourselves. In return, we will find ourselves being given the gift of Christ, and truly, Christ will be born in our hearts, making us one with him so that in and with him we can truly become adopted children of God:
But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir (Gal. 4:4-7 RSV).
Christ is indeed born! Let us not say there is no room for him, no room for the Sun of Righteousness, in our lives. Let is look to him and glorify him wherever he is found, for in that way, we make sure there is room for him and his birth in the world.
[1] Origen, “The Song of Songs: Commentary” in Origen: The Song of Songs, Commentary And Homilies. Trans. R.P. Lawson (New York: Newman Press, 1956), 293.
Stay in touch! Like A Little Bit of Nothing on Facebook.
If you liked what you read, please consider sharing it with your friends and family!
N.B.: While I read comments to moderate them, I rarely respond to them. If I don’t respond to your comment directly, don’t assume I am unthankful for it. I appreciate it. But I want readers to feel free to ask questions, and hopefully, dialogue with each other. I have shared what I wanted to say, though some responses will get a brief reply by me, or, if I find it interesting and something I can engage fully, as the foundation for another post. I have had many posts inspired or improved upon thanks to my readers.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In