Christmas Homily – Dec 25, 2017 - Homily - 2
There is a rather silly and ridiculous comedy movie from a few years back starring Will Ferrell called Talladega Nights about the life of a dim-witted race car driver. And there is a scene in that movie where the family is seated for dinner, and Will Ferrell’s character - Ricky Bobby - begins to say grace, and addresses it to the ‘Baby Jesus’ – “Oh sweet Baby Jesus, bless this food, and please send you sweet Baby Jesus powers down to bless our family…”. His wife buts in at this point and says, “Would you stop praying to the Baby Jesus - Jesus grew up and became a man, he had a beard! Stop praying to the baby Jesus!” But, Ricky Bobby is defiant and says “No, I only pray to the Christmas Jesus – the cute and cuddly baby Jesus is the image of the Lord that I like best, and when I’m saying grace, I’m going to pray to the baby Jesus!”
As silly as this scene in the movie is, it’s really an interesting observation on how Jesus is perceived. At this time of year, I think it is a wonderful image for us to have. The presence of a newborn is enough to melt even the most hardened heart, and to think of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ in a crib, completely vulnerable and in need of the care of human parents really does give us an incredible image of our Lord to contemplate which has inspired numerous Christmas carols and works of art.
His birth is indeed a miracle as we celebrate the mystery of God doing the extraordinary – of becoming one of us – and we’ve heard the Christmas story so often that we perhaps gloss over this central fact which should absolutely blow our minds each time we hear it, which is this - the Creator of all things on earth and in heaven humbled himself in order to enter into His own creation to become human like us.
This act of the all-powerful God becoming one of his creatures is really beyond all comprehension, yet he did this because of his overflowing love for us, to help us more easily relate to Him, to show us the way to heaven, and to eventually do the unthinkable – to die on the cross for our sins. And celebrating this wonderful event rightfully fills us all with a more generous and joyful spirit of giving as well as a renewed sense of peace and love for one another, because after all, we come to the realization that we have been given the greatest and most generous gift anyone could ever conceive of - the gift of God’s Son.
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This child Jesus is indeed a beautiful image of our Lord, but we also have to keep in mind what Ricky Bobby’s wife tells him during his prayer to the baby – “Jesus also grew up – he was a man!” And that is the Jesus whose 2017th birthday we celebrate today. To think of Jesus as a cute and smiling baby that we can tickle under the chin and admire from afar is a lot easier to do than to think of Jesus the man - the one who calls us to holiness through what are sometimes challenging teachings - the man Jesus who must undergo suffering and death in order to save us from our sins.
Just as Jesus matured and became a man, so must our faith mature and grow. Christmas provides a glorious opportunity for all of us to begin again, and to grow up with Christ. Christmas is the perfect launching point for all of us regardless of where we are on our faith journey to move beyond this image of the baby Jesus, and to renew our commitment to growing spiritually with our Lord. The best gift we can give to our God this Christmas – and really the only gift we can offer - is to make a commitment to move beyond the Christmas Jesus in the manger, and allow ourselves to enter into a deeper relationship with our Lord which is the only way we can achieve true freedom, and true joy and happiness.
Jesus was born into human flesh for our sake and for our sake alone. This is one gift which we don’t want to return to the mall on Boxing Day! This is the gift that keeps on giving for our entire life if we choose to accept it by entering into a more intimate relationship with Him. Christ’s birth gives us all hope, and growing in our faith is the only way we can discover life’s true meaning. Christ gives us this gift which we don’t deserve or merit in anyway, yet in God’s fatherly love for us the only thing he asks in return is that we welcome Him into our lives with open arms.
Merry Christmas everybody…