A Christmas Reflection
Isaiah 9:6 "For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
A child has been given to us, as a gift from God. Once Gandhi said that if God dared to show himself to the hungry, he would do it in the form of bread, like God has a duty toward humanity to feed us.
Gandhi had great compassion for the hungry, it is without doubt, but the Biblical view is a bit different. God does not owe us anything, still we owe God our everything, our life and the sustenance of our life. Nonetheless, God provides not because it is his duty or he is compelled in any ways to do it, but he does it out of love, and only out of divine love.
The bread is not enough in itself, we need love. Imagine a household which is filled with fresh bread everyday and grilled turkey on feast days, but there is no parental love, just coldness for the children in the house. Even if there is physical providence, but there is no love in the house, that house is a place like hell. Also when there is only parental love in the house, but the children’s hearts are dark and cold, there is no feeling of gratitude and genuine love toward the parents, that house is still a place like hell.
That is why the upmost commandment is so written in the Bible, that we shall love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our might. The Bible also answers the question why we should do that: because God loved us first, and we should return his love, which case is proven and written in the Gospel of John, chapter three: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.
It was known for all the sages that the sovereign God created the world and humanity out of love. That is why the incarnation of the Word of God in the child Jesus is more than just a biblical symbol or a historical metaphor or a nice Gospel story, but it is the ultimate reality of the creation framework, in which God’s love called life into life. God showed his face to humanity as a royal child born to us as a the King of the World. We owe God our returning love and our utmost gratitude for life and the creation itself.
Although God declared on the sixth day of the creation, that all what he had created is indeed very good, but the tragedy is, that humanity exploited its free will, and we turned our backs on God. And we did terrible things trespassing against God and against each other. So the flood came, and God gave us an ark. It should be noticed, that many people they do not believe that there had been a flood ever, however every single nation on Earth has a prehistoric memory that there indeed was a flood.
Many other people accuse God that he caused an annihilation event by his judgment. The accusers forget that God notified humanity in advance that the flood is coming and he gave an ark to escape as an extra. Everybody was offered to be saved, but only Noah with his family accepted the word of God as fact. Eventually nothing profoundly changed after the flood, and we did terrible things again and again trespassing against God and each other.
But the tide was withheld, and God gave Abraham a promise that in Abraham’s seed all the nations on Earth will be blessed. And it came to pass that a new ark was given, as a child was born to us to prove that God is love, and humanity as a whole and one by one, we are all obliged to learn and accept God’s love as Jesus told the disciples in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 11 that: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Humanity as a whole did not accept the Christmas Child, nor his easy yoke.
After two thousand years the Christmas ark is almost empty, and we did again and again and again terrible things trespassing against each other and against God, despite the numbers of the Cathedrals and Basilicas, on all continents.
In this second Advent when we are waiting for the Christmas Child to return to us, we pray for the whole world to accept the Child who was given to us, in order that may the Light of Christmas prevail over the darkness of the seven seas of sins. May the King return as soon as possible to make everyday Christmas, by the will of the Lord God, by the gracious merit of our Savior, Jesus Christ and by the Power of the Holy Spirit,
AMEN.
