Christmas
I told our bishop that I have spent 44 years preparing this sermon. I never tire of
the prologue to St. John’s Gospel. This is the Gospel for the first Mass of
Christmas, which is also the last Gospel of almost every High Mass. These words
are hakadesh hakadeshim- the holy of holies- in all of scripture.
I have no need this day to stand here and relate any personal story, or any tale of
fiction. The finest and most entertaining story cannot begin to compare with these
words which we have heard from scripture. Though we hear the opening of St.
John’s Gospel on every Sunday outside of Advent and Lent, we cannot hear it
enough. It cannot become tiresome though we were to read it daily. In fact, listen
to the words of our hymns this day. When we retire with Hark the Herald, look at
Charles Wesley’s words, especially the second verse (the verse beginning Christ
by highest heaven adored). Such words as these can never become tiresome
either.
A Roman Catholic priest of my acquaintance via e-mail, Fr. Joseph Wilson, wrote
in an article that it is impossible to overemphasize the Incarnation. How right he
is. Many heresies come about by overemphasis on one little part of Christian truth
at the expense of the rest of it. This cannot happen to the doctrine of the
Incarnation, for it contains all of the truth in itself. This truth, that Christ is God the
Son come to us in the fulness both of His Divine Nature, and of His human nature,
is the truth, the central doctrine, of Christianity. Take it away and we have
nothing. Keep it, and we have everything. No wonder St. John also tells us that
this simple true statement, that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is the one
doctrine that the spirit of Antichrist refuses to permit.
The doctrine of the Incarnation contains all of the truth of Christianity. The full
revelation of the Trinity becomes necessary for God is the Son, and God is the
Father; but the Son is not the Father. And the Son is present with us by the Holy
Spirit. But, the Son and the Father are not the Holy Spirit. Yet, every Jew always
knew that there is only One God- sh’mai Israel... The truth of the Incarnation
opens more questions than it gives answers; the questions are because God is
revealed fully by Jesus as being, in His words, The Father, the Son and the Holy
Ghost. He leaves us this new name for God, and teaches us that we can spend
eternity asking questions about the infinity of the True and Living God because
He will always be beyond our full comprehension. Yet, because He can walk
among us as a man, in the person of the Son, we can know Him. He is beyond us
forever; He is with us forever. His name is called Emmanuel- God with us.
The truth of the Incarnation tells us that we are sinners, lost because we are lost
in sin. The light shines not against lesser light, but in the very darkness itself, a
darkness that neither understands nor can solve the problem of this bothersome
light. The darkness comprehended it not, the darkness into which we have fallen,
and in which we were blind. Even many of the very chosen people themselves
received not this Light; no wonder then that most of the world cannot receive Him
either. Those who can receive Him do so because they face the light. This light
hurts our eyes at first; for it tells the truth, the truth about ourselves which we
wanted never to see nor hear.
The writer to the Hebrews wastes no time in telling us that this Man, the Son of
God who is the very icon of the Father, in Whom the glory of God is perfectly
seen, has purged our sins. The Gospel we would read if we had a second Mass,
is from St. Luke. In it the words of the angels are heard, “Glory to God in the
Highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” What peace is this? Is it
some magic that makes sinful and fallen men stop waging war, as if the cessation
of violence is actually worthy in itself to be called peace? Is not the greater war
shown to us in scripture? That God has a right to wage war upon man because of
our sins? As early as the story of Noah’s flood we see that God accepted the
sacrifice of Noah after the flood- a sacrifice that pointed to Christ’s own death on
the cross as did all the sacrifices. We are told that God hung up His bow as a
sign in the heavens. He hung up what we call the rain bow, His bow of warfare,
and promised not to destroy mankind from the face of the earth. This is the peace
of which the angels speak; the sacrifice that had been offered in the story of
Noah, after he came out of the ark, was only a type and shadow of the cross, the
shadow of which hung already, over a newborn Son lying asleep in a manger.
Only by this cross, by this sacrifice, is peace made between God and mankind.
“Nails, spear shall pierce Him through
a cross be borne for me for you,
hail, hail the Word made flesh,
the Babe the Son of Mary.”
All of the events to come, right up to His dying and rising again are foretold in
these words of the angels. We do not see goodwill among men, as some
misinterpret the angelic words, but goodwill toward men, from God. The whole
revelation that God is Love is thus given to us, also, by the Incarnation. This is the
great gift of love, that He would give His own Son; He offers the sacrifice that He
would not allow our father Abraham to make. Abraham was ready to obey God,
and prepared to offer his son, his only son Isaac whom he loved, upon whom had
been laid the wood of the altar while they had climbed Mount Moriah.
Abraham was spared this terrible agony of slaying his beloved son, because God
used this dramatic means to teach His people that He never would accept the
sacrifice of their children, such sacrifices as the pagans made to what were no
gods. But, God in His love gives His only begotten Son Whom He loves. This is
the goodwill toward men. This goodwill was seen that night in the manger in
Bethlehem; this goodwill was seen on the cross many years later on a Friday
afternoon.
In the Incarnation we see that God would call a people to be His children,
adopting them in the very Person of His only begotten Son; for as St. Paul tells
us, we are in Christ. It is because we are in the Beloved, in the Son Himself, that
we are chosen by God for salvation, instead of having been abandoned to the
fate we had deserved for ourselves.
We see also that He would establish His Church, and give to it His Word and
Sacraments for the salvation of all who believe the Gospel. St. John, in opening
his epistle, tells us that he had been among those whose hands had handled, and
whose eyes had seen the Word of Life; and he goes on to tell us that we too are
called to fellowship with God and His Son Jesus Christ through the invitation of
the apostles. St. John is telling us that in the Church the sacraments are given
and God’s Word is spoken, that we may know Him. Without the Incarnation the
apostles have no word to tell, and there is then no Word from God, nor any
sacraments. Because of the Incarnation we are given the Word of His truth. And
the sacraments stem from His own coming in the flesh, and are only given to us
because He was given to us when He came in our own nature, a created nature
that was alien to His uncreated Person as God the only Son, eternally begotten of
the Father.
In his classic, On the Incarnation, St. Athanasius said that while Christ walked the
earth as man, He still filled the heavens as God. The Council Of Chalcedon
taught us that He is fully God, being of the same nature as that of the Father, and
fully human, being of the same human nature as ourselves, like us in every way
except for sin, having human nature from his mother Mary, the Virgin, the
Theotokos- which means the Mother of God.
None of this is explained to us. How is it that God is made man, that the Word is
made flesh and that He dwelt among us, that we beheld His glory? We do not
really know all the answers- which is part of the revelation. God cannot be figured
out, dissected and explained. He cannot be understood, analyzed and described.
But, He can be known through Christ, the Only Mediator Who Himself is God and
Man.
How do sacraments work? How is bread and wine made into the Real Presence
of the Living Christ? How does water, with the right words, give new life when
applied to human flesh? How can priests, themselves men, forgive sins? How did
Christ’s death take away the sins of the world? How does His resurrection save
us from death? If we needed to know the answers in some mechanical way, then
salvation would be reserved only for people far too clever for the likes of me;
people who are capable of the greatest achievement of science and engineering.
The point is to know that it is beyond our understanding, because we are not God.
We know not the how of it. But, what we do not understand we can know; we can
know the love of God shown to us in the coming of Christ into the world. “For God
so loved the world,” and that is the why of it.
I will close with words written in 1765, by Christopher Smart, words which made it
into our hymnal, but for reasons I will never understand, not into the Christmas
section of it:
O Most Mighty!
O Most Holy!
Far beyond the seraph’s thought,
Art Thou then so mean and lowly
As unheeded prophets taught?
O the magnitude of meekness!
Worth from worth immortal sprung;
O the strength of infant weakness,
if eternal is so young.
God all bounteous, all creative,
Whom no ills from good dissuade,
Is Incarnate and a native
Of the very world He made.
Now unto God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, be ascribed, as
is most justly due, all might, majesty, dominion, power and glory, now and
forever.
Amen.
I Kings 8: 37-43 I Thess. 4:1-8 Matt.15: 21-28
In today’s Gospel we see something strange to our way of thinking, as modern Westerners long accustomed to thinking of Christianity as universal, perhaps even as democratic in the classic sense, maybe as egalitarian to some degree, or, at the very least, as polite. We see Jesus appearing to be unwilling to help this Gentile woman until she humbly acknowledges that she, and all other non-Jews, are as the dogs asking for scraps that fall from the Israelite table.
It seems even more strange after the reading from I Kings that we have just heard, where Solomon asks God to grant the prayers of the stranger who comes and prays in the Temple, having heard of God’s great Name, that all the world may know that there is only one God. It seems strange when we remember that Jesus had angered the people of His hometown by saying that they would reject Him, but that as Elijah was sent to a Gentile widow, and as Elisha had cured the leper Naaman, from Syria, His own ministry would benefit even the Gentiles who would trust Him.
The story of Naaman is very dramatic, and a lot like this story. The Syrian General, who had been Israel’s enemy, came to be healed by the prophet Elisha. By the grace of God, he was healed, but not before humbling himself and accepting the one demand that the prophet made; that he wash himself in the Jordan river. The prophet did not even bother to come meet with this very important man, but simply sent a messenger. At first Naaman was angry and started to leave in a huff, but his friends reasoned with him. Like this woman we read of today, he had to humble himself in order to receive a gift from God.
Of course, Jesus did grant her request, and before He was finished, He commended her for her faith. But why did He put her through it? What point was He making?
The point has everything to do with the understanding of being inside of the Covenant, specifically the Covenant that God made with Abraham. Abraham is the father of the people of Israel, which means, as St. Paul would write, that he was the father of all who have faith in the true and Living God, Who is known by the revelation of Himself. Out of that Covenant came the other Covenants, the Covenant of Sinai, when the Law was given to the people who were freed from slavery in Egypt, the Covenant of the Kingdom made with David. These grew out of the Covenant that God made with Abram, when he was yet uncircumcised, that is when he was still a Gentile named Abram, and had not yet become Abraham, circumcised and the father of Isaac, and thereby the father of a multitude.
The last Covenant to grow out of the Covenant of promise to Abraham was the Covenant that Jesus Christ would make, the New Covenant, the B’rit Hadashah, prophesied of by Jeremiah:
"Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, though I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying Know the LORD: For they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith the LORD: For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more (Jer. 31: 31-34)."
In a few minutes we will hear the words of Jesus: "This is My Blood of the New Covenant, shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sin." The disciples at the Last Supper knew what He was referring to, for they knew these words, which we have read, of the prophet Jeremiah.
But, before proceeding with what we can say about that, we need to see that the Gentile woman who came to Jesus was not included in the Covenants of God made with Israel. She was, to use the words of Isaiah, from the 57th chapter of his book, one who was "afar off." St. Paul described the situation of the entire Gentile world in these words:
"Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles...at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world..."
He concludes, "But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ (Eph. 2: 11-13)."
Our Lord helped the woman, and granted her prayer, as she was the stranger coming to the One Who was greater than the temple, and was making her prayer of the One true God, the only God in all the earth. But, first He made clear the truth for her to accept in humility. She was an outsider, and was not requesting something to which she was entitled; she was not one of the children. Understand, that her faith changed this, as faith did for the centurion whose servant was healed. Foretold in that ancient story of Naaman is the truth of what happens when one who is afar off has faith. When Jesus commended this woman’s faith, He was not simply granting her request, but acknowledging her as a daughter of Abraham, a Gentile no longer.
This is lost on many people who cannot understand what is being said here by this woman, when she speaks with humility. Against the warning of St. Paul they "boast against the root" that bears them, that is against the Jewish heritage of the Church by which all Christians are made children of Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ. They presume, they boast, and think that God is a modern egalitarian Who accepts everyone and everything as six of one and half a dozen of the other. We are very comfortable hearing about the New Covenant, and the forgiveness of sins, but what does it all entail? What do we need to be asking and learning?
Is the New Covenant made with all mankind? We know that there is only one God, and that Jesus would send His disciples on the mission, the true mission of Israel, to be the light of the world, a light to the nations. "Go and make disciples of all nations," He would tell them, after His resurrection, "baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." So, it seems that the Covenant is with all mankind equally- right? Wrong.
Look again at the words that Jeremiah spoke, to which Jesus clearly alluded, by speaking of the New Covenant. Jeremiah said that the New Covenant is with the house of Israel; it is not made with the nations. It is part of the Covenant of Promise made with Abraham. The only people that God made the New Covenant with are the Israelites, not the Gentiles. If you understand that, you must then begin to understand why the Great Commission is given with these provisions and conditions: The disciples from all nations must be baptized in the Name of God, the Trinitarian Name; and they must be taught to live by all of Christ’s commandments.
The New Covenant brings with it the Law written on the human heart, the forgiveness of sins, and the knowledge of God. The people who enter into it by baptism, and who have faith in Jesus Christ, are not Gentiles; Christians are not called Gentiles; rather St. Paul says "ye were Gentiles in time past." He writes to the Roman Christians that they have been grafted into the tree of Abraham.
He tells the Ephesians and the Corinthians that they were Gentiles, and that when they used to be Gentiles they were led astray by dumb idols. But, now, in Christ, they are brought near by the Blood of the Messiah, the Blood of the New Covenant and the forgiveness of sins.
The Law is written on our hearts, which is the work of the Holy Spirit. We read it and learn it; but more than simply that, it is within us on a deep level of conscience that is unknown to unbelievers. For we know not only the Law of Christ- about which more needs to be said- we know the One Who gives it. We know and love the Lawgiver; we are personally effected by His great act of love when we think of the cross of His Passion. We know what it means that we are bought with a price, that is, His blood. His Spirit is within us, and we have a conscience quick to feel, which we could not have otherwise. This is the meaning of the Epistle reading for this day, St. Paul’s first Epistle to the Thessalonians (the first Book of the New Testament to have been written).
In Lent we are reminded of this portion of the New Covenant in a special way, not to be forgotten the rest of the year; that the Holy Spirit writes the Law on our hearts, and that we know God in a manner that makes our consciences grieve when we sin against Him; and that convicts our consciences to live in a way that pleases Him. For, having entered into the New Covenant, and having been made a part of Israel by faith, we are given that Law as our guide, we are given the forgiveness of sin, and we know the Lord. The words of Isaiah are true for us: "The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our king, He is our Salvation."
The message of the Church to God’s ancient people of Israel is, "the temple is here, the sacrifice is here, the Messiah Whom we know will come again; this is your heritage as children of Abraham, born under the New Covenant, not merely the Covenant made at Sinai." Our message to the whole world, and its many nations which, to this day, worship many false gods, is, "there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; We know Him through Jesus Christ."
And now unto God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost be ascribed, as is most justly due, all might, majesty, dominion, power and glory now and forever. Amen.