“Glory to God in the
highest heaven!”
Tonight we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
This account of his birth from Luke shows Jesus being born into a situation of total
oppression. Luke reminds us of the political regime which controls the land and
the effect this has on the people. Mary must still travel to Bethlehem even
though she is about to give birth. The shepherds, only found in Luke’s account,
are social outcasts due to their profession. It is not a romantic or tranquil
setting as the shepherds would have suffered all kinds of deprivations and
dangers. Everything about this story is provocative and uneasy. Into this
‘mess’ God is born; this saviour, the Lord, a homeless child, is one who will
turn the situations of people upside down, who promises release to captives and
sight to the blind. The angels rejoice with the Shepherds, the ‘highest’ and
the ‘lowest’. The poor and marginalised will be the first to experience the
abundance of God’s hospitality and the shepherds come in their name.
We are invited to
Bethlehem today, to open up our hearts to the One who has come. We return, like
the shepherds ‘glorifying and praising
God for all they have seen and heard’. All are welcome to the manger. May we welcome all as God does, with compassion and love.
Shalom.
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, come forth from deep within me
with Christmas luminous beauty. For my heart has become the sacred crib, the
birthing place of God-among-us.”(Edward Hays)
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