Christmas is also for Big Kids

December 21, 2008, 4th Sunday of Advent
II Samuel 7:1-5 Romans 16:25-27 Luke 1:26-38

To the churched and unchurched[1]
gathered in a temple not built by human hands[2]

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke
Glory to you, Lord.

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Introduction
Feasts of Light

Today, December 21, 2008, is the fourth and last Sunday of Advent, and also the first day of winter. The Old Farmers' Almanac shows the period between December 17th and 25th as the darkest of the year. These days have fifteen long hours of darkness and only nine short hours of light. No wonder this is the season to light candles! Tomorrow, December 22, 2008, is the first day of Hanukah when the Jewish community will light the first of the eight candles of the menorah. Hanukah is their Feast of Lights. Today, the fourth Sunday of Advent, the Christian community lights the fourth candle on the Advent wreath. All four candles now burning brightly sing that “Soon it will be Christmas Day” -- our Feast of Light.

The season to tell stories

The second part of Advent (called Late Advent or the Novena of Christmas) began last Wednesday, the 17th of December. That part gazes back into the past — to a moment of history when an Infant was born of Mary in a stable in Bethlehem in the days of Herod the King. That part of Advent tells one story after another. It tells the story of the angel Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary that she would conceive of the Holy Spirit. (Lk 1:26-38) It tells the story of Mary’s visitation over hill country to the house of her cousin Elizabeth where the infant in her womb (John the Baptist) leaps for joy at the presence of Jesus in the womb of Mary. (Lk 1:39-45) It tells the story of the inn which had no room for Mary and Joseph, and of the birth of Jesus outside in a stable. (Lk 2:1-7) It tells the story of an angel announcing tidings of great joy to shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night and their finding an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. (Lk 2:8-20) It tells the story of magnificent Magi from the East bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. (Mt 2:1-12) It tell the story of the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt to escape Herod who was slaughtering all baby boys two years and younger. (Mt.2:13-18)

Because the second part of Advent tells one story after another at Mass, it perks up ours ears and delights the child in us (which the scripture readings of the first part of Advent does not do). It ignites childhood memories in us, and it sets the season doing what it does best: telling stories.

Ears of children and adults

The Book of Ecclesiastes utters that oft-quoted litany that there is a time for everything under God’s sun:

A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to weep and a time to laugh.
A time to embrace and a time to
abstain.
A time for war and a time for peace.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

This time of the rolling year adds to Ecclesiastes’ litany:

A time to be simple about the story of Christmas and a time be profound about it.
A time to take the story of Christmas at its face value and a time to sound it depths.
A time to hear the story of Christmas with the ears of children and a time to hear it with the ears of adults.

That is not to say that the ears of adults are any better than those of children. But growing up into adult bodies means also growing up into adult faith. St. Paul writes, “When I was a child, I heard and heeded as a child. I thought and talked as a child. But now that I am an adult, I have put away the things of a child.” (I Cor 13: 11)

The story of virgin birth

At Mass on this fourth and last Sunday of Advent (cycle b), Dec. 21, 2008, we tell the story of the angel Gabriel announcing to Mary her virginal conception of Jesus. The angel tells her that the Holy Spirit will come upon her, and that the power of the Most High will overshadow her, and that, therefore, the child born of her will be called the Son of God.” (Lk 1:35) And at Mass on Dec. 24 (the Vigil of Christmas), we tell the story of an angel announcing Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus also to Joseph (for a virginal conception takes two).

The story of Mary and Joseph’s virginal conception of Jesus does not fly well in our culture where breasts are bared and bursting, and where torsos are twisting and turning on TV all day long. Such a culture dismisses the virgin birth as not very serious or as quite incomprehensible and even offensive to human nature. That being so, how in the world can teenagers or adults today listen to the story of Christmas without a bit of tongue-in-cheek? How can the story of Mary and Joseph’s virginal conception of Jesus be told in such a way as not to give offence? What’s even more important, how can it be told in such a way as to be resplendent with religious meaning? That’s a task that’s long overdue for centuries.

A positive statement about Jesus

The story of the virgin birth is not a negative statement about sex. It does not say (it cannot say, it may not say) that when the Son of God comes into the world, it’s below His dignity to be conceived in the very same way that all other babies are conceived. What an affront that is to every mother and father and to every child born into the world! At the end of the day, many of us feel down deep that the story of the virgin birth is precisely that: a negative statement about sex.

The story of the virgin birth is a positive statement about Jesus. It says that Jesus is much more than a gift from Joseph and Mary; He is especially a gift from the Father in heaven. It says that Jesus is much more than the conception of man; He is especially the conception of God. At the end of the day, the story of the virgin birth wishes to say that man’s salvation always needs help from outside and from above.

A positive statement about woman

The story of Joseph and Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus is also a positive statement about woman. When the Novena of Christmas begins on the 17th of December, the gospel opens with that long male-ridden genealogy from Matthew: "Abraham begot Isaac. And Isaac begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. And Judah begot Perez and Zerah.” That genealogy continues through 42 generations of men begetting sons! (Who in the world ever heard of men begetting babies!) That male-ridden genealogy comes to a screeching halt with these words, "And Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, and it was of her [not of Joseph] that Jesus who is called the Christ was born.” (Mt 1:1-16)

With one powerful stroke the story of the virgin birth puts an ax to the quiet lie that lines up only men behind the great moments of history. Behind an event which divides time into B.C. and A.D., there stands no man at all -- only a woman. Upon the most momentous page of history a woman (and not a man) puts her signature. That’s not a feminist statement; it’s a Christmas statement. It convicts church and society. It challenges both to allow women to write on the pages of history.

A positive statement about man

The story of Joseph and Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus is also a positive statement about man – the male. The story has Joseph stepping aside and resigning his sexual prowess. He does so in order to let the message get through that Jesus is not just his and Mary’s gift to us but is also and especially the gift of the Father in heaven. Stepping aside is a big order for men who are used to center stage. Like the Governor of Illinois, men do not resign power easily. At the end of the day, that’s the real but unspoken reason why women never get ordained in the Catholic Church except by an act of disobedience. Joseph is a model to be imitated by a male-ridden church and society.

There are those who defend with all their might the virgin birth as miracle. That’s fine. There are others, who in adult bodies seeking adult faith, concentrate on defending the scriptural story of virgin birth as meaning. That’s better yet.

Conclusion
Christmas is also for big kids

Hearing the stories of Christmas as children and hearing them as adults is not a matter of chronology: first we hear them as children, and then we grow up and hear them as adults. We vacillate between the one and the other at various stages of our journey. Sometimes we stand before the story of Christmas as grown-ups with lost innocence and filled with anger or doubt or even unbelief. Sometimes we stand before it with innocence regained and filled again with childlike faith and excitement. Christmas is for little kids. It’s also for big kids. It’s also for adults who aren’t so grown up that they can’t be turned on by angels bearing messages from God, and by babes leaping for joy in their mother’s wombs and by magnificent magi bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

[1] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!

[2] Acts of the Apostles 17:24