Christ is born...

The Sunday Before Holy Nativity

Hebrews 11:9-10, 17-23, 32-40; Matthew 1: 1-25.

This week we celebrate the feast of the Holy Nativity. This feast, whilst heavily commercialised in the West, is the feast which represents our salvation. Christ came and took on our nature so that we might live; not just live day to day, but have life in Him which never dies. Without the Incarnation, we would not have the opportunity to become full members of His Holy Body, the Church.

This season is a season of joy, not of seeing how many presents I can get from those around me. Society has lost that appreciation of the simple things in life. What we celebrate is the birth of a child; this is a joyous occasion that many people can relate to. Yet this child is the King of us all. Yet He came not to be served but to serve His creation. This is why the shepherds approach the cave in which He was born, to come and pay homage to the birth of their hope.

This is telling: in that cave, a King is born not in splendour but in the humblest of circumstances. Among the first to meet Him are not the great and the good of society, but the poor and the marginalised; the shepherds. Shepherds in the 1st century AD were seen as lowly sorts and not afforded much respect by society, yet it was to them that He was first revealed. In a way, the fact that they are shepherds can be seen as a sign of Christ’s future role as the Shepherd of men, as

He says that He is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11).

Saint Athanasius of Alexandria puts it this way:

“The Word of God thus acted consistently in assuming a body and using a human instrument to vitalize the body. He was consistent in working through man to reveal Himself everywhere, as well as through the other parts of His creation, so that nothing was left void of His Divinity and knowledge. For I take up now the point I made before, namely that the Saviour did this in order that He might fill all things everywhere with the knowledge of Himself, just as they are already filled with His presence, even as the Divine Scripture says, ‘The whole universe was filled with the knowledge of the Lord’…The Word, then, visited that earth in which He was yet always present; and saw all the evils…. For this purpose, then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God comes to our realm, howbeit he was not far from us before. For no part of Creation is left void of Him: He has filled all things everywhere, remaining present with His own Father. But He comes in condescension to show loving kindness upon us, and to visit us. (On the Incarnation of the Word).”

Yet even though He is fully God incarnate on the earth, He is the perfect model of humility and love. He did not desire the riches of the land, nor did He seek to be held up high like the lords of His day. Rather, He who was Lord of all was held not on a throne but on the Holy Cross, that we might have life.

Think about it for a minute: in a cave sits a little baby who was born in a cave and will again be placed in a cave; this time a tomb. However, out of this tomb, a place of sorrow and despair, comes our hope and joy. For by His death and resurrection, our fallen nature is lifted up with His and restored back to what it was before Adam and Eve’s fall.

Saint Basil the Great states it thus:

“If the coming of the Lord in the flesh did not take place, the Redeemer did not pay Death the price for us, and did not by Himself destroy the reign of Death. For if that which is subject to Death were one thing and that which was assumed by the Lord were another, then neither would Death have stopped doing his own works, nor would the suffering of the God-bearing flesh have become gain for us. He would not have destroyed sin in the flesh; we who had been dying in Adam would not have been made alive in Christ, that which had fallen apart would not have been repaired; that which was shattered would not have been restored; that which had been alienated from God by the deceit of the serpent would not have been made God’s own again (Letter 377 AD).”

Therefore, without Christ’s Incarnation there could be no salvation, for mankind could not offer much to God; yet Christ, by His Incarnation, death, and resurrection, being God, could heal the wound caused by the Fall and bring us to life—through the Holy Mysteries of His Church.

This is why, as Christians, we are to be people of hope; for if a little baby could bring about the salvation of mankind, then how much more does our Lord and Saviour offer us?

This is why Holy Nativity is so much more than Christmas trees and presents. For at Holy Nativity we were given the greatest present of them all—the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour.

Thus, use this time as a time for joyful reflection, deeds done simply for the sake of His love for others, and gratitude to the All-Holy Trinity for all that He has done and continues to do for us, His beloved children.

Christ is born—let us glorify Him who is our life, hope, and salvation.