1:
Introduction
God's grace has been revealed,
to save the whole human race,
waiting in hope for, the blessing
which will come with the appearing
of the glory of our great God
and Saviour, Christ Jesus. (Titus 2 : 11 NJB)
1. The Christmas season is a period of joy as the Christian community
celebrates the birth of Jesus, our Saviour. We don't know the actual
date of Jesus' birth. The Christian liturgical calendar developed around
natural, or pagan, seasonal celebrations. The festival of Christmas
replaced the pagan winter solstice celebration. In the northern hemisphere,
it became the feast of the birth of the
Sun of Righteousness.
The words of St.Paul to Titus (above) capture the essence of this mixture
of historical event with natural imagery.
2. In our southern temperate zone, Christmas is celebrated when the hours
of darkness are shorter than at any other time of the year. New energy
abounds in burgeoning plant-growth and exuberant animal-play, as all
living things bask in sun-wrapped warmth and light. The birth of a child
comes like the human flowing that crowns the long preparation of the
biosphere. The regenerative power of God is everywhere! Our waiting is
over. In a mood of wonder, surprise & astonishment - for life in all
its variety - we give thanks!!
2:
The Christmas - Epiphany Season
3. The reading from Isaiah (Christmas - midnight) draws from a royal birth,
the promise of a time when there will be a new city, a new community and
a new faithfulness. The prophet affirms that the holy God will not give up on
the promised newness until all this is brought about (Is.9:1-7). The details
of Luke's account of Jesus' birth, are symbolic. Popular custom focuses on
the birth of the God-like child; the chorus of angels; the homage of shepherds
and the mystery of the virgin mother Mary. All these features of the Christmas
personalities & events are found in Luke's gospel account.
4. In Luke, new songs release energy that the old world can't generate or
prevent. Transformation is clear. Tongues that had been dumb in
hopelessness are joyful and can sing again! Joyful songs about the birth
of a new history disrupt and subvert the old history which had been
defined by legislation and the power of decree. In Luke, this "news" is
received by the marginalized ones rather than by those who manage the old
order. Among the marginalised ones there is praise, quiet brooding &
open astonishment! These reactions are completely outside the control of
the old rulers. There is a movement towards a new future. For victims of
the old ways there is a joyful invitation to join in God's forward
movement.
5. In the joyful celebration of the season of Christmas-Epiphany, these
elements from the Lukan gospel tradition receive most attention. This
reflects the predominance of the Lukan tradition in the popular mind. In
contrast, Matthew's account is sombre - there is a suspected illegitimate
pregnancy (Mt.1:18-25); the visit of the Magi sent by a tyrannical King
Herod (Mt.2:1-12); a family fleeing to the safety of Egypt (Mt.2:13-15);
innocent babies slain (Mt.2:16-18); and another forced seeking of refuge
in Nazareth (Mt.2:19-23).
3:
Symbolic World of the Christmas Story
6. The details of Luke's account
of the birth of Jesus are symbolic. In dealing with the decisive
energising towards a totally new social reality, the early Christian
community struggled with how to begin to tell the story of Jesus. There is
something new in this story. It is something that can scarcely be spoken.
And then the speech must match the reality of this newness (Lk.2:1-7)!
It's the story of displaced parents; a birth located in David's town
(Bethlehem) during the reign of a tyrant (Herod). The rulers had decreed a
census & all the managing ways that went with it. A census never leads
to energy or newness and the conditions were not auspicious for the
birthing of a new era.
7. At the Last Supper with His friends, Jesus would speak of His death as
a birth. Every woman suffers great pain when she is going to give birth,
He said, but afterwards she is filled with joy when her child is born!
This is how Jesus will explain His death & all human tragedy. Mary,
indeed, had her labour pains in a stable on the first Christmas night and
the birth of Jesus came about in a humanity divided & dominated by
tyranny.
8. But the census process was penetrated by something that didn't fit with
decrees or the controlling interests of the royal house. All the old
history was made by issuing decrees. The new history begins in another
way! The birth of a new king marks a new beginning, in heaven & on
Earth. It is a beginning of a very different kind to anything that had
gone before. Luke's account of Jesus' birth - like the formula of the Song
of Isaiah - generates a new song for the new reality (Is.54:1-17).
9. The grim holding action of
census was penetrated by the unscheduled song of angels (Lk.2:14), who
sing a new song for a new Ruler! There is no way to begin this new story
except by a new song in the mouth of angels, authorised from the Throne of
God! The beginning is with a song that stands in conflict with the decrees
of the past. The birth of the new Ruler, who Rome didn't anticipate and
Herod could't stop; begins another history which carries in it the end of
all the old royal histories.
10. The birth of this new king marks a
jubilee where property that
has been lost is restored to the original owners, old debts are cancelled,
an amnesty from old crimes is declared & a new beginning in a movement
of freedom, becomes possible (Lk.4:18-19). This new beginning, is received
only by the ones who could receive it - that is, the shepherds - who, with
tax-collectors & prostitutes, shared the bottom rung of Hebrew
society.
11. There is no mention of this new song being heard by any of the managers
of the census. They just kept on counting & assumiing that the numbers
come in sequence and finally add up! This beginning isn't among those who
operate the old order! It emerges, surprisingly, among the victims of the
old order. It comes among: a barren old woman (Elizabeth); an innocent but
believing young woman (Mary); an old man struck dumb (Zachariah) and
society's rejects (some shepherds).
12. It is a reason for amazement because they are the ones who had known
the depths of grief. Amazing newness happened among them. Not among those
who had not yet grieved the death of the old age. The newness announced
and observed, is not a newness that fits the old categories. It is the old
categories that are shattered! The event will not be contained by the
rationality of rulers ancient or modern. There is in the text the reaction
of brooding, wondering and amazement. The shepherds are moved to praise
(Lk.2:20). Mary is left pondering (v.19). The others are left in amazement
(v.18).
13. The praise, brooding and astonishment are appropriate to the event. It
was not expected and it could not be understood on conventional grounds.
Implicitly, the old rules are dismantled. The old rulers clearly do not
govern here. The urge is to the future. A newness has begun. It is a
newness to the victimised ones. Invited to join, are all those who have
groaned under the ways of the old rulers.
4:
The Birth of the Saviour
14. The birth of Jesus, is presented in the texts of the Christmas season as
a decisive energizing towards a new social reality! The presentation is critical
of the dominant society of Jesus' time. A subversive, dismantling "good news,"
enables a new human beginning to be made. There are parallels here with
Moses - who made a new human beginning with the religion of YHWH's
freedom - & the politics of justice & compassion for slaver-workers
to the Egyptian Pharaoh.
15. The first Christian communities, struggled with how to tell the "good
news" of Jesus. This newness was difficult to express. The form of words
had to match the reality of the newness. Jesus' birth is presented,
especially in Luke's gospel account, by the song of angels. This beginning
with song - conflicts with the way of royal decrees at the time. The old
history was by legislation & the power of royal decrees. The new
history begins in another way!
16. This "good news" is received by marginalised people rather than by
those who are in charge of the old order. Among the marginalised there is
praise, quiet brooding & open astonishment - reactions outside the
control of the old rulers. There is a movement towards a new future &
the victims of the old ways are invited to join this forward movement. The
songs release energy. It is an energy that the old rulers can't generate
or stop! Transformation is clear - tongues that had silent in
hopelessness, can sing again!
5:
From Hope to Engagement
17. The early chapters of
Mark's "good news" tell the beginnings of Jesus' energising. He begins at
a time when no newness seemed possible. The story of His birth represents
hope. His words of invitation to would-be disciples, begins the engagement
of the possibilities of hope, with the world of despair! Jesus is
presented as the One who makes the difference! His disciples noticed life
strangely changed - in ways that did not wait for royal approvals. This
newness didn't happen the way administered things happen. Mark senses
that, "hardness of heart" can stop this newness - where belief is lacking,
Jesus can't energise (Mk.6:5-6). This movement from hope to engagement, is
summarized in chapter 7 of Luke's gospel:
The blind see again, the lame walk,
those suffering from virulent skin-diseases
are cleansed, and the deaf hear,
the dead are raised to life, and the good news
is proclaimed to the poor. (Luke 7:22 NJB)
18. Mostly, we don't live in a
world where the blind see again, where the lame walk freely, or the deaf
hear!! The gospel stories are so familiar that our astonishment is
blunted. For us, such evidence points to medical cures. But when Jesus is
asked, "Are you the one to come?" He directs John the Baptist's attention
to His social impact. Listeners with understanding of Hebrew tradition,
would recognise in Jesus' answer, terms used by prophets. The prophet
Isaiah, expressing a conviction of a future Hebrew community that would be
more life-giving than the present one, uses much the same terms (Is.35:5).
19. What did Jesus mean - to restore sight, to cleanse lepers, & raise
the dead? Isaiah indicates that a condition of blindness characterises the
whole people & not just isolated members of society (Is.6:10). To
affirm as Jesus did, that the general conditions of blindness, lameness
& uncleanness, have been reversed, contradicts the existing norms, or
moral distinctions, on which the old society was controlled! With the
calling into question these moral distinctions, the rationale for
justifying the existing political & economic inequalities, are gone!
The list includes the unthinkable, ultimate energising of human persons
out of death! Life from death is brought into daily reality.
20. The last work listed in chapter 7 of Luke is economic rehabilitation
(Lk.7:22). That is, the poor have their debts cancelled & their
property restored. That means an end to royal confiscations! That's even
more radical than life from death!! If managers of cleanness &
uncleanness; the overseers of the debt laws; and the officers of death all
have their authority over-ridden, they are obviously no longer in power.
In their eyes, the energising of Jesus, is a scandal. His actions violate
propriety, reason, & good public order. Jesus' story moves, from
criticising, to energising towards a new future! It is a future given
where none was thinkable. It is energising in the tradition of Moses &
the Prophets - & then some!
21. When Mark begins his narrative
he present Jesus acting as a prophet (Mk.1:15). Then, in the course of
this activity, Jesus approaches fishers, a tax collector & others,
inviting them to follow Him (Mark 1:16:20 & 2:13 & 3:13ff). In
this Jesus takes on a new identity - that of "Master of the Living Torah",
whose energies are directed towards a systematic apprenticing of disciples
in His skills - of doing God's future! As today's would-be disciples, we
too receive systematic instruction in these same performance skills in
hearing the Sunday readings in the Christian assembly. Week-by-week wwe
receive some portion of "good news". This "hearing" enables us to make new
discoveries. It can transform our dumbness, blindness & lameness!!
Such new discoveries can even change our mature commitments!
22. The human dynamics that undergirded Jesus' powerful apprenticing of His
disciples, still functions today, when we give the scriptures a central
place in our lives & in the life of the Christian community. It is
impossible for us to "programme" the practise of these performance skills
for our communities. These commentaries only offer suggestions for action
& reflection. At the beginning of a new year, invogorated by our
summer holiday & break-aways from old routines, it is an appropriate
time to consider the fresh possibilities opened up by a fresh hearing of
the "good news". A regular systematic study of the Sunday readings, could
be useful in the work of applying this "good news"!
6:
Conclusion
23. The early church struggled with
how to begin to tell the story of Jesus. The world of imperial power and
decree-making had been penetrated by something that didn't fit the decrees
or the grim holding patterns by which royal houses maintained control.
There is a history here, that begins in another way. It is so completely
new that it can scarcely be spoken about. Any speech that is used has to
match the reality of the newness. The choice of texts for the season use the
gospel writings and the psalms to convey that newness to us.