| Bishop's Corner
The Joy Of Christmas
By Bishop Timothy W. Whitaker
I feel sorry for all the people who are not
Christians because they cannot celebrate the festival of Christmas. They
can have the fun of a secular holiday with its parties and presents.
Yet, they will not experience the pleasure of the corporate worship of
the church with its symbols, carols and rituals. Most of all, they do
not know the joy of the message of Christmas.
The message of Christmas is that God has come among us in Jesus of
Nazareth. This message is proclaimed in the Prologue to the Fourth
Gospel: “The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his
glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth”
(John 2:14).
The theology of the Christmas message is very sophisticated. It
assumes that God is the relationship of Father (origin), Son (wisdom)
and Spirit (power). The Son of God is the wisdom of God, which is God
expressing God’s self in creation and revelation. Through the wisdom of
God everything is created from the origin of God’s being by the power of
God’s Spirit: every creature, including each of us, comes into being as
an expression of a form conceived in the wisdom of God. Through the
wisdom of God, God has revealed God’s self to the human race: the wisdom
of God is the true light that enlightens everyone. The mystery is that
the wisdom of God assumed flesh and became a human being, Jesus of
Nazareth, without ceasing to be the wisdom that is with God and that is
God by which life comes into being and light is manifest to all human
beings.
Through the message of Christmas we come to know the truth about God.
As Karl Barth wrote: “God’s deity is thus no prison in which He can
exist only in and for Himself. It is rather His freedom to be in and for
Himself but also with and for us, to assert but also to sacrifice
Himself, to be wholly exalted but also completely humble, not only
almighty but also almighty mercy, not only Lord but also servant, not
only judge but also Himself the judged, not only man’s eternal king but
also his brother in time. All that, rather, in the highest proof and
proclamation of His deity! He who does and manifestly can do all that,
He and no other is the living God.”
While the theology of the message of Christmas is very sophisticated,
the message itself is very simple. It is the good news that because God
has come to us in Jesus of Nazareth God is with us. However we unwrap
this gift of good news, to receive it is to live with an enduring joy.
The 4th century Bishop of Jerusalem, Cyril, wrote, “For since we
could not look upon or enjoy Him as He was, He became what we are, so
that we might be permitted to enjoy Him.” This joy is too wonderful to
keep to ourselves, but it must be shared with everyone. |
