Weekly HOMILY for December 25, 2009: The Meaning of the Manger

Christmas, Cycle C
Our Lady of Grace
December 25, 2009

The Meaning of the Manger
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


The Manger: Art and History

I am holding here a little ensemble of the Nativity. Not a great work of art exactly, but a contemporary artist’s depiction of Mary and Joseph at the birth of Jesus.

Through the centuries, great artists and lesser artists as well, have depicted that night in Bethlehem when Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary in a manger.

Artists have attempted to portray the birth of Christ as a majestic, idyllic, peaceful moment, as in this ensemble Mary and Joseph are gracefully watching the newborn Jesus.

The donkey and sheep are quietly and reverently surrounding the manger. In any century the particular artist was depicting the event hundreds or thousands of years after it had happened, and with his understanding of the Good News of peace and joy that this birth brought.

The actual historical reality of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, however, was probably a good bit different from what is depicted here or in any painting by the Masters.

It was a cold winter’s night and Mary and Joseph were probably very uncomfortable.

Mary entered labor and Jesus was born in a smelly stable in a manger out of which donkeys and sheep ate. The shepherds were rather rough fellows and the sheep most likely did not have clean white wool.


The Manger: Reality

Regardless of the historical circumstances of Jesus’ birth, we can say that artists in general have captured one element of the truth surrounding Jesus’ birth.

Painters and sculptors convey the truth that the manger in Bethlehem is a decisive event in human history. Saint Paul, in our second reading, says it in six words: “The grace of God has appeared.”

In the birth of Jesus God’s grace becomes tangible, relational. The way to look at it is that the birth of Jesus becomes a defining moment in human history.

And moving out from the stable to the environs, few of us know anything about the most powerful man in the world at that time, Caesar Augustus. Interestingly, it is a simple baby, born of poor parents, who was eventually crucified, becomes more famous than the mighty Caesar Augustus, indeed more well known that any persons who has ever lived.

In fact, this child’s birth has restructured our vision of human life. Christmas turns the presumptions, preconceptions, and prejudices of life upside down.


The Manger: Meaning for Us

This turning upside down of presumptions, preconceptions and prejudices means several things for each of us.

First, our value and worth come from the inside, from within us. God becoming one of us as an infant tells us that human value and worth are not connected with power, prestige or wealth.

To the contrary, our value and worth come from God who becomes one of us by entering our world in Jesus. Again, Saint Paul says it: “The Word of God is near you, in your heart and on your lips.”

So, know well your own value and innate goodness. Look not to this world to give you the grace and beauty you already possess within yourself through the birth of Jesus, the Word of God made flesh and living among us.

Second, just as we ourselves take on a different perspective because of Christmas Day, the world we live in also takes on a different perspective. This world is beautiful and essentially good because God has created it.

But, we must realize that some of the values and priorities of this world are out of order – like consumerism, or excessive individualism, or disregard for human life. So, Saint Paul reminds us that we are to “reject godless ways and worldly desires.”

We are to work hard in this world, play well, enjoy it appropriately – but we are not to live for this world. We are to live for the world that will never pass.

And last, our perspective of tomorrow and the coming year can never be the same because of Bethlehem. The birth of the God-child is a wake-up call.

We are to take God seriously. We are to see God in our work and bring God to our work, to our play, to our relationships, to every aspect of our life.

We are to see ourselves as always growing, becoming more and more like the humble infant of Bethlehem.

And we are to bring his power to the powerless, his love to the unloved, his fullness to the needy, and his peace to the oppressed, and we are to do this in ways that respond to the real needs of our day.


Conclusion

We know that this child born in Bethlehem was eventually killed by the powers of this world.

But the world can never destroy the Fire, the Message, or the Vision of this Prince of Peace. He has once and for all time turned human life upside down.

This is why we sing so strongly this night: “O Holy Night.” It is why we humbly say: “O Come Let Us Adore Him, Christ the Lord.”