Emmanuel; God with us.
Jesaiah 7,1-2a.3a.4a.5.7.10-14
Matthew 1,18-24
+In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.Amen.
"And they shall name Him Emmanuel, which means God with us."
For many people, the days before Christmas are very busy days. Being busy in order to prepare a cosy and homely Christmas at our homes, with presents and being together round
a table for of delicious food. Together with family and friends. We have indeed created a very familiar image of Christmas. Let's face it , we are celebrating a birth. The Gospel messages tell us about a child in a crib, about His mother Mary, about Josef, about angels, shepherds and sheep. In every church we create a cosy corner, a little stable with the crib, where for two weeks a family atmosphere can be found.
But there are also people, who look forward to Christmas with fear. They do hope indeed , that
those days will pas quickly. It does hurt them deeply, because they will think about the people, who should have been there with them. Or they think of the children, who promised to visit , but dont really care about them.
Our disolution with life, is it perhaps caused by the fact that we are not successfull in creating such an idillic atmosphere at our homes?There is indeed an enormous contrast between what is fairytale like , childlike . Situations, which we have intertwined with the Christmas Message and the grey and awful story of our daily existance.
We can really ask ourselves if the Christmas Message is not only interpreted as a birth notice in the family. Byt the Evangelists have only used the stories about the child Jesus, in order
to say something about the Christ, about an adult, who lived His life in such a way and spoke in such a way, that they were suspecting that He was the one sent by God. They had seen how Jesus , without any faults, worked hard for His fellow human being. They had seen how He took the burdens away from the poor and
the afflicted and how He raised them to such happiness. This caused them to see Him as the best candidate for leadership and Kingship. It was obvious that God, Who is the creator of love , was clearlyworking in Him.
When Saint Matthew writes his Gospel story about Mary and Joseph, especially the part where Joseph did not trust his fiancee, then above all this he writes about the adult Jesus, because after the story of his birth he is going the write a complete Gospel about Him.
The name of Jesus means " God saves". He saves all those, who are not capable of saving themselves. And..said Saint Matthew, we should give Him another name:"Emmanuel, God with us."This name explains the role and the task, which Jesus is fullfilling , right up until this day. In Him and through Him God is busy with us.Jesus is indeed a man, filled with the Spirit of our God.
This Jesus was a gift, a free gift from God. His whole existance is the best Christmas present we ever receive. Jesus became fully man, through the power of God. What He does amongst us , cannot be given to us
by any human being. He is " the Light of Light, very God of very God , just as we pronounce these words everytime we celebrate the Holy Mass.
Amen.
Father Ed Bakker
Anglican Catholic Church / Original Province
Mission of Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne
Bendigo
Australia
