Christmas Day 2021 Sermon

Christmas Day 2021 The Saviour comes

The strong ones of the world use military power to subjugate their weaker neighbours, and set up their own empires.

This is the way of the world; it is certainly not the way of Christ.

He could have used violence if He had wished, and He would have won any battle He entered.

But He set Himself a harder task than simply military victory.

He chose to operate by persuasion rather than force.

Through His word, and deeds, and by establishing sacraments, He offered salvation to any who would be humble and compliant enough to receive Him.

Thus He would make the crooked places straight and  the rough places plain, as Isaiah had prophesied, Is 40,4).

This may look like weakness. How do you conquer a world by persuasion, when everyone else is firing rockets at each other?

He was aiming to change the way people think, to uproot wrong attitudes that had been around since Cain killed Abel.

He wanted to teach the way of Love to a world that knew mainly violence and hatred - so that swords can be turned to ploughshares and truly peace would reign.

What would change people is the experience of divine love, moving their hearts to mercy and kindness. It has worked for many; many others have held out against it.

People who repent can testify that something has changed within them, and it is now a joy rather than a burden to forgive their enemies.

It is no longer such an effort to forgive because we have the heart and mind of Christ acting in us.

We here present are included in this plan. If we have the humility to cast ourselves down before the Infant King, like all those present at the time, we will be transformed within.

We will derive gentleness from the Child and His Mother. We will absorb the peace and joy that emanate from that scene.

We have our share of worldly forces acting on us; let us give some time for Heaven to act as well.

Christ could have come to earth in other ways, but He chose this way. It was to teach us a lesson in humility, and in patience. He was in no hurry to rush out and say everything at once.

What Our Lord did at Bethlehem, He is still doing now. He is teaching us the need to get our basic attitudes right, whatever else we may attempt

There has been no break in the continuity. Ever since that first entry into the world there has been saving activity going on.

The Saviour saves! Or at least He exerts a saving force, which we hope will break down the barriers that we put up.

Imagine a doctor arrives in a town where everyone is sick, and the townspeople chase him away. This is what the world does with Christ. He can make them well, but they prefer to stay in their sins.

They throw stones at Him (Jn 8,59), try to throw Him over a cliff (Lk 4,29), and finally crucify Him.

No, we can do better than that. We will adore Him instead.

This will solve a lot of problems as true order returns to the world - like disease, poverty, cruelty, wars etc.

However, salvation is the big prize. There are still a lot of people who need saving, need to turn away from sin and get their lives in order.

At Christmas we celebrate God's saving intervention in human affairs; and we also recognize the call to be a part of that saving process – as it affects our own salvation and as calling us to help in the salvation of others.

The Saviour saves. O come, let us adore Him!