the manger and the cross
Why is the gospel about the resurrection read today when we are just in the third day in the Octave of Christmas? Why is the gospel about the rising of Christ from death when we are still celebrating his birth in a manger?
The most obvious reason is this: today is the feast of St. John, the beloved disciple who as narrated in our gospel today was the first to reach the empty tomb. It is to his name that the 4th Gospel is credited which begins with this famous prologue read on Christmas day - in the beginning was the word, and the word was in God and the word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we saw his glory, glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. This as I said is the most obvious reason. The writer of this beautiful prologue describing the birth of the son of God is also a witness, in fact the first witness, to his rising from the dead.
And so the deeper reason follows the first reason which is - the death and resurrection of the Lord are presupposed in his incarnation.
As a small cute little baby, he is the object of our adoration and veneration as he lay there so still in the manger. But we also should know that this object of our veneration is vulnerable, he is human as well as he is God, and he too will suffer and die, he will feel loneliness, he will experience how it is to be betrayed and he will also experience the warmth, and the imperfection too, of human love. Today, our picture of Jesus is completed as we read in the gospel the resurrection scene. Jesus is indeed vulnerable, and as such he, like all of us, is born to die - but in today’s gospel we are told that this death will not be permanent. In fact it will be his way, the only way to his glorification. He will be resurrected and he will reign forever in the hearts of all men, he will be glorified in his resurrection.
The point here is this: there can be no resurrection from the dead without the incarnation, there can be no rising from the dead without the word becoming flesh and human. In a sense therefore our gospel today completes the whole picture of the incarnation and reveals its purpose.
It completes the whole picture because we are being told that this incarnation is not just simply a taking on of the flesh by the second person of the Blessed Trinity. Jesus has to become flesh if he is to become the Savior. To complete the picture of Christmas we have to see in the manger already the shadow of the cross. We cannot separate the two. We cannot separate the manger and the cross. The manger looks forward to the cross, as the cross looks forward to the resurrection. This is the incarnate Jesus that we celebrate.
Today in this third day of Christmas let us enter deeper into the mystery of the word made flesh for our salvation. Let us not remain merely in the externals and glitter of Christmas. Let us pray that during this Christmas we will truly grow in love with our savior, to love him not just as because he is a cute baby, but to love him in whatever circumstances and seasons we are in, even unto the cross.
And so the deeper reason follows the first reason which is - the death and resurrection of the Lord are presupposed in his incarnation.
As a small cute little baby, he is the object of our adoration and veneration as he lay there so still in the manger. But we also should know that this object of our veneration is vulnerable, he is human as well as he is God, and he too will suffer and die, he will feel loneliness, he will experience how it is to be betrayed and he will also experience the warmth, and the imperfection too, of human love. Today, our picture of Jesus is completed as we read in the gospel the resurrection scene. Jesus is indeed vulnerable, and as such he, like all of us, is born to die - but in today’s gospel we are told that this death will not be permanent. In fact it will be his way, the only way to his glorification. He will be resurrected and he will reign forever in the hearts of all men, he will be glorified in his resurrection.
The point here is this: there can be no resurrection from the dead without the incarnation, there can be no rising from the dead without the word becoming flesh and human. In a sense therefore our gospel today completes the whole picture of the incarnation and reveals its purpose.
It completes the whole picture because we are being told that this incarnation is not just simply a taking on of the flesh by the second person of the Blessed Trinity. Jesus has to become flesh if he is to become the Savior. To complete the picture of Christmas we have to see in the manger already the shadow of the cross. We cannot separate the two. We cannot separate the manger and the cross. The manger looks forward to the cross, as the cross looks forward to the resurrection. This is the incarnate Jesus that we celebrate.
Today in this third day of Christmas let us enter deeper into the mystery of the word made flesh for our salvation. Let us not remain merely in the externals and glitter of Christmas. Let us pray that during this Christmas we will truly grow in love with our savior, to love him not just as because he is a cute baby, but to love him in whatever circumstances and seasons we are in, even unto the cross.
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