Beloved of Christ, I warmly greet you on Christmas, celebrating the Nativity of the Lord Jesus Christ! "I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people, for today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you, who is Christ the Lord [1].”
This is what the angels say to the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem. Pay attention - they say "for all the people." For humanity, the birth of Christ is as great an event as the world's creation and as our birth is for each of us. On our birthday, we light candles on a cake – ten, thirty, fifty, seventy, if someone is strong, then eighty or ninety [2].
During the celebration of the birth of Christ, millions of candles and lamps are lit around the world, but they do not count the years. They aim to help us see the baby Jesus in the true light. In a beautiful, joyful, warm, glowing and heavenly light. There is much more in him than meets the eye. In him dwells all the fullness of God [3]. With him came the Way, the Truth and the Life [4].
Many of Jesus’ contemporaries could not understand who Jesus was. They saw just a child growing up before their eyes. They saw a young man who lived in their city. When Jesus began to say extraordinary things about himself, they could not believe it. Sometimes they even got angry. To this day, many view Jesus that way.
Right here in Dome Square, hundreds of people walked through the market during Advent, feasted on delicacies, listened to music, drank mulled wine, and participated in a charity marathon. Many probably saw a scene of Bethlehem somewhere, the kind that churches usually display at Christmas, and looked at the figure of the baby Jesus – a child as a child. But each candle in the Christmas tree shows light so that one can see – there, in the stable of Bethlehem, your heaven was born. There, in the manger, your paradise rests.
As Ukraine is torn apart by war, the joy of Christmas seems fragile to many. This is reinforced by the news from Germany of an attack on an Advent market. It seems that it takes so little for the miracle of Christmas to fade like a flash or an illusion.
But let us listen more carefully to the angel’s message: The joy and wonder of Christmas is that “ to you, a Savior has been born today.” A saviour is not needed in carefree moments of joy with mulled wine and gingerbread. Rescuers go to places where there is collapse, misfortune, catastrophe. Where people are buried under rubble. No one is expected there as much as rescuers. Nothing is more joyful than the arrival of rescuers. The selflessness and courage of rescuers to go into the ruins, risking their own lives and saving someone else, is like the miracle that is celebrated at Christmas. No one has greater love than this when someone lays down their life for their friends [5].
But the real miracle of Christmas is a selfless and courageous God who comes as a saviour to give his life for you and to save you from every collapse. This is not a fragile joy. This is the only joy that remains when the world is in ruins. We need to see Christmas in its true light. Christ is born.
The Delfi news portal had some interesting numbers to read. 70% of Latvians think that Christmas is too commercialised. In Latvian, this means that the event of Christ's birth is mostly used for profit. The baby Jesus is buried under gift boxes. Bells jingle everywhere, bells jingle so loudly that the angel's message can no longer be heard.
Commercialisation did not happen by itself. For decades, both during the occupation and in free Latvia, there have been targeted efforts to purge public life of the presence of Christ – from Christian teaching in schools, from symbols in public places, reducing the time of Christian programs in the media, and talking about Christian versus Latvian Christmas – as if the participants in the Christmas Eve services were not Latvians.
It reminds me of Yellowstone, the world's first national park. In the first decades of the twentieth century, a disaster began to brew there. Nature was depleted, rivers washed away their banks, and many species of living creatures disappeared. This was caused by deer - relatives of Santa Claus's sleigh reindeer - which had multiplied and gnawed all the bushes and trees in the valleys and along the river banks.
In an attempt to save the park, scientists released fourteen Canadian wolves, which had previously been eradicated from almost all of America, into it. The incredible happened. The wolves did what hunters could not – they changed the behaviour of the deer. They began to avoid the valleys and could no longer carelessly graze on the riverbanks. Trees began to grow there again and songbirds returned to them. The rivers no longer washed away their banks and became clearer.
The beavers returned. They restored the wetlands, where frogs, fish, insects, birds – all kinds of life – began to live. Even bears returned because the berry bushes grew abundantly again. There were fewer coyotes now, which gave a chance for mice and other small animals – and therefore also falcons, owls, foxes, and weasels.
As coastal erosion decreased, fewer bridges and roads needed to be repaired. Even farmers who had opposed the return of wolves recognized that their pastures had improved and learned to profit from wolf watchers. The economic benefits are estimated at close to a hundred billion dollars—not bad for fourteen wolves that no one wanted. It turned out that they even affected the Yellowstone supervolcano. The roots of the new trees were eroding the soil that had been compacted by deer, which affected the distribution of heat underground. And notice that people didn’t try to put a protective screen on every tree, which would be impossible. They put back into the mosaic the missing piece that they had removed before.
Of course, the wolf is not a common Christmas figure. Christ is not a wolf. Christ is the Lamb of God. But we must be careful not to try to remove him from our mosaic. Just think – if a dozen wolves could influence even a volcano underground, how deeply and comprehensively does the Son of God influence our lives?! The Apostle John writes:
“God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life, and he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”[6]
What a radical difference – is the baby Jesus present at our Christmas or not? Is Christ present in the fabric of our daily lives or not? How profound are the consequences and how many different areas of our lives his presence or his absence reaches! So that the miracle of Christmas does not fade away like a beautiful illusion, the Christ born in Bethlehem must have his place in our lives. Without him, we cannot succeed. Without him, the joy and peace that surpasses the world do not dwell within us [7].
At Christmas, so many candles and lights are lit so that we can see God in his true light. If we think of God as a fierce and vengeful tyrant who is just looking for a reason to throw sinners into hell, then we are not seeing him rightly. We see God rightly when we look at the baby Jesus and see the kind heart of a loving Father.
As we sing the beautiful “Silent Night, Holy Night,” let’s pay attention to the line: “Christ the Savior is come!” What does this mean?
In the movie “Luther,” which I recommend watching at the end of the year, Martin Luther says something like this: “When the devil throws your sins in your face and says that you deserve death and hell, then answer him: “I admit that I deserve it. But I know one who lived a holy life in my place and atoned for my sins on the cross. I know my Savior Jesus Christ. Where he is, there I will be also.”
Looking at Jesus with eyes of faith, we see that there is much more than “a child as a child.” My Savior! The great, unfading joy. The joy of angels. The joy of men. The blessed balance, when Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people with whom he is pleased [8]. In Him we see the light of the world, following which we will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life [9].
After we have seen Christmas and God in the right light, look at yourself in the same way! There is much more in you than you think. There is something so important in you, something so precious and wonderful, that God was born into the world and took on the difficulties of earthly life - just to find you and to save the treasure that is in you. Do you know what it is? Do you embrace it? Does it seem as valuable to you as it does to God? What path will you take to save it, protect it, purify it and perfect it? Christmas is a reminder of the future – you don't have to be a prisoner of your past because Christ, the Saviour, is here!
When times of danger bring worries, when life seems out of balance, when bad things happen when attachment to destructive things is tormenting, when joy and peace of mind are lacking at home – before trying to solve each tangle, we must first look at the root. Have I not removed the most important piece from my puzzle – the presence of the living Son of God? He was born for us and we must seek him – in the Holy Scriptures, in the sacraments, in prayer, in the church, in festivals and our daily experiences.
This year, during the Christmas charity marathon “Give Five,” people made an especially large donation to their fellow humans afflicted with illnesses. There is great joy in heaven and on earth for this. It is easy to be generous at Christmas. To give and not ask for anything in return. Because God is generous at Christmas. He gives himself even to those who do not ask or seek. Even to those who do not dig deep and are happy only with a Christmas tree, mulled wine, and gingerbread. He gives himself to the whole world. Maybe someone behind the Christmas trees and gifts will see that the Saviour has been born. And maybe… maybe some of them will suddenly realise how much their own life differs from the way Jesus lived. Maybe they will seek to be more like Christ and find the path to truth and life. That is why God gives generously and without reproach at Christmas.[10]
As we light our Christmas lights, let us remember that they shine so that we may see God and ourselves in the true light. In the light of faith.
Amen!
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