Lessons from the Christmas Manger

Merry Christmas from all of us at The Faith Explained!

John’s gospel portrays Jesus as King of the Universe, and his throne is a cross. From the cross, King Jesus reigns, and he teaches. In fact, looking upon a crucifix can be a catechism unto itself. Catholics are often asked by other Christians, “Why do you always insist on placing the crucified Christ before our eyes? Don’t you know that he is risen?” Well, of course we do. The reason we place crucifixes in churches is very simple: when we behold the Lord upon the cross, we are contemplating the greatest act of love the world has ever seen. The lessons Jesus would teach from the wood of the cross were prefigured in many ways by those he proclaimed from the wood of the manger in Bethlehem.

Jesus “began to do and to teach”, even before he uttered intelligible words. He began teaching from the very moment of his conception in the womb of his Immaculate mother. When Mary, carrying our Lord in utero, approached her relative Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptizer, John leapt in the womb. The lesson was clear: being near Jesus always brings joy. And in Bethlehem, on the night of his birth, he taught us even more.

Jesus teaches us humility: the God-Man chose not to be born in a palace, but in abject poverty. No place for them in the inn, Mary gave birth to Jesus in a type of cave, where animals were kept. Ironically, the name Bethlehem literally means, “the house of bread”. The bread of life, Jesus, who would later give us his flesh and blood to consume in the Eucharist, had for his first crib a manger, a wooden feeding trough.

He teaches us detachment. It is not worldly goods that will bring us lasting happiness; it is being with Christ, even in the poverty of that first Christmas. He also teaches us not to seek the praise of men, but only the applause of heaven. The shepherds, not the elite of Jerusalem society, found Christ in the manger, even though they were considered little more than scum in the eyes of their fellow Israelites.

The infant Jesus also teaches us not to attempt to impose our opinion on others. In his second coming, no one will be able to deny the reality of Jesus as God. But at Christmas, as a helpless infant, Jesus chose to be vulnerable, able to be rejected – and he was. The reason Mary had to give birth in that cave-stable was that door after door had been shut in Joseph’s face as he sought a place for the Holy Family to stay. Those people had no room in their lives for Jesus, or the lessons he teaches. May that never be said of us.

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Mary of the Annunciation

Today’s Gospel is the famous account of the Annunciation from Luke 1:26-38. It includes some indirect proof for two major Marian dogmas of the Church – the Immaculate Conception (which was recently celebrated on Dec. 8), and the perpetual virginity of Our Lady. It also gives us part of the biblical roots of the “Hail Mary”.

When the archangel Gabriel greets Mary, it marks the only recorded incident in scripture that an angel greets someone by their title, not their name. “Hail, Full of Grace, the Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28). This, of course, is the first line of the “Hail Mary”, with the second line, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb”, from Luke 1:42. So much for the ridiculous argument that the prayer is “unbiblical”.

But what of those dogmas? Speaking of the phrase, “Full of Grace”, in the original Greek of Luke’s Gospel, it is an interesting term: “kecharitomene”. It means, literally, “one who has been made full of God’s grace” (biblical translations that render this term “highly favored one”, or something to that effect, don’t cut it) . It’s a past perfect, meaning that, at some point in the past, Mary was made perfectly full of God’s grace. This condition extends out into the future, into eternity. This is exactly what the Immaculate Conception is all about  – that, from the first moment of her existence, Mary was preserved free from all stain of original sin. If one is perfectly full of the grace of God, there is no room for sin.

With respect to the perpetual virginity, Gabriel explains to Mary that she will bear the Messiah, and at this point he has said nothing about Jesus being conceived by the Holy Spirit. Yet, Mary says, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Lk 1:34). A very strange question for a young woman to ask, who, as we have already been told, was engaged to be married. Unless, that is, she had already intended to remain a virgin, consecrating herself wholly to God.

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Tim Tebow and The New Mass Translation

I have written elsewhere in these pages about Tim Tebow, and let me say on record that I’m a fan. To say that Tebow is the most polarizing athlete of our time is no understatement, and much of this is due to the way he articulates his faith. Robert Mixa, over at the fantastic Word on Fire blog, makes some very thought-provoking comparisons between the way Tebow speaks about his beliefs, and the new English Mass translation – both of which are making some people very, very uncomfortable. You can check it out here. Be sure to leave your thoughts in the combox below. Big HT to Jasmin Lemieux-Lefebvre (@jasminll) for alerting me to this story.

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Check Out My Interview About The New Mass!

I recently had a radio conversation with the always entertaining Pedro from Salt and Light!  Our chat shed some light on the creation of The New Mass app for Apple and Android, as well as our thoughts on the new English Mass translation itself. You can listen for yourself, or download the podcast here. Spread the word!

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