Today, a light has shone upon us, for the Lord is born for us. This is truly a holiday booster maybe not as colorful as the article I read, about the long lines of giddy kids in candy-striped pants, toddlers in holiday shirts adorned with tiny Christmas trees, kids wearing thick Irish sweaters, moms and dads, cradling paper cups of hot coffee waiting the for arrival of the jolly, white-bearded man in black boots and red velvet suit.
There was excitement that day in Bethlehem but of a very different kind. It was the shepherds who were the most excited. An angel or messenger of God appeared to them and said, “I come to proclaim good news to you, tidings of great joy to be shared by the whole people. This day in David’s city a Savior has been born. Let this be a sign to you, in a manger you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes”. Once the angel left them, they couldn’t wait to run and see this thing that had been told to them. Once there in their excitement they related how an angel appeared to them and told them about Jesus’ birth.
Why would God choose shepherds to be the first to know? Ponder that in your hearts. Why did he choose to come among us in the first place, in the way he appeared, the circumstances of his birth? Mary pondered all this in her heart and we are encouraged to do the same.
Shepherds were not held in the highest regard by many people. They were either young children or old men entrusted with this labor of watching the sheep and protecting them from danger. But Luke in his gospel portrays the simple shepherds, like Mary, heeding the message of an angel, and then made known the message. Listening and seeing they became the first evangelizers making Jesus known, loved, and served. Isiah’s promise that God would send a Savior came through them and they led others to wonder.
This year the manger scene at the square in front of St. Peter in Rome is populated with some 30 characters, people and animals dressed as Peruvians from the Andean highlands. The magi might be mistaken for extra shepherds as they accompany their llamas laden with fabulous foods. On display at our Museum of Family Prayer we have at least a half dozen manger scenes depicting people from New Zealand, Holland, Ghana, Kenya, Intuit or Eskimo people and American Indians all depicting the Holy Family and the rest of the figures in their own style of dress and following local custom. These are people who have captured the message of the Incarnation, Christ coming among us as a man, and choosing to be like us and give us faith. These different manger scenes depict a variety of cultures and peoples revealing what Isiah spoke of when he said that the Lord would proclaim to the ends of the earth that our savior comes, our savior is on the way.
For whom? For Israel yes and by extension for all of us. His coming transforms us making us holy. The different nativity scenes remind us that God has taken flesh like ours as one of the humblest. Luke is inviting us to enter the scene with both the shepherds and Mary.
Earlier I asked why would God chose to come among us as a man? I believe his motivation for the incarnation was, “What can I do to help you?"
