December: Day 25: Teaching 1: The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ

 

December: Day 25: Teaching 1:
The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ
 
(What Do the Circumstances of Christ's Birth Teach Us?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Gospel narrates the Nativity of Christ thus: "A decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census should be taken of all the world." Everyone had to be registered in their own city: wherefore Joseph and the Most Holy Virgin Mary, being of the house and lineage of David, went from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, Bethlehem. In this small town, at this time, there was a great concourse of people. The time came for the Most Holy Virgin Mary to give birth, and there was no convenient place in the house. She withdrew to a cave, into which, usually, domestic animals were driven: and there she gave birth to a Son, the God-child Jesus; she herself swaddled Him, and laid Him in a manger.

“It was night.” Some shepherds were keeping watch over their flock in the field. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and a divine light shone around them. They were afraid. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy prepared for all the people. Today a Savior has been born to you in the city of David, even Christ the Lord. And this is how you will recognize Him: You will find the Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a multitude of the heavenly host appeared with the angel; and they were heard praising God and singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, to men who pleased God.” When the angels had gone up to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened there, which the Lord has made known to us.” And without the slightest delay they went and found the Mother of God Mary, and Joseph, and the Child lying in a manger. Then they told what they themselves had been told about the Child. All who heard were amazed at what the shepherds were saying. And the Mother of God, listening, kept these words in Her heart. The shepherds returned, and thanked God for all that they had heard and seen.

On the eighth day after the birth of the Infant God, they performed circumcision on Him as prescribed by the law, and gave Him the name “Jesus,” which the Archangel Gabriel had predicted during the annunciation to the Mother of God about Her birth of Christ the Savior.

"At that time the Magi arrived from the East to Jerusalem." They began to ask: "Where is the newborn King of the Jews? We," they said, "saw His star in the East, and have come to worship Him." The news of this reached Herod. The Idumean became alarmed for the throne of David, which the Romans had given him. The inhabitants of Jerusalem were also confused: some, fearing Herod's cruel suspicion, others, expecting some extraordinary changes, which, given the general corruption of morals, did not promise them anything comforting. Herod assembled the Sanhedrin, consisting of the oldest priests and learned Jews, and asked them: "Where should Christ be born?" They answered him: "In Bethlehem of Judea." And in confirmation they brought the prophecy of Micah, who, more than 700 years before, predicted: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from eternity" (Micah 5:2). Then Herod, having secretly called the Magi, found out from them how long ago the star had appeared, and, having sent them off to Bethlehem, said: "Go, find out as much as possible about the Child; and when you have found Him, tell me, that I too, having come, may worship Him." The Magi left the king and went to Bethlehem. And behold, the star which they had seen before again went before them, finally it stood motionless over one place in Bethlehem. They rejoiced unusually, rightly concluding that here was the newborn King whom they were seeking. They entered the house; saw the Child with His Mother Mary, and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented Him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The choice of gifts, of course, was not without God's inspiration, because they pointed to the royal power, divine honor, and mortal nature of Christ the God-man. The Magi did not return to Herod, but went by another road to their own land, as they were commanded by God in a dream vision.

Then the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Arise, take the young child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, because Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.” So he arose, and in the night he took the young Child and His Mother, and departed for Egypt.

Meanwhile, Herod waited in vain for the Magi. Seeing that he had been deceived, he became terribly angry and sent to kill all the male children in Bethlehem and all the surrounding areas, from newborns to two years of age. Based on the testimony of the Magi, he expected that Christ would certainly be killed among them. But less than a month had passed before he himself died in the most severe torments. After Herod's death, the angel of the Lord again appeared to Joseph in a dream in Egypt and said: "Arise, take the Child and His Mother, and return to the land of Israel; for the ruler who attempted the life of the Child is dead." Joseph obeyed, took the God-child and His Mother, and came to Judea. He wanted to settle in Bethlehem, where David had grown up and been brought up, and where the promised Messiah, the Son of David, the God-child Jesus, was born, but when he heard that, instead of Herod, his suspicious and cruel son Archelaus had become king in Judea, he was afraid to go there. Then in a dream he received a message from God, according to which he withdrew to Galilee, where another son of Herods, Herod Antipas, reigned, who was of a gentle and partly carefree disposition; and again he settled in Nazareth, from which Jesus Christ was later given the name "Nazarene."

II. What do the circumstances of Christ's birth set forth here teach us?

Many and very important soul-saving truths. Let us focus our attention on each of them.

a) Bethlehem was the native city of the ancestors of Jesus: but Joseph and Mary had in it not more than a poor hut, not more than a span of land of inheritance, nor a permanent residence. Providence, by the hand of Caesar, brought them to this place, from which it was predestined "for the Prince of Israel to go forth" (Matt. 2:6). Strangers in the land of their ancestors, strangers in their own country, gave a country to the Son of Him, "from whom every country in heaven and on earth is named" (Eph. 3:15). Christians! As long as we live in the world with the carelessness of citizens and enjoy it with the autocracy of the rulers, Christ cannot be imagined in us. Only unprotected wanderers find "Bethel" and "Bethlehem", the "house of God" and the "house of the bread" of life. Only the voluntary exiles of the earth are accepted as citizens of heaven. He who wishes to be the dwelling place of the Son of God must have a fatherland in the one God and, with all his attachment to the earthly fatherland, which is, however, quite natural and righteous, consider it only the gateway to the heavenly.

b) Jesus, having borrowed nothing from the world at His birth, apparently did not want to show it anything of His own. He hid His immeasurable eternity behind the day of His birth; the throne of the King of kings became a manger, the royal garments were His swaddling clothes, the first servants of the kingdom were the shepherds of the flock; God's power and God's wisdom are hidden in the weaknesses of infancy. What, then, should a heart that desires to be conformed to the image of Jesus feel at the sight of such "humility"? Strength of mind, greatness of spirit, fame of deeds, advantages of titles! I am not seduced by you and do not envy those who are proud of you. There is no higher wisdom than to renounce wisdom for Jesus; there is no greater glory than to share dishonor with Jesus; there is no more abundant state than the poverty of Jesus; there is no other door to perfection and blessedness than the infancy of Jesus; there is no better adornment for the soul in which He must dwell than to see oneself as a stranger to all adornments, like His manger. The current of grace, like the rush of a river, flows into the valleys: the cedars on the mountains are reserved for thunder and lightning. God creates out of nothing: as long as we want and think to be something, He does not begin His work in us. Humility and self-denial are the foundation of His temple in us: whoever deepens it more, he will build it higher and more safely.

c) One of the essential attributes of the birth of Jesus was the purity of His Mother, unimpaired by sight or thought. She was, as the Church unanimously confesses, a Virgin before, at, and after the birth. Look to Her example, soul striving for union with God, and see your duty in the mirror of Her perfection. The Lord says to man: "Give Me, My son, your heart." He Who gave us the heart is not content with a greater or lesser share: it must all belong to the Lord of all. Only strict vigilance over oneself can lead to blessed union with Him and keep us in it: "Keep your heart with all diligence: for from these proceed life" (Prov. 4:23). The heavenly Bridegroom is betrothed only to wise and immaculate virgins who do not slumber in His chamber. A virgin soul, turned to the one God, conceives spiritual life and gives birth to the blessedness of pure contemplation. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

d) At the birth of Christ the angels sang of the glory of God and peace on earth: they sing also at our rebirth of the glory of grace and the peace of man with God. “There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repents” (Luke 15:7).

d) The shepherds and the magi come to Christ with reverence, despite the poverty and obscurity that apparently separated Him from the whole world: so he who unites with Christ is united in Him with all those who are faithful to Him, by an inseparable as well as an incomprehensible union; that Spirit who forms from them a single society, or rather a single body, sometimes unexpectedly, always in good time, brings them together, so that they may mutually instruct and learn, console and receive consolation, confess the mercy and glory of God.

e) And gifts are brought to Christ: gold, as to a King; frankincense, as to God; myrrh, as to Him who died for mortals; but does He not promise us also that to those who seek the Kingdom of God “all things shall be added” (Matt . 6:33)? Does He not want “to make us kings and priests unto His God and Father” (Rev. 1:6)? Does He not unite our spiritual birth with that life-giving death, after which our “life” will be together “hidden with Him in God” (Col. 3:3)?

III. O God, who gave us Your Son! Why do You not grant us with Him? Grant only that we may give birth in ourselves the spirit of Christ and live His life. Then let Herod rage against us, as once against Him, and all Jerusalem with him; let the prince of this age rage, and the whole world take up arms: You will cover us in the secret of Your tabernacle; You will raise us up in peace upon the waters, and by the angel of Your covenant You will lead us into Your holy mountain. Amen.

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.