Homily on the Sunday Before the Nativity of Christ
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Dear brothers and sisters, today we have entered the holy pre-feast days of the Great Feast of the Nativity of Christ. The Holy Church prepares us in advance for the worthy celebration of this feast, so that we may understand its significance for us, be ready to receive the Divine Infant Christ, Who was born for us on earth, and give Him due honor and glory.
The Holy Church, preparing us for this feast, took care that we cleanse our souls with a six-week fast, and filled our ears with the wondrous hymn "Christ is born." And now, by the grace of God, we have lived to see the threshold of this Great Feast. Only a few days separate us from it, and soon with one mouth and one heart we will glorify the Merciful Christ God, incarnate of the Most Pure Virgin Mary for our salvation.
Dear brothers and sisters, in no other way are the words of Holy Scripture that God so loved the world (John 3:16) so justified as in the miraculous event of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot imagine this endless love of God! The entire human race was a sheep, lost and perishing, and daily cried out to God through the lips of the holy psalmist David: "I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant" (Psalm 119:176). And now the Good Shepherd descends to earth to save the lost sheep, to lay down His life for it. For thousands of years the human race has been waiting for the promised Deliverer – and now at last its desire, its hope is fulfilled. The cries of suffering humanity are heard, the Sun of Truth descends to earth and enlightens the human race lying in darkness.
Imagine, dear brothers and sisters, a wanderer walking along the road, who is caught far from his homes by a dark, impenetrable night, he loses his way, does not know where to go. A storm arose, it began to rain, the unfortunate man is exhausted from cold, fatigue and fear, and in despair and expectation of death he falls to the ground. It is clear what joy the wanderer will consider that moment when the storm abates, the rain stops and he sees the coming dawn and the radiant sun rising in the east. Such a spiritual night, full of darkness, was once the life of the entire human race, a night that lasted more than five thousand years.
On the eve of the feast of the Nativity of Christ, let us, brothers and sisters, transport ourselves in our thoughts to Bethlehem. Imagine that you are standing in the cave before the manger where the Infant Lord Jesus lay swaddled in swaddling clothes. What feelings would fill your soul then? We will convey to you one beautiful conversation that blessed Jerome had in his soul with the Infant Jesus, standing at the manger of the Lord at the time when he lived in Bethlehem.
“Whenever I look at the place where my Savior was born, I always have a sweet conversation with Him in my soul.
- Lord Jesus, - I say - how hard it was for You to lie there in Your manger, for the sake of my salvation! What should I repay You for this?
And it seems to me as if the Infant answers me:
– I do not desire anything; just sing: Glory to God in the highest… It will be even worse for Me in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the Cross.
And I say:
- Ah, beloved Child! What shall I give You? I would give You all that I have.
But He answers:
- Both the Heaven and the earth are Mine, I do not need anything, rather give all this to the poor people, and I will accept it, as if it were done for Me.
I continue:
– I will do this willingly, but what would I give to You?
Then the Infant answers me:
- If you are so generous, then I will tell you what you must give Me: give Me your sins, your corrupted conscience and your condemnation.
I ask:
- What do you want to do with them?
- I will take them on My shoulders. this will be My inheritance and that great deed that Isaiah predicted: He bears our sins and is grieved for us.
Then I start weeping and say:
- Divine Child! Take what is mine and give me what is yours. Through you I am justified from my sins and believe in eternal life."
Here is a touching story that clearly shows the immeasurable love for us of the Heavenly Shepherd Jesus Christ, Who said in His Gospel: "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" (John 10:11). God became man to save man, so that man could become God.
Great is this miracle, dear brothers and sisters. Here the boundless Divine wisdom, and power, and goodness, and love are revealed. Man, as a result of Adam's transgression, fell away from God, became a child of God's wrath, a slave of sin, a captive of the devil, an heir to eternal torment. There was no mediator for man to reconcile him with God, the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven were closed for man and the hope of salvation was lost. But the Lord took pity on the creation of His hands, came down to earth Himself, became incarnate in order to save this man, that is, to show him the way to salvation, to open for him the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven, to unite him with God the Father, to deliver him from slavery to sin, from captivity of the devil, from eternal torment. "For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save him that was lost" (Luke 19:10). This is the purpose of the Dispensation of the Incarnation.
Some are perplexed and say: “Couldn’t God send another man in spirit and power to save a person, just as, for example, the Holy Prophet Moses was sent to save the Jews?” “No,” answers Saint Basil the Great, explaining Psalm 48: "None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their souls is costly, and it shall cease forever" (Ps. 48:8–9). That is, no matter what gifts and virtues a person may have, he cannot pay a sufficient price for the redemption of his own soul, much less the souls of all people.
Could God send an Angel for salvation? He could, but even an Angel with a created, limited power would not be able to bear the burden, to pay off the entire sinful debt, which is limitless. For salvation, God Himself had to descend, for only His power is limitless.
God, uniting with created nature, chooses not angelic nature, which is more noble than human, but precisely human nature. For what purpose? Man had to be saved, and therefore a man had to redeem him. This was necessary also so that the devil, who once conquered human nature, would himself be conquered and disgraced by it. And he who once tempted man, promising to make him a god, was himself led astray, seeing God become man.
But surely God could have saved us with His word alone, could, without becoming incarnate, have absolved our debts? Yes, He could, the Holy Fathers answer. He could have forgiven us our sins, but then we would have known only the Divine omnipotence, but would not have known the ineffable mercy of God. God became man out of His great love for us. If God so loved us, dear brothers and sisters, then we too must love the Lord, Who came down from Heaven for our sake, we must meet Him worthily and, having prepared a place for Him, receive Him with faith and love.
How should we meet Him? Let us answer with the words of Saint John the Baptist: "Let every valley be filled, and every mountain and hill made low; let the crooked places be made straight, and the rough places be made smooth" (Luke 3:5). We must prepare the path for Christ to our hearts, for none of us can say that this path is already prepared. If we examine ourselves attentively, we will find that our soul is not prepared to receive the Savior, that the path to it is blocked by impassable thickets of passions and evil inclinations, worldly cares and worries, so that through all this we cannot see the light of Heaven. And our soul is especially encumbered by mountains and hills of pride and arrogance. If our conscience convicts us of this, then we must humble ourselves and hasten, at least in the time that remains, to prepare a beneficial path to our hearts for the Lord. Of course, it is difficult, but the very awareness of the unsettled state of one's soul is the first step toward overcoming difficulties. The awareness of the full force of evil that must be fought arouses disgust for it, and disgust prompts an effort to free oneself from it. The insufficiency of one's own strength to overcome evil helps one to realize the need for grace-filled help, and prayer for it brings it down upon the one praying.
Thus, with the help of God's grace, try in the remaining days to cleanse your heart from the thorns of worldly cares and worries, and most of all, to destroy in your soul the mountains and hills of pride. Nothing hinders the Lord's journey to us so much, nothing removes Him from us so much as pride, especially spiritual pride. The Lord came down to earth only for the poor in spirit, only for those who feel their impotence in the struggle with sin and the need for saving grace and call upon it with all the strength of their soul. These are the people for whom the Son of God came, and not for people proud of their imaginary righteousness. Such people do not feel the need for a Savior, because they hope to be saved only by their own strength, relying on their merits before God, so that it turns out that they are not in debt to God, but God is in debt to them. But this is self-deception, insane self-satisfaction. If we compare our lives impartially with the law of God, which requires of us not only pure deeds, but also pure thoughts, and at the same time remember what Scripture says: "Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in just one point is guilty of all: (James 2:10), then we will understand that we are wretched, poor, blind and naked.
Only then will we truly feel the need for the Savior when we see our spiritual poverty and nakedness. And it will be good for the soul if it then understands its wretchedness and humbles itself. The Lord, seeing humility, will not hesitate to approach and console it with His grace. Only pride, like an impregnable mountain, removes the Lord from us. But humility destroys this mountain and makes the Lord's path to us even and smooth.
Let us love humility, let us strive to acquire it always, and especially on the eve of the coming feast. Let us try to use the days remaining before it for our preparation, especially spiritual preparation, so that our soul can worthily meet this joy, this celebration. Let us diligently visit the temple of God during these days, let us carefully examine our soul and if there are passions in it: malice, anger, hatred, deceit, envy, slander, condemnation, gluttony, drunkenness, lust, obscenity, laziness, negligence and others, then let us certainly wash them with tears of repentance. Let us stand humbly before the Lord, sigh with contrition and tearfully weep before Him: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner; cleanse, O Lord, my iniquities,” and our soul will be washed and adorned with these tears. The first Christians confessed and received Holy Communion before the feast of the Nativity of Christ precisely in order to enter the Great Feast with a cleansed and washed soul. Let us not forget the works of mercy, whoever has the opportunity to do so.
So, let us try to prepare ourselves, at least to a small extent, for a worthy meeting of the born Savior, so that we may meet Him with true spiritual joy. Let us pray and ask the Lord about this: “Grant us, O Lord, to worthily and joyfully meet the great day of Your Nativity, and if the soul does not have bright clothing for this, then You Yourself, the Giver of Light, enlighten its clothing and lead it into Your chamber.” Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
