In the Orthodox Church, we prepare for the Nativity of Christ many weeks before Christmas on December 25th. Hence, the Nativity Fast begins on November 15th and on November 21st we already begin proclaiming "Christ is born, glorify Him!" during the Canon chanted in Matins; and also the Kontakion of the Nativity, "Today the Virgin gives birth to the Pre-eternal Word," is chanted from the leavetaking of the feast of the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple (that is, from 25 November) onwards.
Many may not be aware, however, that three Sundays before the Nativity of Christ there is a standard Gospel reading from Luke 13:10-17 which describes the miracle of Christ healing the crippled woman with a bent back, and in the Greek Churches is known as the Tenth Sunday of Luke. In the Slavic Churches this Gospel is fixed to fall on the Twenty-Sixth Sunday After Pentecost, and may not fall on a set Sunday before Nativity of Christ, so this particular Gospel reading always falling three Sundays before Christmas is specifically a Greek tradition that goes back many centuries.
On the two Sundays before Christmas, we prepare for Christ's Nativity by commemorating His ancestors as recorded in the Gospel genealogies, as well as all the Righteous of the Old Testament. On the Sunday prior to this, which is three Sundays before Christmas, we already set the theme for the next two Sundays before Christmas. This is done in at least two ways:
First, when Jesus heals the crippled woman on the Sabbath, and is criticized by the ruler of the synagogue for healing the woman on the Sabbath, He says to him: "Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it?" (Lk. 13:15). By comparing His act to quenching the thirst of an ox or a donkey, we are reminded of the prophecy in Isaiah 1:3: "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its Master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people does not understand," which is seen as a foreshadowing of Christ's birth. The ox was considered clean food for the Israelites, while the donkey was considered unclean; this may represent the salvific reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles through Christ. This is also why we see the ox and the donkey in all icons of the Nativity of Christ next to the Infant Jesus's (the Master's) crib in the manger.
Second, Jesus continues to say to the ruler of the synagogue in Luke 13:16: "So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound — think of it — for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?" By calling her "a daughter of Abraham" we are reminded that Christ was of the lineage of Abraham, who will be commemorated the next Sunday, and the fact that Jesus, as a child of Abraham Himself, has come to set free all the sons and daughters of Abraham who have been bound by Satan, and as the One who gave them the Law of Moses, He is above the Law of Moses and fulfills it in order to set them free to become children of Grace.
This is why the Tenth Sunday of Luke with its accompanying Gospel reading falls three Sundays before Christmas in the Greek Orthodox Churches, and offers us great spiritual truths to contemplate as we approach the Nativity of the Lord.
Many may not be aware, however, that three Sundays before the Nativity of Christ there is a standard Gospel reading from Luke 13:10-17 which describes the miracle of Christ healing the crippled woman with a bent back, and in the Greek Churches is known as the Tenth Sunday of Luke. In the Slavic Churches this Gospel is fixed to fall on the Twenty-Sixth Sunday After Pentecost, and may not fall on a set Sunday before Nativity of Christ, so this particular Gospel reading always falling three Sundays before Christmas is specifically a Greek tradition that goes back many centuries.
On the two Sundays before Christmas, we prepare for Christ's Nativity by commemorating His ancestors as recorded in the Gospel genealogies, as well as all the Righteous of the Old Testament. On the Sunday prior to this, which is three Sundays before Christmas, we already set the theme for the next two Sundays before Christmas. This is done in at least two ways:
First, when Jesus heals the crippled woman on the Sabbath, and is criticized by the ruler of the synagogue for healing the woman on the Sabbath, He says to him: "Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it?" (Lk. 13:15). By comparing His act to quenching the thirst of an ox or a donkey, we are reminded of the prophecy in Isaiah 1:3: "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its Master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people does not understand," which is seen as a foreshadowing of Christ's birth. The ox was considered clean food for the Israelites, while the donkey was considered unclean; this may represent the salvific reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles through Christ. This is also why we see the ox and the donkey in all icons of the Nativity of Christ next to the Infant Jesus's (the Master's) crib in the manger.
Second, Jesus continues to say to the ruler of the synagogue in Luke 13:16: "So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound — think of it — for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?" By calling her "a daughter of Abraham" we are reminded that Christ was of the lineage of Abraham, who will be commemorated the next Sunday, and the fact that Jesus, as a child of Abraham Himself, has come to set free all the sons and daughters of Abraham who have been bound by Satan, and as the One who gave them the Law of Moses, He is above the Law of Moses and fulfills it in order to set them free to become children of Grace.
This is why the Tenth Sunday of Luke with its accompanying Gospel reading falls three Sundays before Christmas in the Greek Orthodox Churches, and offers us great spiritual truths to contemplate as we approach the Nativity of the Lord.
