As I look out at all of you, gathered for our Christmas Eve Mass, with our lovely Christmas crèche right here in the midst of us, I wonder what kind of Christmas they are having in other parts of the world and especially the families and children in Israel, Gaza and in the Ukraine. You don’t need me to tell you about the awful horror of death, destruction, and suffering going on in those places. Daily, the media show us the terrible images of conflict. The words of our first reading might almost have been written for those poor people caught up and helpless amid the terrifying ravages of war. “The people who walked in darkness …those who lived in a land of deep darkness…”. In fact, the people that the prophet Isaiah was describing in that first reading, lived in the northern part of Israel, close to a mountain pass that provided an easy way in for any nation that wanted to attack and pillage the people living there. So, the people living in that area had only ever known for centuries the tramp, tramp, tramp of soldiers’ boots, coming in to wreak yet more havoc on them. Indeed, just before this prophecy of Isaiah, the people in the north of Israel had once more suffered attack and ruin, this time from the nation of Assyria, in the 8th century. B.C.
And yet, at the very moment when everything seemed so awful, and there seemed no hope, Isaiah stands up in the midst of his suffering people, and prophesies that there will come in time to their land, one whose coming they need not fear, one whose feet would not bring oppression and terror, but healing and deliverance from oppression. The sign that this will happen is the most unlikely sign of all/ As Isaiah goes on to say: “a child will be born for us, a son given to us”. This child, says Isaiah, who looks so helpless and vulnerable now in his mother’s arms, is in fact, to be named “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”. He will be invested with such authority that he will be a king, whose reign will be one of justice and righteousness and endless peace, who will break the rod and yoke of the aggressor and oppressor.
In time, of course, that child did come, in the words of St Paul to the Galatians: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4: 4). And we are all here, and in millions of homes and churches throughout the world, to celebrate the birth of hope and a new beginning for the world, for us all. To make the connection with the prophecy of Isaiah 8 centuries before, this child, is given the name “Jesus”, which means, in the language of Israel, “Savior”. And this Jesus is born, and will spend most of his time on earth, living and ministering healing and deliverance in the very area that had suffered so much pain and terror beforehand. In time, Jesus would himself suffer the consequences of the cruelty of man, and be killed on a cross, but, and this is the whole point of what we are about today. Jesus will rise again from the dead after three days, to show the world that death and cruelty may seem to reign right now, but it is not the final word. It is destined to be overcome, to be turned, in the end, into resurrection and new life. This baby, this birth, holds for us a promise, that, no matter what we are suffering and going through right now, there is hope for salvation and deliverance, that this darkness will not last forever, but as we hold our situation, our suffering before Jesus , and surrender it to him, he will come into that darkness , into that suffering , and bring his light, his healing, his hope for resurrection and new life, in short, his salvation.
These terrible wars will end eventually. When? I don’t know, but I have a sense that, if you and I, and all the believers around the world were seriously to get down on our knees, and fast and pray a lot, lot more than we, myself included, are doing right now, then those wars would end sooner, and people would be able to get on with rebuilding their lives, their homes, their hopes, because the resurrection power of God in Jesus would be released more fully by our prayer into the world. And, if we as believers, were to not only pray, but also reach out with forgiveness and kindness, with love and mercy, to those who are suffering around us, and even to those who oppress and hate us, instead of with anger and hatred and vengefulness, which seems to be the only answer the world can bring to darkness and hatred and rage, i.e. yet more darkness, hatred and rage, if we were able to do that as believers, as hopers, as lovers, as prayers, then we can release yet more of God’s saving, healing, resurrection power and new life into our aching world. Can that become our real New Year resolution this time around, brothers and sisters – to become more believers in Jesus, trustors in Jesus, lovers of Jesus, prayers to Jesus? To quote St Paul, in his letter to Titus: “now the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior has appeared, bringing salvation to all, that we might live our lives in this present age that are self-controlled, upright and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11 – 14; 3: 4-7).
“For a child has been born FOR US, a son given TO US; and he is named WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, PRINCE OF PEACE.” AMEN