Christmas (A)  ; 12-25-2025

Is 52:1-7.  Ps 97.  Heb 1:1-6 .  Jn 1:1-18

Deacon Jim McFadden

         Christmas celebrates God’s overwhelming desire to be united with us.  Sometimes we wonder, why does he bother?  He’s perfect—he doesn’t need anything since he is the great I AM.  The Psalmist wondered the same thing, when he intoned, “What are humans that you are mindful of them, mere mortals that you care for them?”  (Ps 8:5).  But he does, so much so that he became one of us, “pitching his tent among us,” as John the Evangelist puts it (1:14).  Yes, God wants to be at one with us, yet this unity seems like a pipe-dream as we live in a world that is so torn with division, rancor, hostility, and just down-right meanness towards one another.

         The latter does not negate Christ’s heartfelt desire to be united with us, which is one reason why the Word became flesh in Jesus.  In Jesus’ Priestly Prayer for Unity, he prays to his Father that “…they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me” (Jn 17:21).  In a wonderful book, written about 15 years ago, Scripture scholar Fr. Gerard Lohfink—Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was—wrote that “Jesus has come to unite the people under God’s rule, and he has indeed brought many people together in this new condition.” Lohfink goes on to say that “He has bridged chasms.   He has assembled tax collectors and Zealots, sinners and saints, poor and rich at one table.  His colorfully mixed band of disciples is a sign of this gathering movement.”

         That’s what Jesus wants because God is one who unites.  The Prince of Darkness, the evil spirts of this world, the False Kingdom of self-worship will, of course, resist this movement towards union.  It’s an opposition that can tear families, communities, and nations apart.  Lohfink challenges us to make a decision: are we with Jesus or against him?  If we’re for him, then we will join him in his mission.  But, in the end, it is unity with the Father and one another that Jesus desires.

         Heady stuff for Christmas.  But the theme of unity runs like a thread through the Advent and Christmas readings.  John the Baptist put aside his personal agenda to unite himself with the one whose coming he foretold: “He must increase and I must decrease” (Jn 3:30).

         At the Annunciation, God unites in the most intimate way possible by dwelling within the womb of our Blessed Mother.  In so doing, he elevates our humanity to unimaginable heights: as spiritual writers have said from the Early Church, that  God has “divinized our nature” by “humanizing his divinity.”  This is so much to take in, but that’s what’s going on with Christmas!

         The infant Jesus himself is a physical sign of the union of the human and the divine.  At his conception, the Second Person of the Trinity, the Word of God, the Son of God now has a union of two natures, which the Church calls the hypostatic union.  The Word of God is so united with our flesh, his divine desire to be with us is at such an incredible pitch, that he undergoes the most earthly occurrence—a woman giving birth to God.  Amazing!

         And, this movement towards unity continues in his public ministry as he gathers people together to proclaim the Good News and promote his Mission that they may all be one.  His work with disciples is with a group, a community.  He could have worked with just Peter, but instead, he calls a gathering, who bring their unique gifts and talents, to continue his work.  Jesus also grasped the need for human beings to be with one another in solidarity as we pursue a common goal: the Kingdom of God.  Someone once said, “While salvation is always personal, it’s never individual”.  In sum,  we’re all in this together as baptized members of the mystical Body of Christ, Holy Mother the Church.

         Jesus was given to us by his heavenly Father who desires all human beings to be drawn to him.  The Prince of Peace desires an end to discord and violence.  As disciples of Jesus, we cannot promote divisiveness and alienation in which our brothers and sisters are objectified, de-humanized. Moreover, we cannot enable those who promote such discord.  Rather than align ourselves with those who “tear asunder,”  we embrace  the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who  will enliven us, bring us together so that the Gospel will not be heard just by one group, but by all.

         At the first Christmas 2025 years ago, God became radically one with humanity.  God continues to enflame our heart with a deep desire to be at one with God and each other.  To such a degree that the Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature” as proclaimed by St Peter (2 Pet 1:4).  Three centuries later St Athanasius amplified this revelation by saying, “For the Son of God became  man so that we could become God.”  Jesus wants us to share  in his divinity which is why he became one of us.  Brothers and sisters, this is such great Good News!  Who does not want this?  Our desire for unity echoes God’s longing for the world. 

The Christmas spirit, then, is a lot more than exchanging gifts and having a sumptuous meal.  It’s a desire to  embrace the hard work of reconciliation, a willingness to strive for concord, a willingness to disengage from our partisan siloes, and a fervent hope for union with one another.  We do so in the name of the one who united his life with our own. 

Let us call upon our Blessed Mother, Mary Most Holy,  to help us follow  her Son who stripped himself of his glory in order to give us a share of his divine fulness.  Merry Christmas! Amen.

Reflection Questions:

1.  Do you ever wander why God pays attention to you?  What is your response?
2. If we’re for Jesus, we will join him in his mission.  Are you striving to share that responsibility?
3. As Christians, we cannot align ourselves with those who “tear asunder.”  How do you navigate the troubled waters of our world?