THIS IS HOW 

THE BIRTH 

OF JESUS CHRIST 

CAME ABOUT 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 4^th Sunday of Advent - Year A -  is, “This Is How the Birth of Jesus Christ Came About.”

That’s the opening sentence in today’s gospel. [Cf. Matthew 1:18-24]

It’s part of the Christmas story according to Matthew.

The thought that hit me - and the theme that hit me - is how did the birth of Jesus Christ come about for me? For each of us? How? When? Where? Why? and Who was in on it?

FIRST THE GOSPELS

As you know the four gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, are quite different - especially John.

All 4 introduce us to Jesus Christ - in different ways - coming out of different traditions, circles, early Christian communities - and what have you.

It’s like an interview I recently read in the New York Times Sunday Book Review. It was with  the actor Bryan Cranston. He had played the part of LBJ - Lyndon Baines Johnson - in a play that is headed for Broadway, "All the Way."  In the interview he was asked about the best book he read this year. That’s one of those regular interview questions.  He answered,"Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. He added that he had read 3 other books on LBJ by others. Then he said,  "And I must admit being curious about the new book, Roger Stone’s 'The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ,' but I think I’ll save that for after the run of the play." [1]

I’m sure each reading will give him a different take - perspective - insights - understandings -  like I’ve read at least five biographies of St. Alphonsus Liguori - the founder of us Redemptorists and three on St. John Neumann - plus his diary.  Each read gave me different perspectives on the person being talked about - by the person or persons painting the portrait of another - as well as their research.

As you know Matthew and Luke are the two gospels that contain the Infancy Narratives of Jesus. 

For starters Matthew gives us Jesus’ genealogy, the virgin birth, Bethlehem, the arrival of the Wise Men or Magi, the Slaughter of the Innocents, and the escape and then return from Egypt. 

Luke tells us about Mary, Joseph, the miraculous pregnancy,  the Census from Rome, the birth in Bethlehem, the shepherds, the presentation in the temple and the return to Nazareth.

Mark starts us off with Christ as an adult - starting to preach - after John the Baptist announces his coming and arrival. We know Mark is the earliest of the 4 gospels - and so some think - the so called Infancy Narratives, the Christmas stories, were developed to answer various questions about Jesus Christ as his life and message began to be told throughout the Mediterranean Basin cities.

John, the latest of the 4 gospels, from around 100 or so - begins before the very beginning - beginning his gospel with the same words the book of Genesis - the first book of the Jewish scriptures -  begins: “In the beginning.” He presents Jesus as the Word  - being the Word with God - being the Word who was God - through whom all things came to be -  being the Word of God made flesh - light from light - shining in the darkness for all to see.

John is the poet - flighty - pictured as an eagle - giving us the big sky picture. 

John’s Good News - the Fourth Gospel of Jesus - is quite different from the other 3 Gospels. They are sometimes called the “Synoptics” - “syn” the Greek prefix for “with” and “optics” from the Greek word for “eyes.” If you look at those 3, one notices that they come from seeing some of the same sources. John is very different.

For those who have time - like in your retirement - one smart book to read is Raymond Brown’s great book on the infancy narratives of Jesus, The Birth of the Messiah. We can be very grateful as Catholics for having some really great biblical scholars like Ray Brown - whom Biblical Scholars of many Christian denominations have benefited from.

INTERPRETING OUR LIFE, OUR SCRIPTURES AS WELL AS  THE SACRED SCRIPTURES

So we have Jesus according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

So we have Matthew beginning his Gospel with these words, the title of my homily for today: “This Is How the Birth of Jesus Christ Came About.”

Question: How has Christ been born in us?  Better, how has Christ been born and reborn in us - again and again and again for many?

I have always been in favor of people writing their autobiography. 

What would it be like if 4 different people wrote our life? What would they see and say? Now that would be a page turner for one person: ourselves. But like little kids who are supposed to be in bed with the lights out, we would read others takes on us - with a flashlight - under the covers - wondering what someone else is going to say next about us.

I also think everyone - more or less - is composing, figuring, talking to themselves about their roots - their foundations - their biography - their stories - all through their lives - especially after 50. 

I also think there is a lot of revisionist history going on - when it comes to ourselves.  

That’s why I think Thanksgiving and family get togethers are important - when people are talking about old times - early times - and surprise they are saying to themselves, “I didn’t know that about mom or dad or sis or bro and me. 

That’s been my experience - especially because of being the youngest of 4.”

People - when they find out - that the gospel stories were revised and recalculated - developed - as time went on - till they were finally closed by the early 100’s or so - so as to deal with early Church preaching and teaching - go “Uh oh! Then what can you believe?” 

If someone is a fundamentalist when it comes to interpreting the scriptures, the Catholic Church basically says, “Think again!” [2]

As you might know the really weird stories about the baby Jesus that we find in some of the Gnostic Gospels were rejected because they are off the charts - like Jesus making baby birds out of mud and “poof” he sends them flying.

But once one starts  grasping the beauty of the scriptures - as they have evolved and developed - riches are there big time. Comparing texts - attending workshops on the Scriptures - understanding possible reasons why we have the stories we have in the scriptures - can deepen one's spiritual life.

THE NO SMOKING SIGN PRINCIPLE

I love the No Smoking Sign Principle when it comes to reading the Bible.  If one sees a No Smoking sign - one knows people are smoking in this area.

The whole bible is loaded with thousands and thousands of No this and Yes that signs. It’s loaded with Exit signs and “Dead End” signs. Evidently in early Christian communities people were not forgiving 70 times 7 times - maybe not even 1 time. Evidently prodigal sons and daughters came home from disasters with their lives - having hit bottom in some "pig sloppy" elsewhere - and then some family members wouldn’t shake their hands and hug them and welcome them home. Evidently people refused to go the extra mile, turn the other cheek, give the shirt off their back. Evidently people were passing by people on the road - etc. etc. etc.

I am convinced - once people grasp this way of digging the scriptures Christ will be born in them in newer and newer, richer and richer ways.

Hey - life is discovery - vision - revision - editing - and re-editing - changing - growing - being born again - and again and again.

SO HOW HAS THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TAKEN PLACE IN US?

My first answer for that question that has always been: Mom and Dad, my family, the parish and school in Brooklyn I grew up in.

Then there are so many other stories.

As priest I have heard lots and lots and lots of tales of people like Paul who fell on their face - discovered their blindness - and crawled their way to sight and insight in Christ Jesus.

For 14 years of my life I worked in two different retreat houses. Sometimes when people retreat - when they are far from home - somewhat anonymous - they get to tell their stories - their twists and turns, their ups and downs, their better and their worse, their doubts and their faith.

For 8 ½ years I was a road preacher - giving parish missions and retreats all over the country - and once more I discovered that various people look for strangers - to open up their story to.

CONCLUSION

And on and on and on.  The key thing I want to trigger in this homily is to ask you to listen to your Christmas Story - how Christ was born in you - and reborn in you.

I rarely work on a homily till I get to that homily - but I’ve been working in my mind on my Christmas story for this year. For the past 20 years I have written one for every Christmas. This year I want to get into this issue - of how people got their call to Bethlehem or Calvary or Jericho or the shores of the Lake of Galilee.

I am hearing that we’re getting the bounce effect from Pope Francis on many drop outs.

So I am expecting more people at Christmas Mass this year. Now Christmas Mass is actually redundant - because Christmas means Christ’s Mass.

I hope all of us the regulars will do what I heard Father Pat Flynn likes to say: “Welcome them. Give them your seat!”

I am well aware that many CEMF - Christmas, Easter, Marriage, and Funeral - Catholics are out there - ready to be reborn - ready for Christ to come to them - to be born in their stable or unstable lives - stinky stable or cold cave of a mind and heart.

God is no fool. God comes as a baby to disarm us - with the hopes we’ll grow up with Him - or come into the vineyard - at whatever hour it happens. Amen.

O O O O O O O

NOTES

[1] "Bryan Cranston: By the Book,"  New York Times - Sunday Book Review, December 8, 2013, page BR 6

[2] Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Vatican Council II, Pope Paul VI, Rome, November 18, 1965