3

NATIVITY

“And the word became flesh
and dwelt among us.”
Christmas is a wonderful feast.

The birth of a baby is always Good News
of great joy!

God the Silent, speaks.
God the Invisible, becomes visible.
God the Darkness, gives light.
The unexpected, the unbelievable, happens.
God empties himself to become one of us.

“Have no fear
I bring you tidings of great joy
to be shared with all the people.”

“This day in David’s city,
a savior has been born to you,
the Messiah and Lord.”

“O come let us adore him,
O come let us adore him,
O come let us adore him,
Christ the Lord.”

There was no room in the inn.
There was no room in the world.
There was no room in our hearts,
yet he came.

A light went on
in the dark house of earth
and the darkness
will never be able to put it out.

A star appears on the wall of night.
“Silent night,
holy night,
all is calm,
all is bright.”

Awake shepherds!
Awake wise men!
Awake, O Jerusalem.
Your hope is here;
your savior has appeared.
A flower has sprung
from Jesse’s stock
and a star has risen from Jacob.

But I warn you now in a dream
that he is not what you are expecting.
God never does that.
God is never what you expect him to be.
God has emptied himself,
becoming a baby.
The hand of God has baby fingers.

This baby is God
who is beyond our imagination,
beyond our brains.

God becoming human,
becoming a baby is
ridiculous.
Who could believe it?

Surprise! The Christmas story
features shepherds and kings,
the rich and the poor.

Go to the stable!

You’ll find Mary and Joseph,
a couple from Nazareth,
80 miles from home,
in the little town of Bethlehem,
House of Bread,
Breadbox of the World.

God feeds us with the finest of wheat.
Peace on Earth,
Good will to all.

Gifts?
What kind of a Christmas gift,
a birthday gift,
can I bring him?
What does he want of me?
I don’t know.
I’m empty too.
I’ll come to him
like a child in the silent night empty,
but ready to be filled
with the word,
with the Light.
There he is, an infant,
wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger.
See the light.
See the halo of light, enlightenment, delight,
surrounding him.
Jesus is Emmanuel - God with us.
His tiny fingers reach out for Mary,
for Joseph,
for the ox and the ass,
for you and for me,
for the whole of creation.
He’s trying to grab the whole of creation.
His arms opening wider and wider
to embrace the world,
to embrace the Father.
Come Lord Jesus
Come.

4

PRESENTATION

Present!

It’s easy to say “Present,”
as we did a thousand times as kids in school”,
but to be really present, now that is difficult.

And Mary and Joseph
brought the baby to the temple
to present him to the Lord.

They walked through the crowd,
up the steps, past the money changers,
till they came to the tables
of those who were selling doves.
Some of the buyers, the sellers,
the people on the lines,
stopped for a brief moment,
stopped to smile into the face of this baby boy.
and then it was back to business as usual
here in the temple of the Lord.
Did these people know
that this was the one,
this was the Son,
who would one day rise in anger
to turn over these very tables,
to drive them and their children,
along with the money changers
out of the temple area?

Did these people forget
that this was the house of God,
that this was a house of prayer?

Then Mary and Joseph walked deep
into the darkness of the temple,
carrying their son, a candle,
the Light of the world.

They walked past Pharisees and Publicans in prayer.
They walked to the place
where they could offer their poor sacrifice:
two small birds, in thanksgiving to the Lord
for all their blessings.
Being poor,
this is all that they could offer.
Being rich,
they came to offer up the Lamb of God
who takes away the sins of the world.

Suddenly, in the middle of the ceremony
an old man arrives in the temple.
His eyes are rushing, searching,
his mouth is muttering,
his legs are moving as fast as possible
trying go locate the child.
Simeon knew that the Spring
he had been waiting for
had finally arrived in the winter of his life.

“Look! There is the Lamb of God
who takes away the sins of the world.
Look there is the child.
There is the One!”
He stands there and bursts into prayer,
thanking God that his long wait is finally over.

“Enough!” he says in an old man’s prayer.
“God you can now take me.
What more is there in life for me to see?
Here is the Light of the world.
Here is the Light
that will be seen by the Gentiles;
here is the Glory of Israel.”

He stops speaking.

Silence.

Then Simeon looks into Mary’s eyes,
into Mary’s heart.
Slowly, he begins to tell her
the good news and the bad,
the sweet and the sour stories
of everyone’s life.

“This child is to be part
of the joyful and sorrowful mysteries of your life,
and everyone’s life from now on.”

“A sword will pierce your heart,
so that the thoughts of all hearts will be revealed.”

And after Simeon came Anna.
It reminded Mary of the stable of Bethlehem,
the arrival first of the shepherds
and of the wise men.
Anna was one of those old women
you find in every temple.
Age had bent her like an anchor,
a sign of hope.
She came to Mary and Joseph;
she came with good news only.

“This child,”
putting her hand on the baby’s heard,
“is destined to deliver Israel.”

With that Mary and Joseph left the temple
and thought about these predictions
all the way back to Galilee and beyond.
And as Mary watched her son grow
in size and strength,
in wisdom and grace,
she turned all these thing
over and over again in her mind.

5

FINDING

“Lost and found,”
words that appear
over and over again in our life.
The time we lost a wallet,
the time we lost our keys,
the time we lost a wedding ring,
the time we lost a friend,
and the time we thought we lost God.

Lost and found,
death and resurrection,
the seesaw of life,
sorrow turning into joy
when our prayers are finally answered.

Jesus was now 12 years old.
And as usual
Mary and Joseph went up to Jerusalem
for the great feast of the Passover,
the feast of the Unleavened Bread.
On the road to Jerusalem
the pilgrims sang and rejoiced,
enjoying these moments
far away from the “everyday”.
“I rejoiced because they said to me,
‘We will go up to the house of the Lord.
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem.’”

Joy, wonder, the marvels of a big city,
especially for a small boy.
Family, food, friends, being with a crowd,
so different from the quite life
of a small town like Nazareth.

And Jesus’ eyes took in everything,
but especially the thousands of lambs
being brought into the city
to be slaughtered for the feast.
Jesus watched the lambs.
They seemed to sense that something was wrong,
that something was going to happen to them.
Why this trip to Jerusalem?
Why not stay back home,
safe and far away from this city?
Jesus felt for them.
During the whole feast
he could hear their strange silence,
their quiet resignation,
their patience,
their wondering about the “what’s next?”
Did they know
that they were about to be slaughtered,
about to give their bodies,
so others could eat?

Death.

And on that night
different from all other nights,
Jesus sat there eating the lamb,
picking up the bread
and with each sip of the cup
he took deep thoughts
into the past
and began to wonder
about the future.

And at times
he went to the window of the house
where they were staying
and he listened to the music
and the laughter
coming from the houses on the street,
people in upper rooms,
celebrating a last meal
with their relatives
before they would be heading home,
back to the grindstone,
the millstone,
the fields
and the carpenter shops.

In the morning Mary and Joseph
packed everything and started home,
filled with that satisfied feeling,
with that “wanting to get home” feeling,
back to reality,
back to work.

The holiday was over,
the vacation was ended.

Then they discovered half-way home
that Jesus was missing.
Where is he?Where is Jesus?

She thought he was with him.
He thought he was with her.

It was a normal mix up.
It happens in every family.

They looked everywhere,
till they realized
that he must still be back in Jerusalem.
Lost?
Dead?
Where is Jesus?

And on the third day
they found their lost sheep,
their lost coin,
their lost son,
resurrected,
very much alive,
and teaching in the temple.
They stood back and watched him.
Questions.
Questions.
Questions.

He was searching,
probing,
testing out all that he had wondered about
in the carpenter shop and in the synagogue in Nazareth.

Finally, they went up to him
and asked the question
that all parents ask,
“Why did you do this to us?”
“Don’t you realize we were worried?
Don’t you realize
that we care about you?
Don’t you realize
that you just can’t do a thing like this to us?”

And Jesus answered,
“Don’t you realize
that I must be about my Father’s business?”

Anger? Fear? Frustration? Wonder?
What was their reaction
to those strange new words
coming from a 12 year old boy?
Parents trying to figure out a child.
He was becoming a man.
Jesus went home with them to Galilee.
And Mary and Joseph
continued to talk about Jesus
and why he did this to them.
Kids. When do they become free?
When do they really leave home?
Is it long before they actually do it?

They didn’t know.
And Mary turned all these questions
over and over again in her mind.
The sword was starting
to make its sharpness felt.
She began questioning God
in the temple of her heart.

Questions.
Questions.
Questions.

Prayer.
Prayer.
Prayer.

THE
FIVE
LUMINOUS
MYSTERIES!

“As long as the day lasts
I must carry out the work
of the one who sent me;
As long as I am in the world
I am the light of the world.”
John 9: 4-5

1

THE BAPTISM

OF JESUS

There comes a day in everyone’s life
when they know it’s time to leave home,
when it’s time to begin one’s life’s work.

There comes a day in everyone’s life
when they feel the great call for Exodus,
Redemption, Deliverance, Salvation, Freedom.

The call comes to those who feel
they are trapped, stuck, locked into
their own personal form of slavery:
addicted to laziness, lust, or lack of purpose,
self-centeredness or self neglect,
not seeing neighbor, not seeing God,
driven by greed, envy, jealousy,
or self preening pride.

The call comes to those who
feel their life has become
an ongoing inner complaining
that they have been dealt a bad hand.

The call comes to those who realize,

“I’m living on the wrong side of the river.”

This is what John the Baptist was about.

He went into the wilderness
to talk to God about all this.

Then he came out of that desert
a changed person.

John the Baptist heard
the call of God
to grow up and branch out
to become a good tree.

John echoed his call by calling others
to conversion, to their moment of change,
to experience the change he experienced.

And John the Baptist proclaimed
for all of us to do the same thing:
Stop!
Take time out.
Retreat.
Go into your desert.
Enter your wilderness.
Face your emptiness.
See yourself as a dead tree without fruit.
Learn that you need Living Water.

Be baptized.
Enter the Living Water.
Be plunged into Life.

John the Baptist symbolized
the call to change
after a person experiences, "I'm empty!"

and the emptiness of a desert teaches that.

John the Baptist sybolized

the call to be baptized in the Jordan.
Come to the Jordan.
Come to the River of Change!
Come to the very river the people of Israel
went into and went through
when they wanted to enter the Promised Land.
Walk on the right side of the river.

But in time
they slipped back into slavery,
into a time before the Promised Land,
back into slavery of Egypt.

Jesus,
the New Adam,
the New Israel,
the New Person all of us are called to be,
came to that River.

The baptism of Jesus
in the Jordan River
was a breakout moment.

It has overtones

of some of the greatest moments
in the Old Testament:

· the opening words of Genesis, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was a formless void and there was darkness over the deep, and God’s spirit hovered over the waters;
· the end of the great flood and Noah released the dove and it came back carrying an olive branch – the symbol of a new beginning;
· the escape, the Passover, from Egypt through the waters of the Red Sea into the desert;
· the entrance to the Promised Land by crossing the Jordan River.

Picture the scene.

See Jesus stepping
into the water of the Jordan.
See him plunging into the water.
Notice the heavens openning.
See Jesus' face as he hears the words
“This is my beloved Son.
Listen to him."

See the smile on Jesus' face

because he has just heard

one of life's greatest realizations -

one of life's greatest revelations,

"I am beloved by God.

I have something to say.

Listen to me!"

The Spirit like a dove lands on his shoulder.

A new Spirit,
the Holy Spirit has come to us.

2

THE REVELATION

AT CANA

Jesus was invited to a wedding.

Every couple should invite Jesus

to their wedding,
into their relationship,
into their situation,
into their plans.

Jesus went to the wedding
and his mother and disciples were also invited.

The wedding was in a small town, Cana, in Galilee.

Surprise!
They ran out of wine.

Did they invite too many?
Were they poor?
Was the wedding poorly planned?

Every married couple
find themselves in the same situation.
They run out of patience.
They run out of understanding.
They run out of the sparkle.
They run out of conversation.
They run out of making the effort
to make their marriage work better.

This couple in Cana of Galilee
ran out of wine right in the beginning
of their marriage – the day of their wedding feast.

Jesus, when preaching and teaching,
often talks about wedding banquets.
He too had heard that the prophets of Israel
often saw the dream of life
here and hereafter as a wedding banquet.

We can relate to that:
when families unite,
when people dance and celebrate,
when people eat and drink and sing together,
they forget their struggles and stresses,
at least for a few hours

Jesus changed water into wine at Cana.

Jesus changed 6 large water jars into wine.

Jesus saved a couple’s wedding.

It’s the first of Jesus’ signs.

The Kingdom had begun

In the Gospel of John

where we hear this wonderful story,

we notice that it was Mary
who pushed Jesus to save the situation.

Jesus did.

And people got a glimpse

that there was much more to come.

3

THE PROCLAMATION
OF THE KINGDOM

As one reads the Gospels of Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John,
one begins to hear about “The Kingdom.”

Those of us who don’t live in a country with kings and queens
still have an idea about what a kingdom is.

We get glimpses of kingdoms in the stories of our childhood –
as well the everyday language of image and metaphor.

And we pray “Thy Kingdom come” over and over again
when we say the Our Father.

Jesus had a dream on how life could be:
that dream is the Kingdom.

It’s the dream of his Father.

It’s the reason why God made us and gave us the gift of life on this planet.

That reasoning, that dream, that hope, that will of the Father and discovered by Jesus in prayer is the Kingdom: Thy Kingdom come!

Jesus proclaims the coming of the kingdom of God.
He calls all to conversion
He calls for forgiveness,
to open our hands,
to drop the rocks,
to share our cloaks and our bread with each other.

The Kingdom is the dream.

We need to listen to each other’s dreams.

We know from the Gospel of Luke that Jesus listened to the dreams of Isaiah.

He opened up the scroll of Isaiah when he went into the synagogue in Nazareth and found the passage where it said, “The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up hearts that are broken; to proclaim liberty to captives, freedom to those in prison; to proclaim a year of favor from the Lord, a day of vengeance for our God.” (Cf. Isaiah 61:1-2; Luke 4: 18-19).

If we read the whole scroll of Isaiah we will be reading the life of Jesus. So much repeats itself. The word becomes flesh in Jesus. The best of the Old Testament is married to the New. New wine tickles the words on old leather skins with words of life still fermenting.
And Jesus called people to this kingdom – to lead this life.

And Jesus called disciples to live this life – and then proclaim it.

And the message is still being lived.