Why Christmas Matters!


Although the word "Christmas" is not in the Bible, but the event we celebrate is in the Bible. We celebrate the fact that the Creator of the universe, who transcends every definition and concept, took to himself our human nature. The central claim of Christianity is that God became human. God became one of us. Talking about the incarnation, John says, And the Word became flesh and dwell among us (John 1:14).

One of the heresies that the Catholic Church has always opposed is gnosticism. Among other things, gnostic doctrine teaches that all material things including the human body are evil. Some gnostic writers even claim that our being material is in a sense a falling away from God. So, they conclude that spiritual life can only be attained through a denial of the material. You would expect a gnostic believer to practice extreme forms of mortification of the flesh like slashing the body with razors, whipping the body with sticks, sleeping on a hardwood and using a piece of rock as pillow. They do all these because they believe that the body is evil and must be “mutilated,” punished, subjected, undermined and neutralized. But authentic Christianity, inspired and supported by the breathtaking claim of St. John has persistently fought back and exposed gnosticism as as a wrong teaching. Why is gnosticism wrong? Because the Word of God took to himself a nature like ours. John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). This Word (Logos) “became flesh and made his dwelling among us…” (John 1:14). God took to himself a human nature and thereby elevated the human body and all of matter and made it a sacrament of the divine presence. As such, all material things are essentially good. 

The Greek expression behind, “made his dwelling among us” can also be translated more literally as “tabernacled among us” or “pitched his tent among us.” According to the Book of Exodus, the ark of the covenant, which is the embodiment of Yahweh’s presence, was originally housed in a tent or tabernacle. But now John is saying that in the flesh of Jesus, Yahweh has established his definitive tabernacle among us. God has moved into our neighborhood. God is now here, among us, and with us. This is exactly what we celebrate during Christmas. 

Beloved in Christ, since the Almighty God, the Creator of the universe humbled himself and in the process was humiliated just to demonstrate the stretch of his love for us, why do we sometimes raise our shoulders above that of our brothers and sisters? Why do we carry our shoulders high and display “I’m better than you” attitude? If you have more wealth than others, good for you. If you are more educated than someone else, good for you. If you live in a fancy house and drive a fancy car, good for you. If you have more power, more connection, more pleasure, more honor, and more wealth, good for you. But does any of these give you super-humanity? Heck No! The extra stuff a person possess does not make a person more human or impose on a person a super-humanity. In the same vein, the deprivation of another does not strip or reduce their humanity and dignity. If God can come down to our level, we have no reason to raise ourselves above another. Let’s be humble just as our heavenly Father is humble. 

Fr. Marcel E. Okwara, CSsR