Christmas Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons

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The story of the Nativity of Jesus as told to us through the Gospel writers, is a tale of little loves in a darkened world, loves that light up a flame that never dies even in the worst of times. I don’t know about you but every Christmas as an adult has been a bitter sweet experience, there is joy and anticipation, excitement and discovery, that childlike expression of wonder. And yet there is also the painful expression of human suffering of the lost and lonely, the unwanted ones of brokenness that hurts and separation that cannot yet be bridged. We may only touch this side of Christmas through news or appeals, but at times we too might find that even in our family the fragmented state of relationships becomes raw in the story of the Christ child.

Our scriptures this Christmas take us on that journey, Isaiah pointing out the glittering lights on the Christmas tree of prophecy, the yoke is gone, the battle is over, the peace is won. The wrappings of justice and integrity now cover us tightly as God’s holy people. The star of salvation shines out across our world, and yet Luke shows us how fragmented we still are. Mary gives birth to Jesus in a situation that any dispossessed refugee could identify with immediately.

There is an air of an unwanted Christ, no great delegation to reverence him, not one of the faithful recognizes his coming. It is to the outcast and poor, the rough shepherds in distant hills and fields that the messengers of God appear. How frightening those words of salutation and joy must have seemed, as with Mary, the Shepherds are left astounded, incredulous but like Mary that little act of God’s love changed them, the word made flesh and dwelt in their hearts too. That love carried them to a sign so simple and humdrum that it could easily be missed, and yet it is one of the greatest of all miracles, of love conquering all.

What did the shepherds find? Only warmth of the new love of a mother and a father for a new born baby, and then the shepherds loved him. It is so very true as John writes: ‘we have, all of us, received-yes, grace in return for grace’. That is the secret of Christmas, no magical answers or blinding revelations, just God loving us.

 Fr Robin Gibbons is an Eastern Rite Chaplain for the Melkite Greek Catholics in Britain.