Christ is born! Glorify Him!

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Let us attend to the words of the Prophet Isaiah:

Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. ‘I have brought up children and exalted them: but they have despised Me. The ox knoweth his Owner and the ass his Master’s crib: but Israel hath not known Me and My people hath not understood’ (Is. 1:2-3).

And, again, the words of that same Prophet of the Nativity:

Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy Light is come, and the Glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth and a mist the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thy eyes round about and see: all these are gathered together, they are come to thee. Thy sons shall come from afar and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side. Then shalt thou see and abound, and thy heart shall wonder and be enlarged: when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength [wealth] of the Gentiles shall come to thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of [Midian] and [Ephah]. All they from [Sheba] shall come, bringing gold and frankincense and showing forth praise to the Lord (Is. 60:1-6).

And, finally, the words of the divine Theologian, St. John the Evangelist, foreseeing the New Jerusalem whose glory and Temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb: “And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it” (Rv. 21:22, 23, 24).

On this most glorious and holy of all days, the Church commemorates the Birth of Her Lord according to the Flesh and all those who glorify and honor Him, especially those Magi who stand front and center today. These are the ones of whom the Prophet of old foretold: the kings – ambassadors of the nations – who come bearing the strength, that is, the wealth of the Gentiles: gold, frankincense, and myrrh – each gift prophesying in its own right just Who this Child, born without seed, truly is and will be.

Interestingly, it is the Magi, though not present at the cattle stall in Bethlehem as were the shepherds in last evening’s Gospel, it is the Magi who are made the centerpiece today and around whose presence our Nativity Tropar is built:

Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, has shone to the world the Light of wisdom! For by it, those who worshipped the stars, were taught by a star to adore Thee, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know Thee, the Orient from on High. O Lord, glory to Thee!

By most accounts, the Magi (traditionally numbered as three probably because of the number of gifts reported in the Gospel) were latecomers to the festal glory having come to the Babe and His Mother, not in the cave as did the shepherds, but rather “into the house, [where] they saw the young Child with Mary His Mother, and fell down and worshipped Him.” Yet, along with the shepherds, they bear true witness to the mighty workings of God Whose grace and salvation, now made flesh, will not and cannot be impeded by sin-obtuse humanity! “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (Jn. 1:5). God is at work in His world despite our unbelief, despite our infatuations that simply do not include Him. Herod did not see. His advisors, well scripted in the prophecies, did not see. And, because Israel’s teachers did not see, Israel herself did not see. The only time Sacred Scripture says that all men will see and comprehend what God is doing will be at the Second Coming of Bethlehem’s Babe when He will come, not to save, but to judge and to render to each according to his works.

But, in the meantime, here we are today – this most glorious day second only to the Queen of all Feasts – Great and Holy Pascha! That our Jesus “tramples down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing Life” (Paschal Torpar), is made entirely possible by what Fr. Alexander Schmemann, of blessed memory, first called “The Winter Pascha.” The ox knows his Owner and the ass his Master’s crib. The Magi – benighted Gentile star-gazers – know. But God’s people – His exalted sons and daughters – do not know and cannot understand! Man – God’s rational creature and crown of all creation who bears alone the very divine image and likeness – cannot and does not comprehend what irrational creation grasps! All of creation rejoices in the mighty hand of God! All of creation praises God its Creator! But, man, crafted by the hand of God to lead all of creation in praise and thanksgiving of the Creator is silent, not because of awe and reverence, but because of unbelief spawned by pride and willful neglect.

The Magi, those Wise Men three, were astute students of the world. They saw in creation the Presence and hand of God to whatever degree they were able with the light they had received. Whatever their relationship was to the stars – Did they worship them as idols and false gods? Did they venerate them because of their perceived mystery? Did they study them astutely as astronomers? – whatever their relationship, the very God Who created those same stars, and the men who fancied them, beheld God’s guiding hand Who led them so that they came to know Him more fully in the face of the God-made-Man: in the face of the Christ Child! The stars led them to Jesus Christ Who led them to worship and glorify, no longer the stars, but the very One Who fashioned them “to give light upon the earth” (Gn. 1:14-19).

At the risk of sounding trite, “Wise Men Still Seek Him.” Not necessarily the intellectually intelligent, but more importantly, the spiritually intelligent, still seek Him, still seek the face of God in the Babe of Bethlehem. The Magi didn’t have it all figured out beforehand, but only after they encountered God-in-the-flesh of Man. Theirs was a journey, a holy pilgrimage, if you will, that led them step by step. Only then did they do what all men have been created to do from the start: to fall down and worship the true and living God. They did what Herod could not and would not allow himself to do, and all those who, like Herod, act out of fear and unbelief, who relish blindness over sight, foolishness over wisdom, “incontrovertible” science over the Church’s Faith. Such militate against the Christ and against His Church (Ps. 2:1).

But,

now understand, O ye kings; be instructed, all ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice in Him with trembling. Embrace instruction, lest at any time the Lord be wroth, and ye perish from the righteous way; when His anger is quickly kindled, blessed are all they that put their trust in Him (Ps. 2:10-12).

If only Herod had so received the news of the Magi with joy that the true and everlasting King had been born, not to replace Herod, mind you, but to save him, to heal his soul and restore in him the very image of God. How transformed Herod’s life and reign might have been had he listened to and heeded the words of the Psalm! And, how history might have remembered him. But, like Pharaoh of old, he hardened his heart, etching into historical memory his unspeakable and indelible holocaust of the Holy Innocents, aborted all because of his tyrannical unbelief, his unfettered pride, and his egregious envy.

Unlike Herod, we rejoice in the King of Heaven and of earth; we rejoice that He has come to take up His rightful scepter to rule the nations in peace with truth and justice. We rejoice with the Magi and with all those wise of every time and of every place, that the Messiah of God has indeed entered into our human existence by taking on our flesh and blood while remaining as He is – perfect God – so that we might be transfigured through Him by His uncreated Light, and be transformed from one degree of glory to another into His very image (2 Cr. 3:18)!

Wise men and wise women still seek Him, still serve Him with fear and rejoice in Him with trembling, still embrace His teaching. Blessed indeed are all who put their trust in Him!

Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

VIGIL PROPERS: PROPERS:

Gn. 1:1-13 Ga. 4:4-7

Nm. 24:2-3, 5-9, 17-18 Mt. 2:1-12

Mc. 4:6-7; 5:2-4

Is. 11:1-10

Br. 3:35-4:4

Dn. 2:31-36, 44-45

Is. 9:6-7

Is. 7:10-16; 8:1-4, 8-10