Christmas Communion Reflection : Luke 2:1-20

This year is one of the most tumultuous ones, with financial crisis in the US, Europe, the Tsunami in Japan, floods in Bangkok and Philippines, political instability in the Middle-east and North Africa. The world in which Jesus was born was not unlike our time. It was a world ruled by the iron-hand of Caesar. The people suffered under heavy taxation and oppressive rule. The people of Israel cried out for a Rescuer, for their Messiah, someone to rescue them out of their bondage.

And, God gave them his Son. That is the most precious, costly and generous gift God could ever give. We should not let the familiarity of the Christmas dull us to the stupendous gift of Christmas - the gift of God's own Son.

But, notice the quiet and humble way in which the Son of God was born. God did not write the announcement of his arrival with bold lettered words sprawled across the sky. He did not get the local press to publish the news across the Roman Empire. No, instead he chose to announce his birth through a few ordinary shepherds grazing their flocks in the field. The hoteliers were so busy making money they did not take notice of his grand arrival. They did not even have a room in the inn for him. Instead he was born in a manger and made to share his bed with the animals.

Christmas is a great mystery. We cannot fully explain it. How could the God who holds the whole world in the hollow of his hands be born as a baby nursing at his mother's breast? The Lord of the Universe did not have a decent room for him to stay when he came?

This mystery invites our wonder. We need to be like Mary who pondered it deeply in her heart. God chooses to reveal his glory through a baby born in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes.

We need to pause and ponder deeply the meaning of Christmas. We need to get away from the dazzling lights of Orchard, the glitzy world of consumerism and all the hustle and bustle of merry-making to discern the gift of God's own Son. I have made it a habit to stay away from the malls every Christmas, so i can be sufficiently quiet to discern the meaning of the 'Grand Miracle' and be bathed in God's presence.

He came humbly and quietly identifying with the lowly and somehow through his sufferings, he would be the Saviour of the world. Perhaps, in our troubled times, we long for a superhero - a Captain America or a knight in shining armor who would sweep us off our feet and destroy all our enemies. But God works in his own way..he gave us a baby born in manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. He uses the cross as the instrument of salvation.

At the Lord's Supper, the mystery of Christ's birth and his suffering meet. The Lord of the universe came as a vulnerable baby, who would save the world by dying on the cross. Let us wonder at this mystery, which invites us to receive the gift of God's own Son. As we take the bread and drink the cup, let us open our hearts and let the life of God's Son be born in us.