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He is the reflection of God’s glory
and the exact imprint of God’s very
being,
and he sustains all things by his
powerful word.
[Hebrews 1:3, NRSV; appointed for Christmas Day]
This verse from the first chapter of Hebrews is appointed by the New Revised Common Lectionary for reading on Christmas
day.
It’s
a great Christmas announcement. It’s not as poetic as the song the angels sang
to the shepherds. It might be a bit wordy to fit on a Christmas card. But it
pretty much says it all. And it reminds us that all the Advent waiting was
worth it.
Here,
in this manger – nestled amid dust and dung, straw and struggle, animals and
animosity – here in this meager manger is the very reflection of God’s glory.
This
little one – not yet weaned and soon to be hunted by the murderous madness of a
power-hungry king – this restless little one is the exact imprint of God’s very
being.
This
child – swaddled in the protection, nurture and life-giving love of others – this
vulnerable little kid is the one who sustains all things by his powerful word.
That word, this child, is
Emmanuel, God with us, God with the world.
As
he accompanied a friend in her battle with lung cancer theologian and author Gerhard
E. Frost realized at one point that all he had to give his friend was his
middle name, which he had disliked as a kid: Emmanuel.
“What
do I know about life?” he wrote. “What do I know about death? I affirm that God
is with me. ’Emmanuel’ is the only reason I dare to grow old.”[1]
This
child, this Jesus, this Emmanuel, is God’s gift to us, God’s gift to the world,
blessing the mangers of our days with the shimmering light of God’s glory.
This
child, Emmanuel, is God’s gift to us. He will walk through the world marking apparently
God-forsaken people and places with the imprint of God’s very being.
This
child is God’s gift to us. He will gather up all the woes, and wounds and
weaknesses of the world – including yours and mine – take them to the cross and
leave them on the floor of an empty tomb to sustain us and the world with the
crucified and living Word of hope and new life, Emmanuel, God with us…ever and
always.
To us, to all in sorrow and fear,
Emmanuel comes a-singing,
His humble song is quiet and near,
Yet fills the earth with its ringing. [2]
May the deep and abiding joy
of Emmanuel accompany and lead you and yours these Christmas days and all
throughout the new year.
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