This has been a difficult and stressful year for so many of us. It has been particularly painful because the pandemic has kept us away from our loved ones. So many of us have not been able to spend time with our family, children, and grandchildren.
We feel it especially keenly this Christmas Day when we cannot be with so many of our family members. Many of us are also mourning loved ones who died this year whether it was because of the pandemic or for other reasons. Not being able to console one another in person makes that grief even more intense.
However, this pandemic can also give us some insight into the real meaning of Christmas. In today’s society, many people view God as one who keeps His distance from us. But this is not at all how the Bible reveals God to us. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph is a God of relationship. This is the true meaning of Christmas. God became man in Jesus Christ. God is Emmanuel, God among us.
In Jesus Christ, the baby born in Bethlehem, we see God Himself. The baby born in Bethlehem this day is God speaking to us, God reaching out to us, God telling us clearly that He loves us, that He is not a God who wants to keep His distance but a Father who wants to love us and be involved.
Wouldn’t you do anything to be able to spend time with your loved ones again? God did just that. He did the impossible by becoming man in Jesus Christ so that He could be near us. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” God became man so that we might become children of God. Saint John assures us: “… to those who did accept Him he gave power to become children of God.”
A blessed Christmas and a Happy Peaceful New Year to all.