Scripture
“A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call him Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us.” Mathew 1:23
Reflection
A few days ago I was listening to the radio when I heard an old song by Joan Osborne. In it she sings:
“What if God was one of us?
…Just a stranger on the bus.”
Being of a certain age, I remember when this song first came out. And though some were disconcerted by the lyrics, it has always struck me as a poignant reminder of the message of Christmas.
Because the answer to Joan’s question – “What if God was one of us?” – is yes!
In our Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we hear the story of the God who loved humanity with a love so profound that He became one of us. Or to use the language of today’s Gospel: “A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”
Much like the stranger on the bus, Jesus was born in a small, backwater little town to parents who were of no consequence in the eyes of the powerful. He was ‘every person’ in his appearance. If one did not know him, to pass him on the street he would have seemed of no interest. He would have been a stranger.
So the meaning of Christmas is simply this: in the incarnation, God became ordinary. And for us, and for the world, that is extraordinarily good news.
The task then for Christians, especially at this time of year, is to cultivate the disposition of seeing the Divine present to us, again and again, under the guise of the mundane.
What if the next stranger we passed on the sidewalk, or who sat next to us on the bus, was Emmanuel – “God with us”?
And because the answer may be yes, we must ask ourselves the further question: do we have the eyes to recognize Him?
If we truly desire to celebrate Christmas as a holy day as well as a holiday, we need to cultivate more profoundly the awareness of God’s presence in our midst.
Because God did become one of us!
He may well be the stranger on the bus!
This is the great truth that we as Christians proclaim — at Christmas and all year round.
The baby in the manger is Emmanuel. He is “God with us” because God loved us so much that He became one of us.
So sing it, Joan Osborne, and sing it loud! The answer to your question is a resounding YES!
Blessed Advent & Merry Christmas!