by Fr. Tommy Lane
Santa Claus is coming tonight! There is magic in the air, and it has been building for the past number of days. We expect people to be kinder to each other these days. The magic in the air will gradually wear off over the next number of days because Santa Claus will not come tomorrow night, or the night after, or the night after that. We will have to wait an entire year for Santa Claus to come again. But we will not have to wait a year for Jesus because Jesus is with us every day.
Our celebration of the birth of Jesus reminds us that even if we had a difficult year and got battered in some way due to Covid or something else, the love of God is always waiting for us, every day, not just one night in the year. If you got bruised this year in some way, or if it has been a difficult year, or if you experienced lack of love or respect, our celebration of the birth of Jesus reminds us that Jesus has the greatest love for us, the greatest respect for us, the greatest hope for us, the greatest forgiveness for us. There are three opinions of us: our opinion of ourselves, others’ opinion of us, and Jesus’ opinion of us. Obviously, the opinion that matters is Jesus’ opinion. So, if you got bruised this year in some way, our celebration of the birth of Jesus reminds us that Jesus has the greatest love for us, the greatest respect for us, the greatest hope for us, the greatest forgiveness for us. It is Jesus’ opinion of you that matters.
You know the parable of the Good Samaritan, one of the best-known parables. A man was beaten up on the road and left for dead. A Samaritan passing by poured oil and wine on his wounds, oil to soften them and wine as a disinfectant, brought him to the inn and paid for him to be looked after. One way to look at that parable is that we are the one by the side of the road and Jesus is the one who came to rescue us and brought us to the inn, which is the Church, to look after us. Jesus came at the first Christmas to look after the whole of humanity. So, if this past year has left you lying by the side of the road wounded in some way, our celebration of Jesus’ birth is to remind us that love exists, and it is called Jesus. Our celebration of Jesus’ birth is to remind us that no matter what others did to you or think of you, God loves you so much that he became a human to show us the value of our humanity and show us how to find him. Not only that, but if you were the only person in the world, Jesus would do it all just for you. We celebrate Jesus’ birth because it shows us his love for us, and likewise our celebration of Jesus’ passion and death for us during Holy Week every year.
We wait for Santa Claus, but Jesus waits for us to return his love. He does not force his way into our lives. He gently knocks on the door of our hearts if we are sensitive enough to listen. The door handle is on the inside. It is up to us to open the door to let Jesus in. We wait a year for Santa Claus. It would be a pity to let Jesus wait an entire year to let him in. He longs to be let into our hearts. Just two of Jesus’ sayings from John 6 show this: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him” (John 6:56) and even stronger, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” (John 6:53) Jesus knocks gently on the door of our hearts if we are sensitive enough to listen. He wants to be invited in and has told us if we don’t invite him in, we lose out, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” (John 6:53).
If you got bruised this year in some way, or if it has been a difficult year, or if you experienced lack of love or respect, our celebration of the birth of Jesus reminds us that Jesus has the greatest love for us, the greatest respect for us, the greatest hope for us, the greatest forgiveness for us. Jesus knocks gently on the door of our hearts if we are sensitive enough to listen. He wants to be invited in.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2021
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for Christmas