Only You are Holy, only You are Lord, Jesus Christ, the Glory of God the Father. Amen.
Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:9-11
A few reflections ago, we discussed the names of each person of the Holy Trinity. God the Father is also called God, Father, Creator, Almighty, and Lord. God the Son is also called Jesus, Christ, Messiah, Savior, Son of God, Son of Man, Word and Logos. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit, Counselor, Comforter and Paraclete.
The upcoming feast of the Nativity presents a challenge to us. We know that children come into being at a certain moment in time. Our son was born on December 10, 2006, and was conceived nine months prior to that. Those are finite moments in time. Before 2006, there was no Nicholas, he came into being in 2006. The challenge with the Nativity is that when we see the baby Jesus in the manger, we think that Christ was born on Christmas and we might have the thought that He was not an entity before that time.
We discussed that in John 1, we read that in the beginning was the Word, in other words Christ was in the beginning with God and was part of the creating process. The Word, Jesus Christ, is co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit. The feast of Christmas, which we also call the Nativity, is most properly called “The Incarnation of the Son of God in the flesh.” And the story of the Nativity is most adequately captured, not by the accounts of Luke (shepherds and angels) or Matthew (Magi), but actually by the Gospel of John, where the Evangelist writes simply, in John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” The miracle of Christmas is not a baby in the manger, but that the Son of God took on flesh and came to earth, the Creator became part of the creation. There is also significance in the Incarnation happening in a cave. The fact that there was no room at the inn was not a commentary on human busy-ness, but also a commentary on the fact that there was no room in any place made by human hands to hold the maker of the human hands. Christ did not come to earth in a place created by us, but in a cave, a place He created Himself.
The greatest gift that God has ever given us is for Christ to die on the cross for us. We commemorate this during Holy Week and Pascha. Just behind this in prominence is that the Son of God would descend from heaven and come to be with His creation, that He would step off His heavenly throne and come to earth in the most humble of ways. This is why the feast of the Incarnation is such an awesome feast. It is not just about fun and frivolity, gift-giving and decorating, but it is truly awesome to think of this gift and sacrifice that God gave to us. St. Athanasios writes in his treatise, “On the Incarnation,” that “God became a man so that man could become like God.” If the Resurrection opened the path back to Paradise, the Incarnation opened the path to the Resurrection.
This line of the Doxology confirms the identity of Jesus Christ as holy and as Lord, sharing in the glory of the Father. It also directs us to be the same. If God became a man so that we can become like God, then the call is for us to be holy. “Holy,” or in Greek, “Agios”, means to be set apart. Christ is set apart because He is the Son of God. He shows us the perfect balance of grace and truth. He gives us the best example of obedience and servitude. He also reflects the glory and the joy of the Father. While we can never achieve holiness in this life, it is something we can certainly strive for. We can certainly work to set ourselves apart for God. The word “Agios” is used a lot in the Divine Liturgy. And it not only refers to a destination, but to a journey, a struggle to set ourselves apart. Thus, when we hear later in the Divine Liturgy, “The Holy Gifts for the Holy people of God,” this is not a statement that achieving holiness is a requirement to receive the Holy Gifts. Rather, we are called to struggle on our journey to holiness and the Holy Gifts are offered to sustain us in that journey.
The Scripture verses today are from Philippians 2:9-11. They confirm the identity of Christ, both in relationship to God the Father as well as to us. God has exalted the Son above everyone else, because the Son is co-eternal with the Father (and the Spirit) and thus above all else. And every knee should bow before Christ and every tongue confess Him as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Today, He who holds the whole world in His hand is born from a Virgin. He who is impalpable in essence is wrapped in swaddling clothes as a mortal. God, who in the beginning established the heavens of old, is lying in a manger as a newborn babe. He who rained manna for the people in the wilderness is nursed by His mother. He who is the Bridegroom of the Church is summoning the Magi. And He is accepting their gifts, now as the Son of the Virgin. We adore Your Nativity, O Christ. Also show us Your divine Epiphany. (Idiomelon from the Ninth Hour, Service of the Royal Hours of the Nativity, Trans. by Seraphim Dedes)
The Feast of the Nativity is an occasion for joy—the joy that God came to be with us, to guide us and to ultimately save us. And He did this through the Incarnation of Jesus Christ in the flesh.
