Also for Big Kids
Introduction
The second part of Advent
Since Vatican II, Advent is
no longer a strictly penitential season but rather one of joyful expectation. What
hasn’t changed is Advent’s traditional division into two parts. The first runs
from the beginning of Advent to the 17th of December. It gazes
into the future when Christ the Lord will come again in glory. The second part
(called the Novena of Christmas) runs from the 17th to Christmas
Eve. It gazes back into the past, to a moment of history, when Jesus was born
of mother Mary in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King.
The first part: one promise after the
other
In the first part of Advent, the readings at Mass are filled with one promise after another. The Prophet Isaiah promises that the time is coming when men will beat their swords into plowshares and no longer train for war (Is 2:4). He promises that the time is coming when the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf will hear, the lame will leap like a stag, and the tongue of the dumb will sing (Is 35: 5-6). The verbs of the readings are in the future tense because that’s the tense of promise. You become a bit impatient with Isaiah and all his promises that things will get better in the distant future. You mumble a bit to yourself saying, “Yes, but what about right now?”
The second
part: one story after the other
In the second part of Advent, the gospel readings
at Mass are filled with one story after another. Story-telling is what Christmas
does best. Now the verbs of the readings are in the past tense because that’s
the tense of history and also of story.
Because they tell stories, the readings at Mass these days delight the
child in us. They are also a kind of relief from Isaiah and all his promises. The litany of little stories which the
liturgy tells us at this time of the rolling year goes like this:
Once upon a time there was a priest named Zachariah
offering incense before the altar of the lord. And behold, an angel of the Lord
suddenly appeared to him and told him not to be afraid. Then he surprised the
old man with the announcement that his barren wife Elizabeth was going to have
a son whom he should name John (Lk 1: 5-25).
Once upon a time there was a maiden at prayer. And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared
to her and told her not to be afraid. She has found favor with God. She shall
conceive a son and call him Jesus. And what’s more, her cousin Elizabeth, barren
and well-up in years, also was going to have a baby boy (Lk
That triggers the story of the visitation. As soon
as the angel Gabriel departed, Mary grabbed her bonnet and basket and sped off
into the hill country to visit her aged cousin Elizabeth and minister to her in
her confinement. When she arrived at Zachariah’s house, the old lady greeted Mary
and the infant in her womb leapt for joy at the infant in Mary’s womb (Lk
The annunciation to Mary of her virginal conception
of Jesus triggers another annunciation. When Joseph, Mary’s betrothed, was
shocked to see Mary pregnant and decided to quietly divorce her, behold, an
angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream with the annunciation
that what was conceived in her was of the Holy Spirit, and he shouldn’t be
afraid to take Mary as his wife (Mt 1:18-24).
Then, of course, there is the Christmas story of stories which is
read at
That sets the scene for yet another story as a final act bringing
down the curtain on the Christmas drama and season. “In those days when Jesus was born in
Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, three magnificent magi bearing
gifts from the East arrived in
Grown-ups and stories
The Book of Ecclesiastes says there’s a time for everything under
God’s sun. “There’s a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a
time to harvest, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to embrace and a
time to abstain, a time for war and a time for peace” (3:1-8). At this time of
the rolling year, we add a line of our own to that oft-quoted litany: “There is
a time for everything under God’s sun. There is a time to hear the stories of
Christmas with the ears of children, and a time to hear them with the ears of
grown-ups.
There is a time to be simple and uncomplicated about the story of
Christmas, as children are. There is a time not to second guess words but take
them at their face value, as children do. Words like “angels announcing” and “babes
leaping in wombs” and “heavenly multitudes singing” and “infants wrapped in
swaddling clothes” and “magnificent magi bearing gifts.”
But there is also a time to be more profound about the story of
Christmas, as grown-ups should be. There
is a time not to be literal and take words at their face value but rather to go
in search of the meanings behind the words. That is not to say that the ears of
grown-ups are any better than those of children. But growing up into adult
bodies mean also growing up into adult faith.
Virgin
birth and the culture
On this fourth and last Sunday of Advent (Cycle B) we tell the
story of the angel Gabriel’s annunciation
to Mary of her virginal conception of
Jesus. Then on the 24th of December (the vigil of Christmas), we always
tell the story of the angel’s annunciation of the virginal conception to Joseph,
Mary’s betrothed. The whole Christmas story is shot through with the aura of
virgin birth.
But such a story doesn’t fly
well in our culture whose mighty mass media serves us a steady diet of casual and
flippant sex. In a culture where breasts are bared and bursting, and where
torsos are twisting and turning right square in your face, a story of virgin
birth doesn’t fly very well. Such a culture dismisses it out of hand as quite incomprehensible
and even offensive to human nature. How in the world can such a culture listen
to the story of Christmas without tongue-in-cheek? How in the world can we tell
such a story with a straight face to such a culture?
Not a negative statement about sex
We can try. Strange as it might
at first sound, the story of Joseph and Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus, I
believe, is not a statement about sex
at all. I always thought it was, until I finally grew up in these matters. I
always thought that the story was, at heart, a negative statement about sex. A negative
statement that when the Son of God comes into the world, it is below his
dignity to be conceived in the very same way that all other babies are conceived.
The story of virgin birth seemed to say that God, who in the beginning created
the world male and female, repented of such an indecent creation and decided to
do things the right way, that is to say, virginally, at least in this one very
special case. What an affront that is to every mother and father and to every
child born into the world!
A positive statement about Jesus
The story of the virgin birth of Jesus is not a negative statement
about sex. It is, I believe, a positive statement about Jesus. A positive statement
that says Jesus is more than just a gift to us from two human beings (Joseph and
Mary). He is also and especially a gift
to us from God. A positive statement that says Jesus is not just humanity’s
gift to itself. He is also and especially divinity’s gift to us. A positive
statement that says Jesus is not just the son of Joseph and Mary. He is also
and especially the son of God. He is not just from earth. He is also and
especially from heaven. One day Jesus said to the people, “I am the bread that
came down from heaven.” Some murmured among themselves saying, “”We know this
man Jesus. We know his father Joseph and his mother Mary. How, then, can he say
that he came down from heaven” (Jn
A positive statement about woman
The story of the virgin birth is also, I believe, a positive statement
about woman—the female. When the Novena of Christmas begins on the 17th
of December, the gospel reading at Mass that day is that long male-driven
genealogy from Matthew. "Abraham
begot Isaac. And Isaac begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Judah and his
brothers. And
Then the male-ridden genealogy comes to a screeching halt with
these words, "And Jacob
begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, and it was she (not Joseph) who begot Jesus,
who is called the Christ” (Mt 1:1-16). With a powerful stroke the story
of the virgin birth puts an ax to the quiet lie that lines up only men behind
the great historical moments of history. Behind an event so great that it
divides time for many of us into B.C. and A.D., there stands no man at
all--only a woman. Upon one of the finest pages of history, a woman (and not a
man) puts her signature. Call that a feminist statement, if you will. It’s also
a Christmas statement which convicts and challenges the churches and society.
A positive statement about man
The story of the virgin birth is also, I believe, a positive
statement about man—the male. In the drama of Christmas Joseph’s role is to let
the message get through that Jesus is not only his gift to us but also and
especially the gift of the heavenly Father to us. So the story has Joseph
stepping down and resigning his sexual prowess so that he might get out of the
way of the message. That’s a big order
for men who are used to center stage, and who don’t resign power easily. That’s
a big order for men whose power is easily threatened. At the end of the day
that might be the main but hidden reason why women never get ordained except on
the sneak.
Joseph’s stepping down and abdicating his sexual prowess in the Christmas
story is an especially big order for a culture like ours which places a heavy
expectation on men to be studs. It’s unfair to place such a burden upon a young
man. It forces him to invest an inordinate amount of time and energy on sex
during his developing years. There are other areas of development which are
equally critical for him. The stud approach to the male is also unfair to a
young lady. It makes her feel either there’s
something wrong with her if she can’t elicit the macho in guys, or it makes her
feel she has to compete with the other girls in this matter.
That’s telling the story of Christmas with a straight face. That’s
a grown-up version of it. That version is reassuring to all young men and women
in love with each other, and to all mothers and fathers, that the Christmas
story of the virgin birth is not a negative statement about their sexuality.
There are some who concentrate with all their might on the historicity
and the miraculous character of the virgin birth. That’s fine. There are others
who concentrate on the religious meaning of the story. That’s better yet.
Conclusion
Xmas is also for big kids
Hearing the story of Christmas as children
or as grown-ups is not just a matter of chronology. First you hear it as a
child, and then you grow up and hear it as an adult. No. We vacillate between
the one and the other at various times in the journey of our lives. Sometimes we
stand before the story as grown-ups with lost innocence, filled with questions,
doubts and even unbelief. Sometimes we
stand before it as innocent children filled with unquestioning faith.
We always say that Christmas is for little
kids. It’s also for big kids. It’s also for grown-ups who can still be turned
on by heavenly multitudes singing, “Glory to God in the highest.” Christmas is also for grown-ups who can still
be turned on by “magnificent magi bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and
myrrh.”