Reading
**Christmas Day**
**John 1:1 - 18**
So much darkness all around – how can we preach the light today? Where do we find the confidence that allows us to move forward? Who will accompany us on new paths that have not yet been paved?
This year, more than in other years, Christmas takes us to the essence of Christianity and being a Christian.
**First**: God becomes man. In the birth story, Luke uses Emperor Augustus as a contrasting figure.
An emperor with great political and military power, with imperial buildings - and there, a newborn child in a stable. At first glance, that is so ridiculous, so absurd. But Luke knows what he is doing. He takes familiar language patterns of his time and applies them to Jesus. The eternal, almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth: he renounces all power, becomes a mortal man. John describes it in his own way: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory."
Sometimes I asked myself: Can this be true? Only if you allow yourself to doubt this story can you imagine what it means if it is true.
In the Holy Scriptures, God is always with the little ones and those in need. Let us think of the exodus of the enslaved Israelites from Egypt or the story of David and Goliath.
But it is taken to the extreme when God himself becomes one of us. God does not just share something about himself. In the man Jesus, God reveals himself completely.
Anyone who wants to know what God is like must look at the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth.
That is what God is like. That is the light that shines in the darkness.
**Then, a second**: God becomes man - in a stable. Even today, this place is somehow inappropriate, even ridiculous and grotesque.
And yet: it is and remains a stable at the end of the world, in Bethlehem, because there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn.
That the almighty God chose such a place... if we are honest, it is still a provocation for us today.
But that is precisely where the promise lies. There is a place where God can be found by everyone: in the need of another person. There you can surely find him - this is symbolized by the stable in Bethlehem, which we present in so many beautiful nativity scenes in our houses and apartments and churches.
**And finally**: the manger and the cross belong together. Jesus goes to the end without violence. This is the sure proof of his love, that he takes everything upon himself.
In ancient mythology there were many sons of the gods. But none gave up their life like Jesus did.
Who walks with us on the difficult paths? Yes, the cross that often hangs unnoticed in our homes is a symbol that we are not alone.
Every act of selflessness, every renunciation out of love, every active compassion, every self-denial seems to be a giving away, a deprivation of oneself, and yet it is a growing richer and greater, and yet it is the only way that leads forward and upward.
At Christmas, God spoke his last, his deepest, his most beautiful word into the world, a word that can no longer be undone.
But Jesus Christ is more than just the Word, but it is a life-giving Word. At creation, this Word created life. This life gives people light. Signs of light are hope, guidance and a stark contrast to the darkness. On the one hand, darkness is like a lack of light, I cannot erase darkness. Only when the light shines in can darkness disappear.
So, light lets us live, shows us the way. But light also means love because it gives warmth. Where there is love, a light rises in the world; where there is hate, the world is dark. Yes, in the stable in Bethlehem the great light that the world is waiting for appeared. In the child lying there in the stable, God shows his glory - the glory of love that gives itself away and that sets out on all greatness to lead us on the path of love. The light of Bethlehem has never been extinguished.
In the child Jesus, God counters the violence of this world with his goodness and calls us to follow the child. God is looking for people who will carry his peace. Let us ask him not to find our hearts closed. Let us prepare ourselves to be active bearers of his peace - especially in this time.
Joseph Lam P.P
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