While his people were oppressed, in exile, the prophet announces their liberation. An immense light and joy: « The people who walked in the night see a great light ». And the surprising sign of this victory is the birth of a child, a promised king, whose vocation is to re-establish the law and order willed by God: « For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given… ». (Isaiah 9:1,5)
At that distant time, the Assyrian empire was oppressing the land of Israel. In the course of time, other empires would follow: the Babylonians, the Persians, the Hellenistic Empire and then the Roman Empire. Other empires have followed in succession right up to the present day…
What yokes oppress us today? There is no shortage of them. The Berlin Wall has disappeared, but several new walls have sprung up just about everywhere. Fear of terrorism is an almost permanent yoke; states spend billions to protect themselves. We thought that religious freedom would finally be achieved, but everywhere it is retreating. And there are many people in our midst who are visible signs of oppression. Refugees remind us at every street corner of the existence of oppressive political powers, or of economic powers that monopolise the goods of our planet for the well-being of a few.
So what does Christmas have to say about all this oppression? It tells us what Isaiah announced so long ago: « Today you break the yoke of oppression that hangs over your people »… Why? Because a son is born to us, a child is given to us ». The angels also said to the shepherds: « Today a Saviour has been born to you »; this is said to us who hear the Gospel. What is the sign that God has intervened decisively? The Gospel tells us: « This is the sign that has been given to you: you will find a newborn baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger ».
A poor sign
The sign the shepherds receive is not a glorious one, but a poor one: a child born in the poverty of a stable. This is the whole point of the Christmas sign: the Messiah is a poor child, born into poverty.
This sign also belongs to the whole of humanity. To suffering humanity, whether rich or poor, because a princess in her palace suffers as much in childbirth as Mary in her humble stable.
At Christmas, God forever united these two things: poverty and glory, suffering and joy, the fragile child and the almighty Lord. Let us not separate what God has united!
So Christmas is not just an anniversary that comes around every year, but a force for liberation, renewal and new beginnings. Just as Jesus was between Mary, Joseph and the shepherds two thousand years ago. He is also present among us, as if risen from the dead. He who was at the beginning of everything came into our world to dwell among us for ever, to offer us every day what Christmas tells us once a year: that God loves us, that he became man to give us hope, to assure us that we can always begin again with him.
Martin Hoegger
Image : Léon Cogniet (1794 – 1880), Scene from the Massacre of the Innocents, 1824
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