My friends in Christ, at long last we arrive at our great and glorious celebration of the Lord’s Nativity: Christmas. And as the song goes, it is “the most wonderful time of the year.” Some of us might even say, the most magical time of the year. In any event, children certainly believe in the magic of Christmas: the Polar Express; Frosty the Snowman; Rudolf the Soviet spy satellite known also as the red-nosed reindeer; Santa Claus; and of course: the Elf on the Shelf. (Which, by the way, hardly is magic – just really, really creepy! But I digress.)
There is a certain, wonderful magic (we might say) about Christmas. And of course it is the child-like who most clearly and readily perceive this; after all, it is the child-like who perceive magic in just about everything. They even know the magic words – which, of course, you parents are always prompt to teach and remind them. Words such as “please” and “thank you.” Very magical words indeed…. And there is another magic word that the child-like know quite well. And it works best of all when playing games: “do-over.” When something goes totally hay-wire for whatever reason in the middle of a game? “Do-over!” A turn of events does not quite go your way? “Do-over!” Or you are in a jam and you are about to lose? Simply bump the table “accidentally” and proclaim for all to hear: “Do-over!” Magic! Works every time!
Incidentally, the magic of “do-over” does not vanish with childhood; we adults still use the power of the “do-over,” but we just give it a fancy new name: “mulligan.” Or if you are a football fan: “Offsides, defense, five-yard penalty, repeat first down.” The adults’ do-over.
Now, I suspect that there is something common to all humanity, in every time and place, that just loves the do-over. And because this is so, the Lord decided to just go with it; because the do-over is common to all of us, it is something with which all of us are very familiar – somewhat of a common language that we all speak…and therefore, a common bond that God chose to use in order to bring us back…call us home…restore us to grace.
God’s do-over is made manifest in specific subtleties of Sacred Scripture, choice words and images that God inspired the sacred writers to use in crafting the Greatest Story Ever Told. Words and images that are used in order to tell the first part of the Story…and then are used again in order to assert a deliberate connection between that first part of the Story with the climactic zenith of that
same Story: the Sacred Story of Jesus Christ. This divine play with linguistics and imagery – known also as “prophecy” and “fulfillment” – frequently presents us with somewhat of a poetic display of mystic symmetry of what has happened before and what will happen later…all of which results, again, in the great and glorious “do-over” of God.
For example, the Book of Genesis starts thus: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth….” But along the way, we screwed it up – Original Sin, and its awful aftermath ever since. And so it is that when the time came at last for the Incarnation (that is, for God the Son to enter the historical fray), the Gospel account of Saint John launches the divine do-over, and starts thus: “In the beginning was the Word….” The old beginning matched by the new beginning; thus, the mystic symmetry: what has happened before is answered by what will happen later. “Do-over.”
Another example: the created human race looks to Eve as our first mother, who before she even knew Adam (and thus, she was still a virgin), she was named “Eve” precisely because she “was the mother of all the living.” And then in the fullness of time, the re-created human race (that is, re-created in the realm of grace) now looks to Mother Mary as our mother – who, though she is Ever-Virgin, nevertheless brought forth a Son, our Savior: Jesus Christ…. The first virgin, Eve, matched by the Ever-Virgin Mary; thus again, the mystic symmetry: what has happened before is answered by what will happen later. “Do-over.”
One more example: the wood upon which hinges the fate of all humanity. In Genesis, it is the wood of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, from which the man and the woman, in their pride and folly, desired to grasp at – to take – the divine. And in Saint Luke, it is the wood of the manger, from which the Child, in His humility and wisdom, desired to seek for – to save – that which the human had fallen and broken to become: denizens of darkness, dwelling in the shadow of death…. The wood of the tree matched by the wood of the manger…the pride and folly of the Genesis parents matched by the wisdom and humility of the Gospel Child; and so once again, the mystic symmetry: what has happened before is answered by what will happen later. “Do-over.”
Now, the divine do-over of Jesus actually only begins with the manger, and it concludes with the cross; and so, that mystic symmetry yet again, this time between manger and cross. In Bethlehem, in
the manger, He is laid down amid brute cattle; on Calvary, on the cross, He is nailed up amid brutal criminals. In the manger, He is helpless and poor in the midst of poor shepherds; on the cross, He is helpless and poor in the midst of poor souls in need of a Shepherd. In the manger, He is bound by swaddling clothes; on the cross, He is stripped of all clothes and bound by nails. In the manger, He lies low and is gazed upon by the Gentile Magi, but on the cross, He is lifted up and gawked at by the Jewish and Roman powers-that-be. In Bethlehem He was born and so entered into earthly life from the immaculate womb of Mary of Nazareth; on Golgotha He was killed and so departed from earthly life into the unused tomb of Joseph of Arimathea…. And all of this merely a glimpse revealed in history and revelation of that wonderful, “magical” divine do-over that saves our lives, our souls, for eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven, for the glorious majesty of God.
Because we were Created by God – Who is Love. But, sadly (and much to our horror), we chose to reject God’s love for us and so to sin; and thus, we are Captured in sin. And yet God did not give up on us. God wanted and willed to give us another chance – one last shot at redemption as it were; hence, the divine do-over…the new beginning…the Ever-Virgin Mary…the wood of the manger…. We are given this second chance – and there will be no other, for there is no other name by which we can be saved…. Only Jesus.
May it be then that with our own renewed love and fidelity, we would respond gratefully to this new beginning that God has effected for us…that we receive this sublime gift of the divine do-over with humility and hope…that we dare not waste this chance, or squander this opportunity, by remaining in sin, thereby wallowing in utter darkness and in the shadow of death…but rather, that we respond with faith, generosity, and courage, thus to rise again and continue along this pilgrim’s journey here on Earth toward glory and joy everlasting in halls of heavenly realms.