The King of Kings and the Prince of Peace

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. God is one. Amen.

The Gospel reading today from the second chapter of the Gospel of St Luke is about when and where Jesus Christ is born, and what happened at His birth. In the Old Testament the prophet Micah has stated that “the ruler of Israel,” in the Hebrew language, “the Messiah,” and in the Greek language, “the Christ” would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5.1-2). This is indeed what happened. The Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, sent out an order that “all the world should be registered, each in his own city” (Luke 2.1). The intention of the Emperor was to take a census of the Roman Empire—which included Palestine—for the purpose of tax assessment and then tax collection. However, God had a different purpose—to bring Joseph and Holy Mary and the unborn child Jesus Christ from their present home in Nazareth in Galilee to the ancestral home of Joseph in Bethlehem, precisely where Micah had prophesized would be where the Messiah would be born. As a note in The Orthodox Study Bible states, “God can use earthly rulers to accomplish His will” (p. 1365).

A nun in the ninth century, Cassia, explains beautifully how the human intentions of the Emperor and the divine intentions of the Father came together. The people of the first-century world and all future centuries were confronted with a choice: Who is the ruler of our lives who can guide us into a life filled with purpose on earth and into our heavenly home—a secular politician or Christ Himself? Cassia composed a Stichera of the Nativity of the Lord that we continue to sing today. She wrote and sang: “When Augustus reigned alone upon earth, the many kingdoms of humankind came to end; and when you [Christ] were made man of the pure Virgin, the many gods of idolatry were destroyed. The cities of the world passed under one single rule; and the nations came to believe in one sovereign Godhead. The peoples [of the Roman Empire] were enrolled by the decree of Caesar; and we, the faithful, were enrolled in the name of the Godhead, when You, our God, were made man. Great is your mercy [O Lord]: glory to you,” concludes Cassia [cited in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament, Vol. 3, pp. 36-37].

The birth of Jesus Christ was a miracle. As St Cyril of Alexandria explains: “The birth of [Christ] was miraculous, and not in accordance with the laws of nature. For the Virgin [Holy Mary] did not bear [Jesus Christ] from the [discharge] of man’s seed. And why was this so?” asks St Cyril. He replies, “Christ, who is the first fruit of all, the second Adam according to the Scripture, was born of the [Holy] Spirit, that He might [hand on] the grace of the spiritual birth to us also. For we too were intended no longer to bear the name of sons [and today, we would add to the words of St Cyril, “daughters”] of men, but rather of God. We have obtained the new birth of the [Holy] Spirit in Christ. . . .” concludes St Cyril [cited in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament, Vol. 3, p. 37].

So, both the theologian St Cyril and the composer of hymns, Cassia, are offering important insights into how our own lives today connect to the birth of Jesus Christ. St Cyril stresses that Jesus Christ “was born of the [Holy] Spirit, that He might [hand on] the grace of the spiritual birth to us also.” And Cassia explains that, “when you [Christ] were made man of the pure Virgin, the many gods of idolatry were destroyed.” Now, St Cyril urges us to experience that “the grace of the spiritual birth” of Jesus Christ is handed on to each of us. Cassia explains that the birth of Jesus Christ destroys all idolatry. That means that not only the idolatry of the Romans in worshiping so many gods is destroyed, but any idolatry in our own lives today is also destroyed by the birth of Jesus Christ. What is important is not to study how the many false gods of the Romans were destroyed, but rather: how do we identify and remove any false gods in our own lives today? How can we each do that? Through prayer and reflection and confession, and the advice of our friends in the Church, we can identify our very own false gods and replace those false gods with respect for what the birth of Jesus Christ means in each of our lives.

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary helps us understand the meaning of idolatry. The two volumes of this dictionary contain more than 3,700 pages on both the origins and current meaning of words in English, so to call it “shorter” is certainly a British understatement. The original meaning of idolatry was “the worship of idols (that is, false gods) [and] the offering of divine honours to a created object.” However, after the Norman Conquest in 1066 a second meaning was added to the word “idolatry”—“excessive devotion to or veneration for a person or thing.” Now, if we offer “excessive devotion to or veneration for a person or thing” we cannot then offer proper worship and devotion to God Himself.

Preaching on this Scriptural passage from the second chapter of the Gospel of St Luke, St Bede quotes the words of St Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 14: “For He is our peace, who has made us . . . one.” St Bede explains that Christ is a “kind mediator [that is, one who brings others together] . . . [who] has made one house of God of angels and humanity.” That is a powerful, and to me, unexpected idea: We and the angels are one, both created by God, as Father Gregory preached recently. In other words, it is the birth of Jesus Christ that has brought the angels and humanity together to worship God. That is certainly what happened when the angels appeared to the shepherds outside Bethlehem and told them “Glory to God in the highest place and peace on earth among men of good will.” Notice that the response of the shepherds was then to say “to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this story that has unfolded, which the Lord has made known to us’” (Luke 2.15).

That is precisely what the Church and the Gospel of St Luke urge each of us to do today and tomorrow—to “go NOW to Bethlehem [in mind and in spirit] and see this story [of the birth of Jesus Christ] that . . . the Lord has made known to us.” So, it is good that we can join the shepherds in seeking Christ. As St Bede preached, we are then fulfilling the words of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 9, verse 7, that “He [Jesus Christ] is the very one of whom the prophecy sent before Him spoke: “His sovereignty [that is, His supreme rule] will be multiplied, and there will be no end of peace. . . . He who sits at the right hand of the Father goes without shelter from the inn, that He may get ready for us many mansions in the house of His heavenly Father. . . . Through the mystery of the Incarnation He [has] become the Way by which He guides us to our home, where we shall also enjoy the Truth and the Life,” concludes St Bede [Homilies of St Bede on the Gospels 1.6, cited in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament Vol. 3, p. 37].

So, the story of the birth of Jesus Christ teaches us that we too, like the shepherds in the Gospel today can listen to the words of the angel of the Lord. At times, we too, like the shepherds, might be “filled with fear” about what will happen to us, our families, our friends, our communities, our country and the world. But because of the birth of Jesus Christ we are united with the angel who tells us, ‘Be not afraid; for behold I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2.10-11).

And so, we ascribe as is justly due all might, majesty, dominion, power and praise to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, always now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Father Emmanuel Kahn