Mt 1:18-24
“he will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:21).
When the Angel announced to Joseph the coming of Jesus, he proclaimed news of great joy but in a dramatic way. He said, “your wife is going to bear a son” and “he will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:21). That statement speaking about Jesus’ birth indicates His self-sacrificial death. The only way to save people from sins is by His death on the cross. Thus, the birth of Christ is connected to His suffering and death. Jesus himself said, “to this end I was born”(Jn 12:27). At Christmas, we are directed toward the cross. The fact that God comes as a powerless baby; the fact that He chooses rather to die than spectacularly destroy evil and sin teaches us an important lesson about God but also about our lives.
Our God is not a God who rescues us from evil and suffering; our God is a God who does more; He redeems us from evil and sin; He takes our sins upon Himself and transforms them into hope and meaning. Christmas doesn’t promise an end of suffering and distress. Rather it promises, here on earth, something else: God’s presence in our lives. One of Jesus’ names, as we heard, is Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us’ (Mt 1:23). That statement ‘God is with us’ does not merely mean that God is present doing nothing. God’s presence always means transformation of evil into hope and nothing. God’s presence with us means that He is able to transform all evil and even our sins into benefits for us.[1] But that transformation does not take place without our part. In order to experience that transformation, we are invited to allow Christ to be born in us, to allow Him to embrace us in His mercy.
By coming to us in the form of the powerless baby, whose destiny is to die for us, Christ shows us that evil and sin can be overpowered. We do not have to carry the burden of sin. All we are invited to do is to allow Christ to embrace us in His mercy. When we do so, evil, and even our sins and failures, will be transformed into hope and meaning for us.
[1] Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI, “Our Christmas present? God’s presence.”
https://www,wer,ab,ca/Columns/Columns/entryid/5797 (accessed October 17, 2017).
Homilies - Fr. Pawel Jamroz 
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