Christmas Sunday 2023

Merry Christmas! Christmas is a time full of secrets. Secrets add magic and mystery to this season. We wrap Christmas gifts to keep them secret and then hide them so prying eyes can’t find them. The holidays are when many secrets are revealed. Engaged couples choose this time of year to announce their plans, and expectant parents tell of an approaching birth while the family is together for the holidays.

Sometimes, we can be too secretive this time of year. I was with a group of parishioners this week, and one was a bit distraught. He had bought a gift for his wife a few months ago and couldn’t remember where he hid it. I told him to pray to St. Anthony, the patron of lost items.

“Dear St. Anthony, take a look around. Something is lost and must be found.”

I don’t know if he found it. Well, St. Valentine’s Day is coming, or maybe her birthday or their wedding anniversary. Then there is always next Christmas.

We find learning secrets irresistible. Just the word secret catches our attention. We want to know a secret even if it doesn’t directly affect us. Hearing the word heightens our curiosity. Knowing someone has a secret causes tension. We get the feeling something needs resolving. Knowing there is a secret stirs our curiosity and motivates us to listen closely and learn important details.

We keep secrets for several reasons. Maybe the information we have is sensitive, and revealing it would put people physically in danger or damage their reputation. We keep secrets because we aren’t comfortable letting people know the facts. Maybe it is something we are ashamed of, and we believe if people knew the truth, they would not hold us in regard. We keep secrets because it is sometimes prudent to do so. Our information needs to be collaborated with someone else, or there is a strong possibility it might never come to pass. It is just a rumor or gossip. Sometimes, we feel we have information that just isn’t anyone else’s business.

At times, we feel it is necessary to reveal a secret. Silence is covering up something that needs to become known to protect others from harm. Secrets can become a burden. They can weigh us down. We realize they are upsetting our lives and need others to help us deal with them.

Sharing secrets with a person with whom we have a relationship and know will be empathetic to us deepens our connection with them. When we share a secret, we open our hearts and become vulnerable with others. Revealing our secrets to others helps us become better understood by them. Unlocking our life’s secrets allows us to share our struggles, fears, hopes, and dreams and enables others to help us.

We are particular about those with whom we share our secrets. We only share confidences with people with whom we have relationships of trust. We want to be sure they will guard and value our secrets. It is always a great betrayal when someone we trust violates our confidence.

Do you know God has secrets? At times, God hides secrets, but God hides them for us and not from us. God hides secrets to help us care for, search for, find answers, and learn from God. God keeps secrets from us so we can enter into a relationship with God.

The Bible is clear about God having secrets for you. It tells us God has secrets God wants us to learn so we can live life to its fullest. On the first Christmas, God revealed secrets he had been hinting at through the prophets for generations.

Today’s First Reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah gives us one of those hints about God’s plans. It said:

“For a child is born to us, a son is given us,

Upon his shoulder dominion rests.

They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero,

Father-forever, Prince of Peace.”

Hundreds of years before Jesus’s birth, Isaiah let the people in on a secret God had revealed to him. God shared the secret of the birth of God’s only begotten Son with Isaiah.

Not many people appreciated that secret. The story of Christmas tells us only a few people had a close enough relationship with God to understand God’s secret. John the Baptist, the Virgin Mary, Joseph, Mary’s cousin Elizabeth, the Shepherds, and the Magi were among the few who understood God’s secret. Scriptures are full of God’s secrets and promises for us.

Today’s reading from the Gospel of St. Luke contains secrets about Jesus’ birth and how it will transform the world. Luke’s gospel is one of four that explain Jesus’ life and ministry. Luke begins his story:

“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus

that the whole world should be enrolled.

This was the first enrollment,

when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town.”

Luke places Jesus’ birth at a specific point in verifiable history to ensure his readers know it isn’t a fairy tale or a hoax.

Luke wants readers to know the secrets God shared with the prophets are about to be revealed to the whole world. The great reversal is about to occur. The poor will flourish, and the rich will be brought low. He wrote:

“And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth

to Judea to the city of David that is called Bethlehem,

because he was of the house and family of David.”

Jesus’ birth happened at the end of a journey from darkness into light, much like that experienced by the people of the time of Isaiah in today’s First Reading. Isaiah tells us the Israelites went from darkness to light after being freed from their exile in Babylonia and returning to their homeland.

Back in Luke’s gospel, we heard:

“While they were there,

The time came for her to have her child,

And she gave birth to a firstborn son.”

After announcing Jesus’s birth, Luke shifts the scene to the fields around Bethlehem, where shepherds guard their sheep. These weren’t ordinary shepherds or sheep. Bethlehem is the next town to Jerusalem, and in the fields between them grazed the sheep whose lambs would be sacrificed in the Jerusalem Temple as a sin offering. To qualify as a sacrificial lamb, they had to be without blemish. Their shepherds had to be especially vigilant that the Temple sheep didn’t mix with other flocks. The shepherds had to watch constantly to ensure their sheep’s purity.  

Despite having this critical responsibility, these shepherds were marginalized in their day. Their responsibilities with the sheep caused them to be considered unclean. Being constantly in the fields, they could not practice the ceremonial washings required by Mosaic Law and were unclean because they came in contact with blood as the sheep gave birth or died. They were restricted from entering the Temple to worship. Ironically, the ones responsible for an essential aspect of worship were banned from it. They were the unchurched of their day.  

Yet, these shepherds were among the first to learn God’s secret. Luke says:

“The angel of the Lord appeared to them,

and the glory of the Lord shone around them,

and they were struck with great fear.”

It seems unbelievable that God has revealed this secret of the coming of the Son of God to these marginalized shepherds. One Bible translation characterized them as being “sore” afraid. They were so frightened their bodies ached because these angels were not the cubby cherubs or sweet-faced angels of Renaissance paintings but the serious messengers of God.

However, the angel’s message was “Fear not”. That is God’s favorite words of encouragement to us. Time after time, in the Bible, we hear these as the first words spoken by God’s messengers. They remind us the first thing we must do to listen to God’s secrets is to give up fear. If we want to hear and grow in a relationship with God, we must surrender our fear and trust God.

Today, God is eager to share secrets with us. We are alive in a season of grace and favor. Yes, wars rage in Gaza, Ukraine, and sub-Saharan Africa. Our country and others in the world are experiencing political tensions. Global warming causes severe threats to our planet, and we face other concerns. Yet, we are in a time of grace and favor because God is willing to share God’s secrets. God wants us to get to know God on a new and more profound level.

God wants everyone to know God’s secrets. It doesn’t matter what we might have done in our past, either holy or sinful. Regardless of our stage in life, young or old, our race, ethnicity, whether we are homeless or live at an estate by the shore, despite our immigration status, God wants a relationship with us.  

The Father who loves you unconditionally not only likes you but delights in you. Just the mention of your name brings joy to the Father. God wants you to accept the Son as your Savior from debt, doubts, disbelief, fear, faults, and failures. God wants you to accept Jesus as a savior who can help you put your marriage right, help you strengthen your relationship with your children, sort out your finances, free you from isolation and loneliness, and save you from your past.

We are all invited into God’s favor today. God wants us to welcome Jesus Christ as our advocate, working beside us on our behalf. God wants you to discover that secret favor God wants for you. It is for you to find your true vocation or purpose in life and to pursue it. It is for you to grow in love and friendship with others and find a soul mate to live life with in love.

God’s favor is available to everyone, but it alludes the disinterested. In October, I took a trip to Italy and visited the Amalfi coast outside Naples. In a village, we visited the local church’s museum. There wasn’t much to the museum, but their nativity scene was on display. It was interesting because there were two different sides to it. Like ours, one was the usual scene of the Holy Family surrounded by adoring shepherds and the Wisemen. Then, directly across was another scene of life going on without any notice of the secret God was revealing among them at the Incarnation.

If we are to learn God’s secrets, we must be deliberate about discovering them. We can only have them revealed if we participate in daily prayer. Even if our prayer starts with as little as ten minutes spent in a quiet spot at a convenient time, we can develop a relationship with God. Make prayer your resolution for the new year.

Remember, you don’t have to do it alone. Others are available to help. Church is supposed to be a family to support you as you grow in knowing how God favors you. If you live locally, I hope you will consider Holy Redeemer becoming your spiritual home. I realize many guests who don’t live in our area are with us today. If you don’t have a church community, start looking for one. There is a perfect one that wants to welcome you.

Luke’s gospel says once the angels left them, the shepherds responded by saying:

“Let us go in haste to Bethlehem to see this great thing that has taken place,

which God has made known to us.”

Whether you are a regular pew sitter or feel more like one of the shepherds left out by religion and made to feel unwelcomed, don’t confuse your impression of religion or church for God. Like the shepherds hasten to look closer at God and the secrets God has hidden for you. This Christmas, open your heart and let the glory of the Lord shine around and, most importantly, shine in you.