Homily for Sunday, December 24, 2006

IV SUNDAY OF ADVENT (Micah 5)

We have all seen depictions of it. Perhaps it is our favorite Christmas card design. The “Peaceable Kingdom” takes the words of Scripture literally. It shows a wolf hovering over a lamb, a leopard lying next to a kid. Meanwhile, a little child directs the amicable union. The scene reminds us of Bethlehem to which the prophet Micah addresses himself in the first reading.

We think of Bethlehem as a quiet town. Maybe it was the day Jesus was born. Today Bethlehem can represent all the turmoil of the Middle East. It is under the vigilance of the Israeli army. The Muslim population there is radicalized by the infamous wall on its outskirts. And the demoralized Christian population, once the city’s majority, is fleeing. In the reading form Micah, the prophet predicts that the ruler of Israel would come from Bethlehem. As in Micah’s day, Bethlehem and all Palestine is in need today of deliverance from social upheaval.

But, of course, Palestine is not the hottest spot in the Middle East. That miserable distinction belongs to Iraq. Last month 4000 Iraqi civilians were killed in the daily carnage. Since the war’s beginning, nearly two and a half million people have been displaced. Perhaps the situation in Iraq is no more devastating than what Judah experienced twenty-five hundred years ago. Micah reminds us that a large portion of the population is exiled. However, he predicts that the hemorrhage will not last.

Micah looks toward a shepherd leader to reunite the people of Israel. This pastor will rule with all the majesty of David, the former king from Bethlehem. Christians, of course, see the shepherd as Jesus, born in Bethlehem to become the bridge between Jews and Gentiles. But not only Christians see Jesus as a leader of repute. Other religions as well admire Jesus as a preeminent man of peace. Muslims see him as a great prophet. A Jewish rabbi wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle last Sunday that Jesus is symbol of hope in time of despair. Gandhi, a Hindu, after reading the Sermon on the Mount claimed Jesus as his model.

So why all the fuss over “Christmas” in our society? Is it because mean-spirited non-Christians are offended by the mention of Jesus in public? Or perhaps we Christians provoke animosity by funneling public funds for depicting Jesus’ birth? Some of us should see at least the nature of secularist objections to public crèches. After all, we would withhold the portion of our taxes that finance abortions. Certainly, however, if people think about what he taught, Jesus is one human being that everyone can toast.

But claiming Jesus to be a symbol of peace hardly comes to terms with our belief in him. Once the Catholic novelist Flannery O’Connor said, “If the Eucharist were only a symbol, then the hell with it.” In no way did she mean to desecrate the Eucharist. She only wanted to raise eyebrows to the faith that Jesus is really present in the bread and wine. So we might say of Jesus in general that if he is only a symbol of peace, he is not worth our getting out of bed for on Sunday morning. No, being Prince of Peace is only the beginning of what we believe about Jesus.

Micah makes the odd-sounding claim that the shepherd-ruler “shall be peace.” We can understand what Micah means if we consider Jesus as God’s recreation of humanity. With Jesus, God reorients humans from Darwinian struggle to Nutcracker harmony. Jesus empowers people to work not for domination of others but for mutual benefit. As such, he becomes humanity’s doorway to heaven. We Christians are in the vanguard of the new creation. When we live the supernatural virtue that Christ bestows, real peace is manifest. We see this truth played out in the pope’s insistence that religious freedom be honored. When governments regard all individuals as temples of the sacred, they will protect everyone’s physical and spiritual integrity. The result will be peace.

There is a painting at the Louvre Museum in Paris of Jesus lying in a manger surrounded by parents and shepherds. Joseph holds a candle in one hand and with the other seems to reflect the light onto the babe. But the infant’s face shines so brightly that we wonder if the light does not emanate from it. The artist is portraying the mystery of Christmas. The new-born babe is more than what meets the eye. We call him Shepherd King and Prince of Peace, but these words hardly come to terms with our belief in him. He is our peace. He reorients us to harmony and empowers us for mutual benefit. He becomes our doorway to heaven. Yes, he is our peace.