The greatest Christian feast is Easter, which is linked to the timing of the Jewish feast of Passover and occurs in springtime. So why do we celebrate the birth of the Savior in December, which in the northern part of the world is the middle of winter? Winter can be depressing time for many people: the weather is cold, the days are short. In short, it is because it is when Jesus was born.
St. Luke tells us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the town associated with King David. It was to David that God promised an unbroken line of royal descendants, and Jesus is frequently referred to as “Son of David”. In Jesus, the promise to David is fulfilled. The picture detail about Jesus being born in a stable may have a deeper meaning: an inn, and we might best understand this term today in the sense of a motel, is not suitable place of residence for someone who has a right to be in a particular town or city, especially someone related to the most famous person to come from Bethlehem. Jesus is not a temporary resident, someone just passing through: He is the most significant individual in the house of David, and deserves more appropriate accommodation, even a stable. God does not think or act as we might expect.
We believe that, in Jesus, God took on our human nature. This tells us that human nature is basically good, and that in Jesus we see what a proper human life can be. In Jesus’ dealing with people, we have a glimpse of what God is really like. Our feast today emphasizes that Jesus is truly a human being. When we hear children crying, instead of becoming annoyed, we might use that sound as a reminder of one of the basic teachings of our faith: that God came into our world as one of us. Christmas is such a popular festival, perhaps because it reminds us of a time when our lives were simpler, when it was easy to believe the mysteries of our faith. If our faith remains only at the level of a child’s, it may not make sense to us as adults. Today’s feast tells us that God wants to be involved in the whole of our lives – if we allow God in to brighten our lives.