I find this change of perspective really helpful. One of the real dangers of our Christmas celebrations is that given the secular and commercial overlay which the season has attracted and acquired it is easy to be satisfied with a rather domesticated version of the story which suits a school or parish Christmas pageant which basically would never cause any offence. The feast then becomes the celebration of a baby as a discreet event with no consequences. Everyone can go home feeling content and comforted with images of the gurgling baby and the tired but happy parents. Births in the family or to friends are almost always a cause for joy and celebration. But this birth we celebrate at Christmas is different.

The poet T S Eliot put in so well in his poem, “Journey of the Magi”: “Were we led all that way for Birth or Death? There was a Birth certainly, We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death, But had thought they were different; this Birth was Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.” It is an insight I have pondered over the years. I would have to confess that as a pastor I am conscious that for many people Christmas is not an easy time. This is so especially if they have lost a loved one in recent months or years or even more especially if they have lost a child. The whole focus on the joy of the birth of Jesus and the related celebrations becomes hard work for such people and understandably so. But this is where I find Eliot’s words helpful. And Eliot knew his scripture. For the New Testament does not fixate on the birth of Jesus at all. After all the gospels of Mark and John do not mention it except in John’s most theological statement “and the Word became flesh”. Today’s readings are a good example at how the New Testament keeps proclaiming the whole Christ. The danger for us is that we too easily settle for less; we are seduced by partial expressions of the Christ and miss the full import of the whole. That I think is a genuine danger in the Christmas proclamation.

As is often the case I find much inspiration in art. Recently I had the pleasure of visiting an exquisite little exhibition at the Frick where two works by the Italian 14th Century artist Cimabue are on display. One, the Flagellation, belongs to the Frick, and is well known to New Yorkers. But the other, a Madonna and Child with Angels, has only recently been discovered. The story of it being found in a private collection in England is exciting in itself. As experts looked at this small panel they realized it had much in common with the Frick Cimabue. So they were brought together for inspection. This revealed not only were they by the same artist, almost certainly Cimabue, but even more exciting, that they most likely once formed a diptych or perhaps were part of a predella for an altarpiece. In any case the two small panels are together on display at the Frick. And what a revelation they are.

But to get to the point what was really fascinating for me was the seeming unrelatedness of the subjects. One the Madonna and Child is suitable for a Christmas card. The other, the Flagellation, has to do with the Passion of Jesus, so dramatically portrayed in Mel Gibson’s film of the same name. Was this not a bit odd? What was so clever in this small exhibition was that the two Cimabue panels were put alongside several other panels and diptych with the same or similar subject matter. One diptych from the Morgan Library showed the Nativity Scene and the Crucifixion. What the catalog revealed was that this choice of seemingly disparate subjects was very much at the insistence of those who commissioned these various panels who were in most cases the Franciscans. These patrons knew their theology and wanted those who looked upon these images to see the “total Christ”, that the same one who was born at Bethlehem to Joseph and Mary was also the one who had died on the Cross for our sins. What they were attempting to do through this art was to proclaim the whole Christ, including his birth and his death. Eliot understood that as did Cimabue of old. But that is precisely the case with the New Testament. John’s Gospel puts it so directly. “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory.” For John the glory of God in Jesus was revealed when he was lifted high on the Cross. In one sentence John relates birth and death, in other words the whole Christ.

As we celebrate another Christmas it is that total Christ we proclaim over against any partial or domesticated versions. It is this total Christ who embraces and enters into the totality of our human experience, our births and our deaths as it were. It is precisely because of that fact that Christ is relevant to our whole human journey and experience. Nothing is outside the Love and Compassion of God. For those who find Christmas a difficult or painful time take heart from that.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have beheld his glory.” Thanks be to God for that stupendous gift. It is that gift which stands at the heart of our eucharistic worship today as we celebrate Christ who was born, lived, died and rose again for us in order that we might live fully and inherit the gift of eternal life.   Amen

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