Have you ever noticed that we human beings have a seemingly infinite capacity to complicate things? It’s like we have a built-in aversion to the simple. We often take the simplest situation and we make it a complicated affair. As they say, we make mountains out of molehills. And, when we do, we often miss the real point. But, when you get the heart of it, often the greatest experiences of life, and the greatest insights, have a way of turning out to be very simple. Take Christmas, for example. It’s so easy to get caught up in the decorating, writing Christmas cards, buying gifts and throwing parties that we miss the true meaning of Christmas which is very simple. Look at the Christmas story: how beautiful in its simplicity. It tells of the marvelous, universal experience familiar to all of us – a young couple expecting their first baby. Joseph is anxious and wants the best for his wife – and child on the way. You can sense his nervousness as he knocks anxiously on the door of the inn seeking a room where they might stay. You can then imagine how caringly he must have prepared the place for Mary in that animal stall, since there was no room for them in the regular living quarters. It would be nice and warm with the other animals. And then we see the young Mary expecting her first baby. Like all expectant mothers, she contemplates the infant son she has just borne, and then so tenderly she wraps him in swaddling clothes and lays him in that manger of straw. And after the child is born, you can just hear Joseph’s sigh of relief, and see the sparkling tears of joy on Mary’s cheeks. The pain and anxiety of childbirth are lost in the ecstasy of parenthood. Those of you who are parents know exactly how it feels. It’s a simple story that we can all understand. Let’s not complicate it. That is the simple truth about Christmas. It’s the miracle of new life. But, in this birth there is a unique twist: divinity has broken into our earthbound lives. The eternal has become mortal. And what does this mean?  It means that instead of being seen as one at a distance – after all, he is the almighty, infinite, creator of the universe – God has come very close.  That’s at the heart of the Christmas message.  Matthew records the meaning of Jesus’ coming in this fashion – “his name shall be called Emanuel, which means God with us.”  John’s Gospel speaks of it in this way: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” And Luke’s Gospel, which we hear this morning, relates how God was first revealed to simple shepherds, who glorified and praised God for all that they had seen and heard.

God has come to dwell with us as one of us – the infinite, eternal, almighty God has become a simple child, just like we all were at one time.  And, he grew up just as we did; after all, he was like us in all things but sin. Flesh of our flesh, body of our body.  It is such a simple thing, so common and so down-to-earth.

And, the coming of Jesus is the work of God; it’s intended to satisfy the yearning for eternity that God has placed in all of our hearts.  That yearning, the deep yearning for immortality is present in us all. That’s why we spend millions of dollars each year on cosmetics that make us look younger and hundreds of millions each year to overcome the diseases that kill us. We want to live forever. And, in our yearning for eternity, we long for God, who is eternal.  We want to know God.  We want to share in his life, and we want him to share in ours.  And so does he; after all, he made us for himself.  So, instead of keeping his distance, God has come very close to us.  He came in the way we would know him best, in love, as a little baby.  Christmas is the time when we hear the footsteps of God.  Instead of a God who is hidden far away in the heavens, God has come very close.

And, why has God come so close? The next thing that Joseph and Mary do helps us understand why God has come. Most of us have experienced the excitement of the birth of a child, whether it’s in our family or among our friends. And, one of the first things you ask after the child is born is, “what’s his name,” or “what’s her name”? For some families it’s real easy to come up with the name. They name the child after someone in the family or after someone they admire. For others, it’s a real struggle as they search for just the right name. For Joseph and Mary, it was real easy because both had been told by the angel Gabriel that they were to name him Jesus. And, Jesus, which is Joshua in Hebrew and Aramaic, means “God saves,” and referred them to an earlier Joshua, who had led God’s people into the Promised Land. That’s exactly why God has come so close – to lead us back to the Promised Land of heaven; real simple.

For the rest of our liturgical year, we’ll have ample time and opportunity to reflect on all the complexities of our faith. But today, let’s just sit in wonder and awe at these two simple truths: God, the almighty, creator of the universe who, from before the beginning of time has longed for us to be with him for all eternity, has come to be with us as one of us. Come, let us draw near to our God who is so close to us.