December: Day 25: Teaching 3: The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ

December: Day 25: Teaching 3:
The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ
 
(On the day of the Nativity of Christ, Christians should bring gifts to their Savior following the example of the Eastern sages: instead of gold - faith, instead of frankincense - gratitude and praise to God, and instead of myrrh - a willingness to do good to people.)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Today we celebrate the Nativity of the Savior of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. For 5,508 years, people awaited this event. All these millennia, the Lord prepared the world for the Savior's birth. By the end of these millennia, one might say the entire universe, both on the basis of divine revelations and due to the awareness of spiritual weaknesses, awaited the heavenly Redeemer. The Nativity of Christ the Savior occurred as follows. Before His coming, the Jews were under Roman rule. The Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, ordered a nationwide census, and every Roman subject was required to register in his hometown. Joseph and his betrothed, the Holy Virgin Mary, were from Bethlehem but lived in Nazareth, so they set out from Nazareth for Bethlehem. Unable to find room at an inn, they stopped to spend the night in a cave outside the city. Here the Lord was born and, wrapped in swaddling clothes, was laid in a manger. The shepherds of Bethlehem were the first to learn of the Savior's birth. An angel appeared to them and told them that Christ the Lord had been born. They were also privileged to see angels praising God and crying out, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those whom He is pleased." They were the first to worship the newborn Savior when they arrived at the cave. After them, the Magi (wise men) of the East learned of the Savior's birth and came to worship Him. They brought gifts to the newborn Christ: gold, as to a king; frankincense, or precious incense, as to God; and myrrh (an aromatic ointment), as to one about to die.

II. We have heard, brethren, that the wise men of the East, who came to Bethlehem under the guidance of a wondrous star, rendered worship to the newborn Christ as to God, and presented Him with rich gifts, according to the feeling of their zeal.

What shall we offer Him? For He was born on earth for us all. Let the example of the wise men who honored the Lord with gifts guide us in this matter.

a) The gold they brought was not merely evidence of the wealth of their house and country. Perhaps many had seen the miraculous star, but only three recognized it as a sign from above and resolved to follow it to an unknown land, to worship a king also unknown to them. They might have expected to see the king in splendor. Meanwhile, the star stopped over a humble hut, which, upon entering, they found a humble Mother, a simple old man, and a meek Infant amidst the poverty that surrounded them. But the faith of the newcomers did not waver: they "fell down and worshiped" the Infant.

There are many signs in life and for us that strengthen our faith in the incarnate Lord. The wise men of the East, had they not left their country, would not have come to Jerusalem, nor would they have found the Christ-King born in Bethlehem. Like them, those who seek Christ find traces of His benevolent providence in the events of their lives and society; without turning their hearts away from their neighbors, they abandon customs that distance them from piety; when faced with perplexities, they resolve them according to the meaning of God's law, which, like a miraculous star, is an unquenchable lamp for us; they honor the external rites of the Church, which contain the highest truths. Such Christians are fearless amidst the dangers of life, and, like the Magi in Jerusalem who directly revealed to Herod the purpose of their coming, they openly speak of Whom they believe in and Whom they seek, until they arrive in that invisible land in which there will be no need to ask: “Where is the King of the Jews born?” This gold of faith is that gift which, according to the testimony of the Apostle Peter, is greater than perishable gold, which is easily lost in one way or another (Peter 1:7).

b) The wise men of the East brought frankincense to Christ, as incense is usually burned before God.

Let us offer God the incense of gratitude and praise. This feast is a common incentive for all: "For this reason God came down to earth that He might raise us up to heaven." To our shame, in happiness a person does not want to consider where his happiness comes from, while in misfortune he plunges into despondency. Therefore, on the contrary, the gift of our gratitude will be all the purer if, even in days of sorrow, during family discord, during irreparable losses, we do not forget to thank the Savior for the consolations He gives us in His holy Church, and for the blessings we unexpectedly received in our former life. From this point of view, the institution observed today throughout Orthodox Russia is wonderful. It is now eighty-five years since God delivered her from the enemies who invaded her midst; because of our sins, there have been losses and sorrows for our fatherland since then; but it did not forget God's miraculous help: a grateful prayer for it is offered annually, stimulating each of us not to grumble in sorrow, but to thank God for His mercies.

c) The third gift brought to the Savior by the Eastern wise men was myrrh. This is a precious substance derived from the Arabian tree. Its property is to preserve bodies from decay; therefore, the dead were anointed with it. This gift would not have been appropriate for Christ, as God, but it was a foreshadowing of Christ, as a man, being subject to death. As the Church hymn puts it, the Magi, "as to a dead man, brought myrrh to the immortal."

No burial substance can be brought to Christ, not only after His birth but also after His resurrection. But there is spiritual myrrh, with which we can preserve our faith in Him from deadness, and which each one can offer as a gift pleasing to Him. "What is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?" God once cried to the hypocritical Jews. "Learn to do good" (Isaiah 1:11, 17). Clearly, no gift will be pleasing to God, no sacrifice of ours will be a living sacrifice, without our willingness to do good to people, to serve society . A plant is dead without leaves and fruit, and our feasts in honor of God will be dead if we do not enliven them with good deeds to our neighbors. Let us listen to what one Holy Father teaches us on the feast of the Nativity of Christ. "On this day the Lord came to His servants: let those in authority also condescend to their subjects." "On this day, for our sake, the All-Rich One became poor: may the rich make the poor a sharer of his surplus. On this day, we have received a gift from above: let us also give alms to the poor. This day has opened the heavenly door to our prayers: let us also open our door to those who have offended us and beg for forgiveness." 

III. Therefore, to believe in the Savior, to thank Him, to do good to our neighbors — this is what we can offer Him as a gift. One does not need to be a wise man to have and prepare all this; but he who will truly bring these gifts to God is not inferior to any wise man. Amen.  

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.