Homily for Christmas Mass at Nite
Dec. 25, 2025
Luke 2: 1-14
Bridgettines &
guests, Darien, Conn.
Capture of the Hessians at Trenton
(John Trumbull)
249 years, 364 days ago—i.e., on Christmas
nite, 1775, George Washington ferried the Continental Army across the
ice-filled Delaware River. At dawn on
Dec. 26, they attacked and captured the partied-out Hessian troops at Trenton,
and by that unexpected, brilliant stroke kept our Revolution alive.
There are many records of that narrative of
real history involving real people, real places, and real time.
St. Luke, as close to a real historian as we have
in the New Testament, takes care to place our Savior Jesus Christ in a specific
time and place. “In the days of King
Herod” of Judea (1:5), when Augustus ruled Rome, an angel came to a virgin
named Mary at Nazareth, and because “a decree went out from Caesar Augustus”
(2:1), Joseph brought his pregnant wife to Bethlehem. St. Luke narrates a story of real people,
real places, real time, real history—not a Greek myth, not imagined events from
“a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”
In this specific time, in this specific
place, God enters our real world to bring real salvation. “The grace of God has appeared. Our great God and Savior Jesus Christ gave
himself for us to deliver us …” (Titus 2:11-14).
Let’s attend to one detail of Luke’s
narrative—not as dramatic as Washington’s crossing the Delaware, but more significant
for humanity. St. Luke takes care to
note that Jesus is Mary’s “firstborn son” (2:7). We already know that Mary was a virgin when Gabriel
appeared to her and she conceived. Luke
isn’t giving us news here. Nor is he
implying that more children, the so-called brothers and sisters of Jesus (Mark 6:3
and ǁ), followed from
Mary. Those “brothers and sisters” are
never referenced as her children or St. Joseph’s; only Jesus is. The Catholic tradition has always regarded those
brothers and sisters as Jesus’ cousins and Mary as “ever virgin.”
Birth of Jesus (Giotto, Lower Church at Assisi)
St. Luke is giving us biblical theology. Since the days of Moses and the Exodus, when
God sent his angel to slay the firstborn sons of Egypt but spared the Hebrews
whose homes had been marked by the blood of the passover lambs, the firstborn
sons of the Jews had belonged to God, specially consecrated to him (Ex 13:1). They had to be redeemed thru an offering made
to God (13:13).
The Virgin’s firstborn son belonged to God in
a unique way. He was not only her son
but also God’s. His whole life was
consecrated to his Father’s service—and to our redemption from slavery
to sin.
Further, Jesus is the firstborn of other sons
and daughters—sons and daughters of God.
St. Paul, whose disciple Luke was, calls Jesus “the firstborn among many
brothers and sisters” (Rom 8:29). Pope
Benedict comments on this: “Having
risen, he is now ‘first-born’ in a new way, and at the same time he is the
beginning of a host of brethren. In the
new birth of the resurrection, Jesus is no longer merely the first in dignity,
he now ushers in a new humanity. Once he
has broken through the iron door of death, there are many more who can pass
through with him—many who in baptism have died with him and risen with him.”[1]
No wonder the angels proclaimed “good news of
great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10). Yes, a Savior, a Redeemer, has been born for
us—in real time, in real history, to save us really from our sins and to make
us really God’s beloved children.
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