In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

All sorts of articles have been written by people who have a hard time accepting that the Word of God could take flesh, and be a human being. They try to reduce Jesus Christ to a legend. They try to pretend that He never existed, or they try to make Him into a simple, nice-guy-philosopher. People do all sorts of other things in order to avoid facing Who is Jesus Christ, because they are afraid. They are paralysed by fear, in fact, and they are allowing themselves to try to escape from reality. It is a very sad thing to see such things written in public magazines, and newspapers, because these escapist tactics that people are using for themselves, lead many other people who are weak, away with them. That’s why it is so important for us, who are Orthodox Christians, to celebrate this feast in particular, because the whole life of the Orthodox Church is about making visible the love of Jesus Christ.

The Word of God takes flesh today, and dwells among us (cf. John 1:14). He is born today of the Virgin Mary in a cave in Bethlehem. For people who have doubts about that, there is plenty of historical evidence that these things are true. There is plenty of secondary historical evidence, too, that Jesus Christ did walk this earth, and that people understood at that time already that He was, indeed, the Son of God. They understood that He was not just like everyone else. He was like everyone except for sin. But He is also, besides being a human being, the Son of God. The Word of God took flesh out of love, as the Apostle John says in a passage which so many children learn in their early years to say from memory: “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). These words are quoted even in the Divine Liturgy in one way or another.

We know that Jesus Christ loves us, and that God loves us. He takes flesh today in order to bring us to salvation. This means that He is returning us to our true selves. He is bringing us to spiritual health. He is bringing us into the right focus, and the right relationship with God, so that we should no longer have to be afraid, like the people who are writing these sad, and sometimes crazy arguments. We don’t have to be slaves of fear. We can be free in the love of Jesus Christ – free, strong, healthy, full of joy, full of strength, full of love, as He created us to be. That is why He did this for us: to open again the door to Paradise, the door which we, in our rebellion, closed. He broke down all the barriers that we established between ourselves, and God. Jesus Christ, in Himself, gives us access to God, the Father. He sent the Holy Spirit to enable us to live in this love, and to maintain this personal relationship of love with Him.

That is why He gave us icons, like this one here, of Himself. We have a Tradition, 2,000 years old, that says that we know, more or less, what Jesus looked like in the flesh. This icon is a good icon. It represents well, in the Tradition of the Orthodox Church, what is the likeness of Jesus Christ. If the shroud of Turin is really the burial cloth of Jesus Christ (as many people believe it to be), the Face on that shroud, also, is very like this Face. The Lord gave us these images so that, as John of Damascus says, when we come, and kiss this image of Christ, our love passes through the icon, which serves as a gateway or window to heaven. Our veneration passes through this wood, and this paint straight to Jesus Christ, Himself.

We need to have these concrete ways to contact Jesus Christ. That’s why we carry Crosses on our bodies after we are baptised. That’s why we venerate these icons, because we need these concrete attachments to enable us to express our love. If Jesus Christ were completely invisible, and inaccessible, it would be extremely difficult for us. However, He knows that, as human beings, we have to have tangible things, things that we can touch, and feel. He has given us these icons from the very beginning, so that we can kiss them, and at the same time, kiss Him. It does not end there. When we kiss Him out of love, His love comes back to us. It is not as though He is not kissing us back, you know. He loves us. How would He not kiss us, also, with His love, when we are kissing Him? It is the same with the Mother of God, and any other of the saints. This love is the foundation of our Orthodox Christian life.

St John Chrysostom says of us that we, ourselves, are living icons of Christ, because, as we sang today, we were baptised into Christ. When we were baptised into Christ, we put on Christ. We carry Christ with us, especially when we are receiving Holy Communion. St John Chrysostom says that when we receive Holy Communion, Jesus Christ is so present in each of us that we should be making a prostration in front of each other, out of love for Jesus Christ, who is present in each of us. We, as Orthodox Christians, are carrying Jesus Christ everywhere that we go.

We are living icons, and representations of Jesus Christ. It is our responsibility to be renewing this love, this relationship of love with Jesus Christ, everyday in our prayers. We should receive Him regularly, and frequently in Holy Communion. Then, every day when we are at our work, when we are in public places, when we are shopping, or doing whatever we are doing, we will be able to carry Christ with us in such a way that people around us will see our love, our joy, our hope. They will see how we care about the people around us. They will see how we, like Jesus Christ, serve people, take care of people. By encountering Jesus Christ in us, they may find some hope in this very painful world, and find some encouragement to carry on living in this very difficult, and broken world.

Brothers, and sisters, Jesus Christ is born today in Bethlehem in Judea because of love. Because of this same love, let us allow this love to be visible in us, too. Let us ask the Saviour to strengthen us, by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, so that our love may be strong enough that people may be able to see, and have hope, and believe in Jesus Christ. May our lives glorify this same Jesus Christ, together with His Father, who is from everlasting, and His all-holy, good, and life-creating Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

† Archdiocese of Canada - Orthodox Church in America