You,
Bethlehem-Ephrathah too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall
come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient
times. This how our first reading today
began (from Micah chapter 5.) I have
personally always been drawn to these few verses. They stand out for me for the obvious reason
that this is prophecy of the coming Messiah, Jesus, but also for the often missed,
“You, Bethlehem – too small to be among the clans of Judah,” should have been
enough for those who were expecting the Messiah to be born to recognize that he it would not happen in great fan fare,
pomp and circumstance, God does not work that way.
No one would ever have
imagined that a young boy would be chosen over 9 other brothers, all more
older, wiser and stronger than he, he just being a simple shepherd herder to
become the greatest king of Israel if not arguably one of the greatest kings to
walk the face of this earth, King David, raised up from nowhere and nobody.
No one would ever have
guessed that the virgin who would become the Mother of the Messiah to be a
poor, lowly girl from Nazareth, with no ties to power, prestige or resources
and yet from all the great women of Israel a young girl in a corner of a place
with no significance would become the Mother of God (Jesus).
Who then in their
wildest imagination would have guessed that God’s Son would be born in a
manager in a town too small to even be counted among the clans of Judah? And yet, they should have since that is
usually the way God works. God does not
call as we would call nor does He choose as we would choose. He chooses those who are small to show His
great power for if He chooses the powerful and the influential the outcome may
be attributed to their persons but not in the case of when He chooses the small
and the lowly.
This does not mean that
those who are learned, rich or of great power do not bring about the kingdom of
God, they do, but in my opinion not as much for the kingdom is not built on
those things but rather on compassion, purity, being humble, no attachments to anything
but God alone.
Yet, we all struggle in
the in between, the love of what we have and aspire to – to that of the call of
God which is to simplicity, lowliness, and humility.
Let me leave you with
this and think honestly on this, if you were God for a day would you have
chosen a small and weak shepherd boy to lead Israel, would you have chosen a
young 14 year old girl to be the Mother of your Son who barely anyone knew, and
would you have allowed your Son to be born in the midst of animals and all kinds
of farm smells? “My ways are not your ways, for man sees the outside
(appearances), but God sees the heart.”
I pray for you and for
me that we will make ourselves small, like the little town of Bethlehem, like a
young virgin girl in the corner of nowhere, and like the Messiah Himself born
in a manager because there was nowhere else, I pray that becomes our Christmas,
just some days from now, God bless you, Fr. John
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