- Jacob Chanikuzhy
“Mary, Did You Know?” is a modern Christmas classic written by Mark Lowry, a contemporary American minister, singer, and songwriter. In this song, he asks Mary several questions about her son Jesus, including whether she knew that she was raising God himself. According to the Lucan infancy narrative, one can assume that Mary knew about the significance of her child. The Matthean infancy narrative informs us that Joseph, too, was aware of the divine origin of Mary’s baby. In fact, it was their belief that the new-born baby was none other than the Son of God that kept the family from falling apart. A firm belief that God dwells in our homes and in our hearts can save our families from the destructive power of human predicaments of all sorts.
Given the fact that Mary and Joseph knew the true nature of the baby they were blessed with, the crib appears as a fortress of Christian faith. To accept a manger as the cradle for the divine child, to settle for a cowshed as a home, to believe that the child with them was the Lord himself, and even more, to believe that the life of God’s Son was entrusted to them—these required a tremendous leap of faith, a faith threatened by human logic, practical reasoning, and concrete life experiences. The portrait of the Holy Family at the crib illustrates that Mary and Joseph made this giant leap of faith and thus made the crib a paradigm of the human life situation on this earth.
“Being with God yet being in a stall! An unbelievable—or even unacceptable—paradox. Nevertheless, this is how we find the Holy Family on Christmas Day. In fact, this is how we find ourselves in many phases of our life. The manger represents our depravities, limitations, incompleteness, vulnerabilities, struggles, helplessness, frustrations, and brokenness. God’s being with us is no guarantee that we will evade these. The Christmas crib encourages us to face the finitude of human existence and its consequent vulnerabilities with the assurance that God is with us, sustaining us and leading us to fulfilment.”
Being with God yet being in a stall! An unbelievable—or even unacceptable—paradox. Nevertheless, this is how we find the Holy Family on Christmas Day. In fact, this is how we find ourselves in many phases of our life. The manger represents our depravities, limitations, incompleteness, vulnerabilities, struggles, helplessness, frustrations, and brokenness. God’s being with us is no guarantee that we will evade these. The Christmas crib encourages us to face the finitude of human existence and its consequent vulnerabilities with the assurance that God is with us, sustaining us and leading us to fulfilment.
The crib is open and not fortified by strong walls. It symbolizes a heart open to God. This openness leads to a life of patient waiting—for God, for God’s will, for God’s ways, and for a future unknown and unimaginable to us. At the same time, the open crib reveals the necessity of being open to our fellow human beings too. Given that Mary and Joseph knew their God-given status and the status of the new-born child, we can only marvel at their immense and gracious openness in welcoming the visit of the poor shepherds. The shepherds, who were looked down upon by the general public as “sinners,” stood in a certain tension with the “holy” family. The fact that the shepherds were not simply tolerated but earnestly invited by God’s angels into the Sacrosanctum of the Holy Family likely depicts God’s dream for his family on earth—the Church. The Church God has in mind, as illustrated by the crib, can in no way be an exclusivist entity. If the shepherds were invited to the most holy crib, then the house of God on earth—the Church—will do well to be seen as accessible to all, as the universal sacrament of salvation. A Church that fortifies her walls, secures herself, and separates herself from others loses her likeness to a crib that is open—open to God’s possibilities and to God’s salvific plan for all humankind.
The encounter with the Holy Family transformed the shepherds. The unexpected and unconditional invitation and inclusion they received touched them to the core. Nothing changed externally with regard to their status, occupation, or life situation, but internally they became different people. They were filled with joy; they became true worshippers of God, praising and glorifying him; and they became the proclaimers of the gospel. The striking transformation of the shepherds reiterates what truly converts human hearts and transforms human lives—not tricks and threats, but an open-hearted approach and wholehearted understanding and acceptance. When our homes and our Church reflect the hallmark of the crib, they become places that nurture the joy of salvation – the true good news of Christmas.
