WALKING IN THE LIGHT OF GOD - A: Christmas Day

First Reading: Isa 52:7-10 (25 December 2022)

“How beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of him who brings glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation, and saying to Zion, ‘Your God is King!’” (Isa 52:7).

The text above uses the imagery of feet, which is the ones responsible for bringing the glad tidings about God’s salvation of the world. While it is the mouth that literally delivers the good news, the feet are the body-parts that travelled, endured, and suffered a lot the long and hard journey to the people to be evangelized. The feet are the ones badly beaten and worn out especially in a Mediterranean landscape that is comprised of tough deserts, rocky paths, and unpredictable weather. For this reason, they are the ones, too, that are immediately washed upon a traveler’s arrival to a destination—often by the host’s servant as a sign of hospitality.

Isaiah, when he used the imagery of feet in chapter 52, was prophesying in the historical context of the so-called Babylonian Captivity (ca. 586 BCE) as depicted in chapters 40–55 (held as the deutero-Isaiah). Here, the misery of the people of Judea was pronounced, particularly after the capital city of Jerusalem was heavily destroyed along with the temple that Solomon built. What was worse is that its inhabitants were exiled into the land of their new conquerors and masters, i.e., the Babylonians. We can, thus, imagine the former’s lengthy, tedious, and painful march away from their homeland.

Their longing for a return to Jerusalem never disappeared in their settling in a foreign country, occupying their daily thoughts and desires (cf. Psa 137:1); but it would be realized later as proclaimed in chapters 56–66 (collectively known as the trito-Isaiah).

The gospel narratives on the birth of our Lord also employ the imagery of the feet in the characterization of biblical figures. Matthew presents several movements of people across territories and continents, viz., Joseph’s going to take Mary as wife (1:24); the wise men’s following of the star along with their return back to the East (2:1; 12); and the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt (2:14), and settlement in Nazareth (2:23). Luke depicts more mobility of people in the demonstration of the events immediately prior and posterior the birth of Jesus, viz., Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth (1:39-56); Joseph and Mary’s obligatory registration in Bethlehem (2:1); the coming of the shepherds to the manger to behold Jesus (2:16); the Holy Family’s bringing of Jesus to the temple for his circumcision (2:22) and their attendance to a Jewish festival (2:41). In sum, Jesus’ nativity and infancy is a portrait of people on the move.

Following this motif, we can also say that Christmas is supposed to be a season of movement of people, and not a passive revelry in an exclusive location. The joy that is contained in our homes and families should be extended to neighbors, communities, and more peoples. Often, Christmas day is marked by a domestic celebration of family-members restricted within the four walls of their homes. Christmas, ideally, should be defined by a movement to the church for the Aguinaldo mass, a sharing of holiday gifts to neighbors and long-lost acquaintances; a giving of presents to children and, likewise, to kids who are denied of the Yuletide festivities.

Christmas celebrates God-in-motion. May we also be people who are spiritually on the move.

- Rex Fortes, CM