Once a year, at this time, the Nativity Scene makes its appearance in church.
And at the beginning of the midnight Mass, the figure of the baby Jesus was reverently carried and put into the central place of the Nativity Scene and rightly so.
After all it’s the celebration of our Saviour’s birth and it reminds us of that first Christmas when God came to earth as a helpless baby.
In that helpless baby, we see the Word of God made flesh and lived among us.
And the Nativity Scene symbolizes all that. Surrounding the baby Jesus are Mary and Joseph, and the shepherds who came to see this wonderful sign, and the poor and humble surroundings of the manger with the donkey and the cow and a couple of sheep. The three wise men would make their appearance later at the Epiphany.
And the Nativity Scene draws our attention. Some Nativity Scenes are quite elaborate with backdrop and lights and life-sized figures.
Some even want to have an updated version: one had a shepherd on the mobile phone calling “Pizza Hut”, and another with a wise man on his laptop checking Google Maps for directions to Bethlehem.
No, no, we are not going to have all that fancy stuff. We are going on traditional. And that means what we have there in front of the sanctuary.
But there was a little issue when we were setting up the Nativity Scene. Because of the size of the Nativity Scene in relation to the sanctuary, we couldn’t have a backdrop of the manger, as some bigger ones might have, complete with the roof and all that.
And because there is no backdrop, then one figure in the Nativity Scene would be difficult for it to find a place.
And that would be the angel. For those with the roof, then the angel would be placed on the roof and holding that sign “Gloria in excelsis Deo”.
So we have a figure of an angel but we don’t really know where to put it since there is no roof to place it on.
Or should we put it there at the Scene? Nobody would really notice it if there is no angel isn’t it?
After all, most would be looking at the baby Jesus, or Mary and Joseph, or the shepherds, or the cow and the donkey or whatever.
But the presence of the angel is significant to the whole Christmas story. It was an angel who announced to Mary that she was chosen to be the Mother of God. It was an angel who appeared to the shepherds and brought them the joyful news of the birth of the Saviour.
Yes, the angels are the messengers of God to announce the fulfillment of the promise of God to send the Saviour. And so for our Nativity Scene we have put the figure of the angel behind the main characters of the Christmas story.
But that does not mean that the messenger is forgotten, nor must the message of Christmas become just a backdrop.
All the characters of the Christmas story heard the message and they played a part in the birth of Jesus.
Mary accepted the will of God; Joseph had to change his plans; the shepherds went to see the sign.
And we have come to celebrate this wonderful story and to hear the message of Christmas again. And having heard the message, we in turn have become the messengers. We are now the “angels” of the Christmas story.
The angels sang at the birth of Jesus: Glory to God in the highest heavens, and peace to men who enjoy His favour.
Yes, we want to be the people who enjoy God’s favour, the people who are blessed by God, the people who despite the challenges and difficulties of life will join the characters in the Nativity Scene and worship the Saviour and be filled with peace because Jesus is the Prince of Peace.
There is this story that just before Christmas God was looking down at Earth and saw all of the evil that was going on. He decided to send an angel down to Earth to check it out. So He called one of His angels and sent the angel to Earth for a time. When he returned he told God, yes it is bad on Earth, 90% is bad and 10% is good.
God thought for a moment and said, maybe it is better to send down a second angel to get another opinion. So God called another angel and sent him to Earth for a time too. When the angel returned he went to God and told Him yes, the Earth was in decline, 90% was bad and 10% was good.
God said this was not good. So He decided to email the 10% that were good and He wanted to send them a message to encourage them, and to bless them and give them something to help them keep going.
Do you know what God said in that email?
No?!? Oh, so you didn't get that email? Oops!
Hmmm, it seems that we are in that 90% category. But that is what Christmas is about – that Jesus came not for the virtuous but for sinners.
And because of Jesus, then we have to change that 90% bad into 90% good. And that is the message of Christmas – that Jesus came to change the bad into good.
Today we hear the message, and it is the message of peace to people of goodwill. As we gather around the altar, Jesus is born again in our hearts to bring us peace and to restore the goodness in us.
And let us also be messengers of this news of great joy. We have heard that 2/3 of Catholics in Singapore don’t come to church.
Let us be that Christmas angel to bring them to come and see the Nativity Scene and its message.
Let us pray that the peace, joy and blessing of Jesus will move their hearts to experience His love.
Jesus came to save sinners. And He also calls sinners to be His messengers.
May Jesus, the Prince of Peace, fill our hearts with His peace and may we go forth to bring to others this news of great joy.