IN SWADDLING CLOTHES
Luke
gives us this detail of the birth of Jesus; that he was swathed in bands of
cloth as, seemingly, was the custom. Luke is graphically making the point that
this little child has now entered a limited existence where he cannot even move
his arms. These limitations would be accentuated as he grows up and begins his
mission. He can cure the lame and open the eyes of the blind but he cannot
break down the hostility of the Jewish leaders. He is definitely one of us.
Yet
it is precisely to break these fetters that he came; “to proclaim liberty to
captives and to let the oppressed go free.” He has entered our world and become
one of us in order to break what binds humanity. But he will do it from within.
He will proclaim it as his programme but he will achieve it by walking the
human journey with us. All the miracles were simply signs and when he raised
Lazarus from the dead he told the bystanders, “Unbind him, let him go.” Those
words too had a deeper meaning than simply untying the swathes.
But
it cost him everything. We are told a little later that those sent to arrest
him, “seized Jesus and bound him.” Once more his arms were restricted and he
was led “where he would rather not go.” But he accepted the cup the Father had
given him and he knew that this way, from within, was the only way to finally break
the bonds that held humanity. He would break them and in so doing break them
for us all. He broke them as man by submitting to them as, in the end, we have
to do. And when they had done all they could to destroy him the time came for
him as God to burst through them forever.
It
all happened from within; within the swaddling clothes of humanity. Those bonds
could not hold him. He accepted them for a while because he had a plan. But, when
the time came, he broke through them and opened a way for all of us to follow.
We
all have our swaddling clothes – those things than restrict us: our limits of
education, finance, health and so on. We are all limited. Yet our destiny is to
break out of these limits. That is what we mean by “the resurrection of the dead.”
Mary helps us understand. At Bethlehem she, was limited. They couldn’t even
find a place to stay. But now the whole world seeks her help and she is able to
attend to everyone, everywhere – not just in some passing way, like Pope
Francis can only do, bending to hold the hand of a sick child – but in an all
attentive way, solicitous about “the least of my brothers and sisters.”
Happy Christmas!
Christmas Day 2015
Isaiah 9:2-17 Titus
2:11-14 Luke 2:1-14
