Brief synopsis of the readings: Christmas gives us readings from four different masses. There is the vigil mass (on Christmas Eve), mass at night (formerly known as Midnight Mass), mass at dawn on Christmas and mass during the day on Christmas. Each year I choose the readings for the mass at night. It’s partly because it reminds me of when I was an altar boy and served Midnight Mass, and partly because I’ve always loved the birth narrative from Luke. Our first reading from Isaiah continues our Advent themes of light out of darkness. It also foretells the birth of a child who will be called: “Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.” Our Gospel describes how Joseph and his pregnant fiance Mary are forced to travel to Bethlehem for a census that was decreed by Caesar Augustus. Unable to find lodgings they spend the night in a barn where Jesus is born and is placed in a feeding trough. Nearby shepherds were visited by an angel who told them of this birth. They were terrified at first but were assured that this is a joyful event.

Well, at last it has come. Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday have come and gone. And while today begins the Christmas season it really feels like the end. However we think about Christmas many of us will spend this evening feeling exhausted with some lingering guilt about how this was supposed to be the year we “finally got Christmas right.”

So let’s start by recognizing that something really did happen long ago and far away that impacts our lives even today. We place expectations on ourselves and each other because the idea that God became human is so far beyond our imagining that we struggle to find ways to fully express its meaning.

That said, I’m struck by how quiet that first Christmas was. Much as I love this account from Luke, best personified by 1965’s A Charlie Brown Christmas, it has some incredibly puzzling aspects to it. Historians love studying the Roman Empire because the Romans wrote down everything and their records give us a strong understanding of those years. Problem is, we have found nothing to indicate that Caesar Augustus ever decreed a census of the “whole world” or even the entire Roman Empire. Furthermore no Roman census required anyone to travel to their ancestral home, even if we had a way to define it. I was born in Washington D.C., my father in Massachusetts, and my grandfather in Canada. Where would I go?

Regardless of the details something did happen that night that changed the world. But at the time the audience was pretty small. The Holy Family, a few animals in the barn and local shepherds. To everyone else it was just another night.

But it became more, slowly at first, during Jesus’ lifetime. And then after his resurrection. In the 2,000 years since we continue to evolve in our understanding and in our recognition of how it has changed our lives. And that’s the problem. Many who lived in Jesus’ time and many today look at the word “Messiah” and see that as something that doesn’t require anything from us. The Messiah will come, all enemies will be vanquished, and prosperity will descend on all. And we will all live happily ever after.

Well it didn’t happen that way. The Romans were still in charge, corrupt Jewish leaders still kept their thumb on those who worked for a living and all was not well. Sounds pretty depressing, doesn’t it?

On the other hand….

There’s a great deal to be said for God’s loving us so much that he didn’t give us the result. God gave us the tools. God loves and trusts us enough to allow us to create the world of the Messiah. We live in a world where some things are done for us but others are DIY (do it yourself) but our call is neither of these.

Pope Francis has proclaimed 2025 as a Jubilee year which raises an obvious question: what is that? The answer is long and complex and there are reams of documents on what the Pope intends but let me give my interpretation: a Jubilee year is a time to look at what we have, what others have, and meet our mutual needs. Pope Francis is looking at two specific areas: liberation and consolation.

We don’t need to look far these days to find how we are all in need of these. Some of those we share the Kingdom with are indeed slaves through human trafficking other types of physical bondage and are in need of physical liberation. But we are also bound by enslavement of structures we have created. Our well founded desire for justice sometimes takes a shortcut toward fairness. But fairness divides a finite pie while justice begins with the needs of all. To quote Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Perhaps a jubilee year can be a time for new ways to deal with each other in justice. Where we all have what we need whatever that is.

It’s the same with consolation. Attempts to “cheer up,” well meaning though they may be, can do little but raise everyone’s blood sugar level. True consolation requires us to enter into the suffering of others and companion them through hard times. We don’t have the power to bring back loved ones who have died but we do have the power to invite them to a future that provides light. During my time as a hospice chaplain I often spoke to recent widows and widowers who couldn’t imagine a time when the pain of their loss wasn’t overwhelming. This is what I used to tell them: “Here’s my hope for you. That, years from now, you are reunited with your loved one in heaven and you tell them that while you missed them like crazy you now have all sorts of great stories to tell them. You job now is to begin to gather those stories.” Truthfully it didn’t erase their grief but it point in the direction of consolation.

There’s nothing magic about Christmas 2023 and I doubt Christmas 2024 will be pain free. And next year will likely not create the perfect Christmas. But a Jubilee can give us a direction to point the flashlight, use the tools we’ve been given, and get closer to a world where the Messiah is obvious.