A Silent Night? - Christmas Message 2001

Archbishop Peter Jensen’s Christmas message

It was a holy night, but not a silent night. All was not ‘calm and bright’ the night Jesus was born, despite what we sing in the Christmas carol. In reality, Jesus was born in the middle of noisy, chaotic human struggles.

The first century world was full of religious conflict, oppression, bloodshed and poverty. It featured a leader, King Herod, who sought to kill all boys in Bethlehem aged two or under in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the boy Jesus. It was a world that knew pain and suffering; it was a world that understood terror.

From the vantage point of Sydney in the summer, it is often easy to lose sight of the mood of that first Christmas. It seems a long way from relaxing on our beaches, holidaying with the family, and enjoying the cricket. However, the events of this year have reminded us that a short step past the pleasures of life there is unrest and conflict and hatred. We all know the conflict and difficulties that lie beneath the surfaces of our own lives. Not all of us have suffered to the extent that some people have suffered during 2001. But all of us can see that there is something terribly wrong with the human spirit, and it affects the way we all treat each other. If only we could live in peace.

Jesus’ birth was met with an exuberant outburst from a host of angels who appeared to those famous shepherds on Christmas night. The angels declared, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased” (Luke 2:14). Unexpectedly, God delivered a promise of peace in the form of a child born in obscurity, in shame, in an animal shed. This peace seems a remote dream to us who have lived through this past year. Consider the attacks on the USA and the ensuing battles in the Middle East. Consider our social tensions here in Australia. Consider the conflict we face in our own families and life situations. How can we speak of peace on earth at a time like this?

Hidden beneath the Christmas wrappings lies the answer to that question. For there is another way in which the first Christmas was not a ‘silent night’. Christians believe that the gift of Jesus Christ to the world was in fact a loud message from God himself. In the person of Jesus, we receive a word from God. God breaks into the silence with the wonderful gift of Jesus.

One of the Bible’s names for Jesus is ‘Immanuel’. It means ‘God with us’. That is what Christians believe: that the first Christmas brought God to us, in a form we could understand, in a man who walked and talked and demonstrated the power and wisdom of God. With Christmas Jesus arrives; at Easter even more is revealed. We ought to celebrate both with excitement and gratitude.

For the Bible teaches us that ‘he himself is our peace’. Jesus Christ is our means of peace with God, and peace with each other. The hope of peace on earth, as the angels announced it, rests entirely in Jesus.

God is not distant, and he is not silent. If this year has caused you to wonder whether or not this is so, my prayer is that you might find the answers you are seeking in the story of the child who was born to be ‘God with us’, Jesus Christ.

May I wish you and all whom you love a very Happy Christmas.

CONTACT: Margaret Rodgers (w) 9265 1507 (h) 9560 9801

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