Charles Schultz, the creator of the comic strip “Peanuts”, tapped into a profound human experience when every fall Charlie Brown and Lucy are kicking a football around in the back yard. Lucy loved to pull the football away just as the gullible Charlie swung his foot to send the ball flying. She laughs and Charlie, once again, gets fooled.
“Rats! Never again!” Charlie swears. Sometimes we can all feel like that about life. Think of the times we’ve been “fooled”; promises broken, trusted people (priests!) in jail, “loop-holes” in contracts, hidden fees, out and out lies . . . (we’ll leave Santa out of this – – he’s a special case).
Over time it creates a caution in us; a hesitancy to believe. Somebody’s going to pull the football away and make me look like a fool. Compounding this is the fact that we’ve done this to others. We’ve fooled and been fooled. Can you see how this leads to a certain cynicism about what is true? (I think this is the cause of our mistrust of the news media and what some call “fake news”. “These aren’t facts, it’s their version of the facts.”)
So what is true? What can you bet your life on? Let’s see . . . . . . . . . how about: Republicans? Democrats? The Bills? Good health? Long life? All these things eventually fail. Even our most cherished relationships (spouse, family, best friend) reveal certain weaknesses over time. They’re not all we hoped they would be. Nothing seems to bear the weight of being our ALL our EVERYTHING.
At this point many people “pull up the draw bridge” and proceed to live private lives, keeping the world at bay. We begin to choose “the news” that best suits our long- standing opinions. We say things like, “You can have your truth and I’ll have mine.” What’s REAL no longer unites us, what’s real becomes a matter of opinion. Oh dear.
I’m not pointing fingers here. I share this human impulse of mistrust. It goes back to the Garden of Eden. But we have to ask the question . . . is this the way we were meant to live? Is there a better way? What has the power to finally define how things really are?
Of course you know what our Faith proposes at this point. There is only one answer for what summarizes God’s creation. Jesus Christ, of course.
He is God’s love come to us in human flesh. He is God’s Way, His Truth, His very Life. Jesus shows us the way to live our lives. While not blinking at the lies, half-truths, and deceits of this life, Jesus points to Himself as the giver of a new kind of life “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit . . . producing a hope that does not disappoint.” Romans 5:5.
And what is this hope that doesn’t fail? A share in the very life of God and a “breaking down the dividing wall of enmity (between us) that he might create one new person in place of the two (you and me!) thus establishing peace and might reconcile both (of us) with God through the cross putting our enmity to death.” Ephesians 2: 14-16.
All very well you say. But how can I trust this Jesus? I’ve never seen him or heard him. How do I know this stuff is true? St. Paul was asked that same question. Here’s his answer: “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners (and unbelievers) Christ died for us.”
That’s it gang. Christmas is special because the child born is so true to his Father (who is Love) that he will lay down his life in witnessing to Him and revealing in human flesh how God loves. This is our Truth. This is our All. This is what reconciles the human race.
Merry Christmas! . . . for the last time this year.
Fr. Tim
