Christmas Reflection: Born a Saviour

the angel said to them… “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour…”

—Luke 2

“Born… a Saviour.”

This Christmas I’ve been gripped by this reality in a new way. That Jesus was born a Saviour. He didn’t just become one at Calvary. That the salvation Jesus came to bring – the Latin “salvus” originally meant being made whole, uninjured, safe, or in good health – began way in advance of that first Good Friday. That, as Diana Butler Bass puts it, “All sorts of people in the gospels got saved before Jesus died on the cross.”

There are those who say, “Yeah, I guess Christmas is fairly important to our faith, but Easter is what really matters.”

Well. If the angel and the gospel writers weren’t kidding, and if all the people who followed Christ, who experienced healing and wholeness, who gave up riches and social standing to eat and drink with those whom Jesus associated, then I don’t think that perspective holds up. Let’s not fall into the trap of pitting these two incredibly important events against each other – as though we had a choice to live into one or the other!

Bass again: “Children, slaves, soldiers, peasants, fishermen, farmers, prisoners, the sick, the blind, the lame – when they encountered Jesus, they found salvation, the wholeness, the healing, the oneness with God that had only been the stuff of longing. Every miracle, every act of hospitality, all the bread broken and wine served, everything that Jesus did saved people long before Rome arrested and murdered him.”

Now, here’s the really good news (which, as the angel also reminded the shepherds, was for all people): this Jesus, this Saviour, is born, here and now, again, to you.

Born a Saviour – into whatever within you needs healing, reconciliation, and peace.

Born a Saviour – into the particularity of your relational struggles and tensions, joys and anticipations.

Born a Saviour – into wherever you see and sense, in you and in our weary world, a deep longing for wholeness, freedom, meaning, and purpose.

This Christmas morning, and throughout the season of Christmastide, may the mysterious and far-reaching salvus of the Incarnate One find you – exactly where you are, and precisely as you are. And may you receive fresh energy and imagination to join God in that renewing work.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

[Image: Advent Attention, by Scott Erickson]