The birth of Jesus was foretold and awaited

Jesus Christ is the most important figure in human history. His birth caused the division of history into an "old era" – before Christ and a "new era" – after Christ.

For the 20 centuries preceding Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, the prophets of the Old Testament foretold His coming. For many Jews who confronted the prophecies of the Old Testament with the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus, it became evident that He was the awaited Messiah and God.

According to these prophecies, the Messiah was to be born of a virgin (Is 7:14), in the city of Bethlehem (Micah 5:1-2), as a "Mighty God" (Is 9:5), who would heal the blind, the deaf and the lame (Is 35:5-6); he will be betrayed by a friend (Ps 55:13-15); given over to passion and death (Wis 2:19-20); he will be "despised and rejected by men"; it will burden itself with our suffering; he will be "pierced for our sins, crushed for our iniquities" (cf. Is 53:3-5); he will be executed with transgressors (Is 53:12); He will rise from the dead (cf. Ps 16:10; 30:4).

The birth of Jesus was foretold and awaited

From the beginning of the history of the chosen people, the coming of the Messiah into the world was foretold and expected. Historians agree that the Jews awaited the coming of the Messiah at the time when Jesus was born.

The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (37–100) wrote that at the time of Jesus' birth, the Israelites were convinced that the Messiah, the ruler of the world, was about to be born.

They determined the approximate date of his coming based on the prophecy in the Book of Daniel (7:13-14; 9:24). This prophecy points to the coming of the Messiah in the years in which Jesus was born. It says that the Messiah is to be born "seventy weeks," or 490 years after the decree of King Artaxerxes (458-457 B.C.E.).

Thus, approximately the date of the coming of the Messiah was foretold, and it really marked the beginning of the messianic era for all who believed that Christ was the foretold Messiah and God. By calling Himself the Son of Man, Jesus Christ indicated that Daniel's prophecy was fulfilled in His Person.

It must be remembered that for the Jews the greatest blasphemy was the claim that the man Jesus is God. This was the main reason for condemning Christ to death on the cross (cf. Mt 26:63-66). The followers of Islam also rebel against the recognition of Jesus as God. This is stated in the inscription around the dome of the Omar Mosque in Jerusalem: "Jesus is only the Son of Mary, the same man as other people." No Jew would be able to entertain the thought that Jehovah God became a real man in a particular place and at a particular moment in history. It was only after Jesus' resurrection that faith was born that He was the true God. Faith in the resurrection and divinity of Jesus spread with incredible dynamism throughout the Roman empire through the first Christians who were Jews.

It is obvious to any intellectually honest scholar that Christianity is one of the greatest miracles in history and the work of God Himself.

The rise of Christianity and its development and continuation, despite constant bloody persecutions, defies all historical regularities and is a real miracle.

This fact can only be explained by the extraordinary action of God, who became true man to save us and, as the Risen Lord, lives, teaches and acts in his Church.

He comes to "his own"

From the very beginning, the community of the Church founded by Christ has been the most persecuted religious group in the world. There is no rational explanation for why there are people who hate Christ and those who believe in Him. It is incomprehensible why they reject the Christian system of values, based on love, forgiveness, freedom of conscience and respect for the dignity of every human person. Every day every five minutes a Christian is killed simply because he believes in Christ.

The Lord Jesus foretold this irrational hatred and persecution of his followers: " You will be hated by all because of my name " (Mk 13:13)

"If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. [...] If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (Jn 15:18, 20).

The mystery of Christmas touches every person personally. Jesus Christ – God incarnate – comes to "his own" and, unfortunately, there are those who, as in Bethlehem, refuse to receive him (cf. Jn 1:11), reject him and hate him.

Only those people walk the path of salvation who recognize their only Lord and Savior in the Child Jesus, who live according to the principles of the Gospel, who pray, rise from every fall in the sacrament of penance and receive Jesus in the Eucharist, only those will understand the meaning of Christmas. Then, in the lives of such people, "the mystery of Christmas is fulfilled every day, the miracle of the Word of God made flesh" (St. Edith Stein).

Until Tomorrow

fr. george