Our hearts today are filled with anticipation as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the Joy of the Nativity of our Savior! We have now reached the end of our long period of preparation, and we stand today at the threshold of the Winter Pascha, together awaiting the moment that changes EVERYTHING.
My dearest parish family, He is coming. The star is shining brightly above Bethlehem, and like the magi, we continue our journey towards the cave to fall down and worship this King of Kings, Who had been foretold to us throughout the centuries in the Old Testament.
Our Lord’s family history was filled with many kings and nobleman. When we read through scripture, we cannot help but marvel at the power and wealth of some of these men that are apart of Jesus’s Family. Solomon’s throne for example, was made of ivory, and overlaid with gold. His cups, dishes, and even his royal bathtub…solid gold! The best made furniture, the strongest horses, the sweetest spices, the most beautiful brides…this is what was expected for the most powerful kings of the world!
But our Lord came, when this King of Kings made His entrance into mankind, He did so in a “not so king like way”. Jesus wasn’t born in a golden palace, surrounded by the riches of the Jewish Kingdom. His mother did not give birth in a featherbed made from the cedars of Lebanon. The Savior came into this world in the middle of a damp, cool, and rocky cave, being warmed by the breath of the animals that dwelt there. This seems completely backwards doesn’t it? Why would the King of Kings, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, God Himself choose to be born in the midst of filth and darkness!?
If WHERE and HOW Christ was born wasn’t bad enough, we are given this incredible Gospel text that we read every Sunday before Christmas, which gives us the listing of Jesus’s family tree. Although some may regard it as a rather dull reading, the significance behind reading and understanding who these people are, is perhaps one of the most striking images in all of scripture! One would think that the family line of Christ would be full of virtuous leaders and kings (and indeed we do find many names on this list of people who led lives full of the Grace of God). More often than not however, when we look at some of the names on Jesus’s family tree, what do we find? More filth than what was on the cave floor where He was born! We hear stories of idolatry, murder, anger, greed, and rape. Christ didn’t come from a perfect lineage…He came from an extremely imperfect lineage, full of men and women who missed the mark, just like we do in our own relationship with God!
In the names we read today, there is one that I hoped to bring to the forefront, who wrote a beautiful prayer that we still use in one of our worship services today. Although it was King David who wrote perhaps Orthodoxy’s most popular psalm 50 (51), there was another King later on in the list who also experienced and wrote beautifully about repentance, whose name was King Manasseh.
Despite a positive upbringing by his father Hezekiah, Manasseh completely rejected a God Centered Life. When he was made king, he did everything he could to block out the Grace of our Lord. Rather than worshiping the One True God in the temple, he ordered that altars be built to Baal. Instead of asking God through prayer for help and advice on how to rule God’s people, Manasseh spent his time consulting wizards and fortune tellers. Scripture even makes it a point to say that he put a lot of trust in the flight patterns and cries of birds to predict certain omens, rather than conversing with God.
Eventually, we know from experience that when we live a life absent of God, it catches up with us. King Manasseh was eventually captured and carried off into Babylon, and it was in the midst of the darkest time of his life, that he was finally humbled. Coupled with that humility came Manasseh’s repentance and lament of the life with God that he had rejected.
As is the case with all who turn back to God through humility, our Lord’s response to Manasseh was one of complete restoration. He was returned back to his kingdom in Jerusalem and lived out the rest of his days in peace and in communion with our Lord.
I bring up this story of a this evil king who turned good, because I think it serves as a small picture of our own relationship with Christ. Although we might not create altars to Baal or consult with wizards and birds, we do not always put our complete trust in God. There are times in our lives where we too create idols out of money, politics, people, and possessions. We become anxious when our lives do not go as planned. We often lose sight of all that God has done for us. Yet despite all of these failings, when we finally wake up and decide to humble ourselves before the feet of our Lord, we become like Manasseh, and are restored to our former glory.
Why did Christ come to us in such a humble way? To teach us all, like He taught King Manasseh, how we need to approach the throne of God: With complete and perfect humility.
St. Ambrose of Milan wrote beautifully in the 4th century: “He was in a manager, so that we might be able to be at the altar. He was on earth, so that we might be in the stars. He had no place in the inn…so that we might have mansions in paradise.”
What beautiful words from this early saint, that describes for us the life that we are all called to! This is our mark! This our destiny with the Christ Who comes into the world this week! But we learn today that it can only be achieved through extremely humility and sincere repentance.
When Manasseh was captured in Babylon, he wrote a beautiful prayer that we read during the Great Compline Service called “The Prayer of Manasseh”. In this prayer, he humbled himself before God, and confessed all of the ways in which he had failed to live up to a Godly way of life. As we approach the Incarnation of Christ, let us echo Manasseh’s words by saying:
“Lord, I am not worthy to behold and see the height of heaven, because of the multitude of mine iniquities. I am weighed down with many iron fetters, so that I cannot lift up my head by reason of my many sins…and now I bend the knees of my heart, asking for your Grace. I have sinned O Lord, and I acknowledge my iniquities…but I humble ask of Thee…Forgive me O Lord…forgive me. For You are the God of those who repent, and in me You will manifest your goodness. For unworthy as I am, you will save me in your great mercy, and I will praise you henceforth, all the days of my life…Amen”