An earthquake may be
experienced at great distance from its epicentre, but the epicentre itself is a
precise point. The baby lying in a
manger is the epicentre of the universe.
At the furthest reaches, he is Lord of All Things. Somewhere on the way – in every direction:
the earliest prophecies, and later deliberations of the Church – he is Saviour
of All Peoples. But not at the
epicentre. The epicentre is a precise
point, and at this precise point – as the prophecies/responses closest to his
birth indicate – the baby is born as king of the Jewish people, who comes into
the world to liberate a reconstituted remnant of Israel from the Roman
Empire. All else will flow from
this. But here is where it begins:
confronting Herod’s false claim as king of the Jews, and Augustus’ false claim
to be the son of god who bestows peace on earth and goodwill to all who receive
him.
Jesus’
birth is not one particular example of a universal but unspecified longing for
peace. It is God’s particular
affirmation of, and specific response to, that longing. If we are to receive him, he must first
triumph over the Augustus desire of our heart to be king of our own life, the
Herodian desperate self-deceit that we already are. And he does so through vulnerable love,
asking us to be the manger in which he is presented to the world.
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