When we view a nativity scene, we generally think of a peaceful scene. Many think of the baby born to a virgin in a manger and the star which rests above. There are peaceful animals, a humble St. Joseph, and scared shepherds.
But, something is missing.
It is the drumbeat of war. Can't you hear it? It is the spiritual battle that rages in places we cannot see with our eyes or hear with our ears. It rages in our hearts.
Even in the peaceful image of Jesus being born, we need to see God warning His people to prepare for battle. The victorious king has entered the fray and he calls us to take up our weapons of prayer, righteousness, chastity, faith, hope, love....
The Army General, Satan, knows he will lose the final battle, yet he fights to ruin as many as he can. He will tempt, deceive, and push you to sin.
Notice how the manger scene cries out WAR IS COMING!
- The star of Bethlehem is a warning flare that signals the victor is now on the battlefield.
- The gifts the babe receives include myrrh for embalming the King after His death.
- The angels are singing battle songs of a victorious King - "Glory to God in the highest".
- The first casualties in the war are the innocent sons of Bethlehem slaughtered by Herod.
- The King is one who has come to conquer sin and death!
"he who is not with me is against me."
The drumbeat of war is pounding. Pick up your cross - it is your weapon against the enemy - and follow The King of Kings into battle. He is about to be born as a poor babe to a virgin.
“The war is coming. He who is not with me is against me.” Therefore let us consciously embrace the God-Child as our leader who shows us the only best, winning strategy as He perfectly conforms His human Will, in absolutely everything He did to the infinite, eternal, always in the present tense Will of the Father. St Augustine once said, “To God, time is the revealing of the truth that has always been.” which we can flesh out by saying, "To God, time is the revealing (to men) of (eternal) truth that has always been (present to God because all time is present to God in its immediacy, CCC 600)." The Baby Jesus in the manger reveals the changeless Divine Will of God to be that Jesus (and therefore each Divine Person) eternally honors St. Joseph as the Head of the family with all the authority and prerogatives of the head of the family in Jewish tradition that were established by God. For close to thirty years, Jesus honored St. Joseph as the head of the family, as the one who was given the responsibility to pray to God in the name of the family. What an unfathomable mystery. But, this mystery, like all God’s mysteries, is a truth that God calls us to accept and to believe, even though it is difficult (impossible?) to humanly understand. To say that “This was God’s will, but God’s Will has changed” is to implicitly accept the lie of the devil and to deny that God has one, single, infinite, eternal, changeless, always in the present tense thought, WORD, Will and is to deny that God is truly God. Therefore let us embrace the Child Jesus as our God, and humbly embrace His eternal Will to love, honor and be subject to St. Joseph in all we do and trust God knows what He is doing in eternally Honoring St. Joseph in this way.
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