The birthday, on which the Day was bom;2 and today, for the good reason that
SERMON 196
ON CHRISTMAS DAY
Date: after 4201
Two births of our Lord Jesus Christ
1. This day has dawned upon us, the birthday feast of our Lord Jesus Christ. The birthday, on which the Day was bom;2 and today, for the good reason that from today the day starts growing. There are two births of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one divine, the other human; both marvelous; the first without a woman as mother, the second without a man as father. What Saint Isaiah the prophet says, His begetting who shall tell the tale of? (Is 53:8), can be applied to both of them. Who could worthily tell the tale of God begetting? Who could worthily tell the tale of the virgin giving birth? The first apart from any day, the second on a particular day; each of them beyond the limits of human imagination, and calling for unstinted admiration.
Consider that first begetting: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Jn 1:1). Whose Word? The Father's own. Which Word? The Son himself. The Father has never been without the Son; and yet the one who has never been without the Son begot the Son. He both begot, and yet did not begin to do so. There is no beginning for one begotten without beginning. And yet he s the Son, and yet he's begotten. Mere man is going to say, "How begotten, and he doesn't have a beginning? If he doesn't have a beginning, how was he begotten? How, I don't know. Are you asking a mere man how God was begotten? I'm overwhelmed by your questioning; but I appeal to the prophet: His begetting who can tell the tale of?
Come with me to this other human begetting; come with me to this one in which he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant (Phil 2:7), to see if perhaps we can grasp this one, if perhaps we are capable of saying something at least about this one. I mean to say, who could ever grasp, Who, while he was in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal to God (Phil 2:6)? Who could ever grasp that, who could ever think worthy thoughts about it? Whose mind would dare to scrutinize it, whose tongue dare to pronounce upon it? Whose thought would be capable of grasping it? Let's leave that for the moment; it s too much for us. But so that it shouldn't be too much for us, he emptied