COVID AND CHRISTMAS

 

"The Numbering at Bethlehem" - Brueghel

This morning I took out my postcard-size version of the above panting, "The Numbering at Bethlehem"  by Peter Brueghel the Elder, intending to meditate on the scene of Mary and Joseph arriving at Bethlehem unnoticed to be inscribed on the census ordered by the emperor. But, instead of being drawn to the figure of Mary in her dark blue cape riding on the donkey, my eye was drawn right away to the cluster of people crowded around the window at the left of the scene. Immediately my imagination transformed that image of a crowd of people waiting to be inscribed in the census into the familiar image of a crowd of people on line waiting for a COVID-19 test.

Switching back to the snowy scene in Bethlehem, I began to wonder about Jesus, Mary and Joseph and Covid. If his mysterious birth at Bethlehem were to happen today, would Jesus have been immune to the virus? Would his mother and foster-father have stood on one of these long lines with him and wait to be tested with the rest of us? Would he have needed to be vaccinated?

I'm sure that the reason that these questions occurred to me was that I've recently started reading "Christology: A Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Study of Jesus" by Gerald O'Collins, S.J. Christology is  that branch of Christian theology that "reflects systematically on the person, being and activity of Jesus of Nazareth" (O'Collins, pg.1), asking such questions as "How could Jesus be both human and divine?" So I'm sure that my reading was what caused me to imagine the Divine Savior in the crowd waiting to be tested for the coronavirus.

Especially in this "Covid Christmas" time we need to remind ourselves of the central message of Bethlehem: God became one of us, like us in everything but sin. He keeps being born in our midst at every moment, we just keep forgetting that fact. Ironically, it seems that we forget that fact most easily at exactly those moments when we need his reassuring presence the most -- in the doctor's office, say, or when we're upset at a loved one, or worried about a very sick friend. 

Instead of meditating on the little Jewish baby lying on the straw in Bethlehem, this Christmas maybe you and I might do better to call upon the incarnate Son of God who is standing on line with us waiting for a Covid test. 

May Emmanuel, "God-With-Us," bless you and me 

with a renewed sense of his constant saving presence at every moment of our lives!

Have a Blessed Christmas!