Christmas day – the arbitrary day that was chosen centuries ago to mark the entry of God in the most personal (and human) way possible:
[T]hey shall name him Emmanuel, which means, “God is with us.”
That whole chapter of Matthew seems to be about the end of Exile with the return of God to Zion (e.g. Isaiah 42)… the long night of Exile over and God present. That is the eschatological hope when finally it will be announced ‘God’s dwelling place is with humanity’ and there will be no break in that presence. One significantly wiser than me, used three prepositions to describe human interactiveness: ‘to’, ‘for’, ‘with’. we can do things ‘to’ people – even when not considered abusive it is colonial and based on inequality, power being the dominant element present. God does not do things ‘to’ us. ‘For’ is a move forward and probably is at times necessary. To do something ‘for’ someone else can be generous and kind, but there is a dimension beyond that: ‘with’ and ‘among’. That is the activity of God that we bear witness to in this season. He will be called ‘Emmanuel’. Or as John puts it ‘he moved into our neighbourhood’, and as Matthew closes his Gospel with ‘I will be with you always…’
The effect of being with us is that he will ‘save his people from their sins’ (Matt. 1:21). Yes, universal application, but in context to ‘his’ people, the Jews of his day who were suffering an ongoing Exile for their sins. God with us brings that to an end – end of exile at every level.
So we celebrate, and are called to witness to the irruption of God into our world at a personal level. I am deeply provoked by the challenge to ‘carry’ the presence of God in a way that is noted; not noted through manifestations, but through the testimony of others. That testimony has to be largely ‘I felt released from my sins’, not simply in the sense of forgiveness as we understand it, but the weight, the effect to be gone, witnessed to by wholeness and well-being. He was called ‘Emmanuel’, so all followers at some level, and collectively, should be known by ‘God was with us’. This is why I believe in transformation of a world caught up in exile.