Dearly beloved in Christ, Christ is born, glorify Him.

With the angelic joy, today we celebrate the Birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the ultimate reflection of God's immeasurable and eternal love for humanity. It is through this blessed miracle that we perceive the value of God's most precious gift of life bestowed upon us.

We are celebrating today the coming of God to man that we might go forth, or rather that we might go back to God. The Son of God became the Son of man in order that man would become the Son of God.

It seems likely that no other miracle has had a more profound impact upon our world than that one occurred at the birth of Jesus Christ nearly 2000 years ago.

I want to let five of the witnesses speak and testify to why the Son of God came into the world. The witnesses are the writers of the gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the fifth one is St. Paul the apostles.

They provide six reasons for Jesus' coming: 1) to ransom many, 2) to call sinners, 3) to give sight to the morally blind, 4) to divide households, 5) to save from divine condemnation, and 6) to give eternal life.

Let us listen to the Holy Bible and let the Holy Bible be a witness to each one in its own words.

1. He came as a ransom for many.

St. Mark states, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." 10:45

The reason we need ransom to be paid for us is that we have sold ourselves into sin and have been alienated from our Holy God. When Jesus gave His life as ransom, our slave masters which are: sin, death and the devil, had to give up their claim on us. And the result was that we could be adopted to be children into the family of God.

St. Paul put it like this in his epistle to Galatians, "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." 4:4-5. In other words the redemption or the ransom frees us to be a part of God's family. We had run away and sold ourselves into slavery. But God pays a ransom and redeems us out of slavery into the Father's house.

To do that, God's Son had to become a human being so that He could suffer and die in our place to pay the ransom. That is the meaning of Christmas. St. Paul puts it like this, "Since the children share in flesh and blood, He himself likewise partook of the same nature that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death." Hebrews 2:14.

In other words, the reason Christ took on human flesh was so that He could die and in dying pay a ransom and free us from the power of death.

2. He came to call sinners to repentance

St. Luke in his gospel writes, "Jesus said to them, 'those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.'" 5:31-32,

Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. He ransoms and He calls. Even today He is calling through the Bible and through the preaching of the Bible. He is calling us every moment.

That is the meaning of Christmas. He came to call sinners.

3. He came to give sight to the morally blind.

St. John the apostle says, "Jesus said, 'For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see." 9:39, and "I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in Me might not remain in darkness." 12:46.

Jesus came to open people's eyes so that they can see the light and walk in it. We are simply blind to some spiritual realities that are utterly crucial to see and embrace.

This is why Christ came: that those who do not see may see. This is the meaning of Christmas.

4. Christ came to divide households.

St. Matthew in his turn says, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's foes will be those of his own household." 10:34.

The point of this word is not that God loves division and strife. The point is that strife and division caused by true loyalty and faithfulness to Jesus are better than no strife, and division with no allegiance to Jesus.

Now the result is that when a person is ransomed and called and given sight something really radical happens to him.

He sees everything differently with that new sight, and he is wonderfully free from fear and guilt because of that sufficient ransom. And so he thinks differently and feels things differently and acts differently. And for some in the family, that can be very threatening, and so tension develops.

For this Jesus came into the world. That too is the meaning of Christmas.

5. He came to save man from divine condemnation.

Again St. John says, "For God sent not the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned, but He who does not believe is condemned already." 3:17-18.

God sent His Son to save man from His own just condemnation and wrath. The need for salvation implies that there is a danger we need to be saved from. That danger is sin, death and the devil, which cause the most serious danger of all, the danger of the condemnation of God. If God is for us, then sin, death and the devil will fail to destroy us. But if God is against us, then nothing can save us.

Christmas, the coming of Jesus, is God's way of being with us and for us, if we believe. "He who believes is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already."

6. He came to give man eternal life.

St. John confirming this reason says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 3:16.

Christmas means that God sent His Son so that we could believe and have eternal life.

I would like to urge you to enjoy the Birth of the Lord Jesus and to receive His gift of eternal life and to set out in a life that magnifies God and His rich grace as the giver of every good and perfect thing.

Fill your lives with God's Love. Let the Birth of Christ become a rebirth in your lives. Let us love one another as He loves us. Let our churches strengthen our bonds with God. Let the Blessed Birth become a new beginning and a new awakening in our joint spiritual endeavors.

Christ is born; let us glorify Him in our lives, in our bodies, and in our spirits, which all belong to Him.

May the Heavenly Child Who is born to us, make the feast of His Nativity and the New Year, happy, blessed and joyful, bringing them back to our beloved Patriarch, Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I, Iwas the Supreme Head of Our Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, and to His Beatitude Mor Baselios Thomas II, and to the entire Syriac world, Prelates, Clergy, and Faithful, and to our beloved Priests, Deacons, and Faithful of our Western Archdiocese, a very Merry Christmas and the happiest and blessed New Year, asking Almighty God to keep them in good health and prolong their life.

We pray that the Prince of Peace reign His peace on earth, among the people, and cease the war and blood shedding in the entire world, and protect His people from all harm, and affirm His Love, Hope, and Faith in our heart, to bring peace of mind to the whole world, and comfort to the weary and heavy laden, Amen.

Have a blessed and wonderful Christmas

Christ is born, glorify Him