Sermon for the feast of the Nativity
Throughout Advent
we have been using images
from the work
of Hieronymous Bosch
to illustrate
the Four Last Things.
Bosch's work
is not for the delicate of spirit.
His depictions of Hell
and the debauchery
of the Garden of Earthly Delights
are known for their lurid nature
and terrifying imagery.
Bosch wants us to dread Hell
and he uses careful symbolism
to convey his message
that bleak and tormented life
without any awareness
of the presence of God.
But today is not a day
to think on that.
Today is the day
in which Bosch invites us
to consider the Nativity.
The trouble is
the Nativity he shows us
seems a bit strange.
[PAUSE]
The Nativity he paints
shows Our Lady looking very pious
and completely unaffected
by the labours of childbirth.
St Joseph looks over
with an air almost
of indifference
as if he says,
"Oh that's nice.
Where's my tea?"
Behind them
is a rustic figure
who appears to be
leering quite unpleasantly
at the Holy Family.
And, in the foreground
we see a cow
caught in what must be
a very early case
of photo bombing.
And what of the baby?
How does Bosch
paint the Incarnate God?
He looks like a naked doll
that's been plonked
into the manger,
not quite real,
a bit disproportionate,
a bit passive,
a bit bare.
Why should the Nativity
look.like this?
Where us the joy?
Apart from the man
leering at us from the back,
there is nothing to suggest
that Salvation has come to us.
[PAUSE]
But Bosch
is painting this
for us
because he knows
we know the story.
What he has painted
is what the world sees
of Christmas.
He paints to a Western world
whose Christmas
has become jaded
and commercial
and, let's be honest,
a bit boring
and very stressful.
We know Our Lady
to be of the utmost piety
but our idea of piety
looks a bit off,
indifferent and aloof.
We know St Joseph
to have the greatest tender care
for a child who is not his
but that tender care
is not expressed
by staring at a baby
while wondering if we need
an antacid.
We know
that the shepherds
came to worship the child
not to appear at the manger
and say
"Hello Mum!
Look where I am!"
We know Our Lord
to be born a real baby
with all that pertains to babies,
not some stiff naked thing
indifference to His surroundings
like His mother.
And now we see
why God inspires Bosch
to paint the Nativity like this.
God wants us
not to look at the picture.
He wants us to look
through the picture.
[PAUSE]
Bosch paints
what the world expects of Christmas
not what Christmas is in truth.
All the things that disturb us
about this painting of the Nativity
are precisely the challenges
we face with our own Christmases.
If we rise to these challenges,
we see a young woman,
exhausted by labour
cradling and swaddling
a child whom she knows
to be God Incarnate.
We see St Joseph,
bemused and enthralled
believing God,
believing his wife
believing the little newborn.
We the shepherds
driven by the light of angels
to see and understand
the truth that Salvation
has come into the world.
And if our imagination
is photo bombed by a cow
or anything else in our lives,
then we see that this Child
has entered a world
in which His people
will be distracted
but the fact that
these distractions exist
is testament
to their Creator
- our Creator
- who lies cooing in a manger
looking for us
to realise that He loves us
this much.
This is the day
that the Lord has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it
even if Bosch paints us otherwise.
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