Greek mythology narrates the story of Prometheus. Prometheus came to know that the gods enjoyed fire in their kingdom and they capriciously withheld it from humans and kept it for their own enjoyment. One day, Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to men. The gods became angry and they punished Prometheus for eternity by having a large bird eat up his entrails, then they regenerate and the birds come back to eat them again.
The Promethean myth continues up to this day in many ways. For some people, God is a distant, uninvolved and disinterested God. He created the world and turned His back from it forever. For some, God is a tyrant whose pleasure comes from imposing unreasonable rules on His subjects. Today's First Reading addresses the latter sentiment. John reminds us: "The love of God consists in this: that we keep his commandments — and his commandments are not burdensome."
When we see God from the Promethean point of view, God is a tyrant and a rival. When God is seen this way, His commandments will always be viewed as capricious and burdensome.
The glory of Christianity lies precisely in the fact that the unknown God has made Himself known; the unseen God has made Himself visible; the eternal God was born into the world and became man.
In Jesus, the Incarnate One, we see a God who lived out His own commandments even before He gave them out. God did not simply write a moral manual, dropped it from the heavens and left us on our own to figure it out. Blessed John Paul II put it so eloquently when he said that, in Jesus, "God introduced man to man himself." In short, Jesus, in becoming man, showed humanity how to live as a man and child of God. Jesus did not say "Go!" He said, "Let's go!"
Yes, God is not our rival. He is our companion. We can trust Him and His commandments are not burdensome. Fr. Joel Jason
REFLECTION QUESTION: Have you appreciated the Christmas mystery of God becoming one with us?
Prayerfully and with consciousness, pray the following words: "And the Word was made flesh and made His dwelling among us. Amen!"
