God Fulfills His Promise – Sermon by Father Levine

Fr. Joseph Levine; Holy Family Catholic Church, Burns, Oregon; December 25, 2025

Caesar Augustus, who thought he was the mighty ruler of this world, who was worshipped as a god, commanded a census of the whole world, a display of his imperial power. Yet, beyond his intention, unknown to him, One who is mightier than he, mightier than all, was at work. Almighty God, the true ruler of the universe, whose might is also wisdom and love, accomplishes his plan and Jesus Christ, Son of God and Savior of men, promised long before through the prophets, is born in Bethlehem.

You, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is of old, from ancient days … he shall be peace. (Micah 5:2,5)

So it is that the people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light. The light has dawned for all mankind, plunged in the darkness of ignorance, error, and sin. Yes, the darkness continues for as long as this world shall last, but the true light has dawned and the darkness cannot overcome it and will in the end be banished altogether. (cf. Jn 1:5)

A child is born for us, a son is given us. The wisdom and love of God, working through all the changes of human history, despite the wickedness of men, despite the weakness and infidelities of his own people, has accomplished what he planned from the beginning.

In his judgment on the serpent the child was first announced: I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel. (Gen 3:15)

And to Abraham, In your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. (Gen 22:18)

And to David, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. (2 Sam 7:12)

And to Ahaz, of the line of David, The Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God-with-us”. (Is 7:14)

This was planned and promised by God and brought to fulfillment in Bethlehem during the reign of Caesar Augustus. This is the revelation of God’s wisdom who had planned this long ago and through which he makes known to us not just his plan of salvation, but the inner mystery of his godhead, the mystery of the Holy Trinity. This is the revelation of God’s love, for he has given his only Son so that whoever believes him might not perish but have eternal life. (cf. Jn 3:16)

God’s love is revealed through his wisdom and his wisdom is revealed through his love; his love, his wisdom, and his might are all inseparable, just as the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit are inseparable.

All this is revealed in the tender Infant in the Manger, born of the line of David, in David’s royal city. Yet first, the line of David needed to be humbled and his city brought low. It had been centuries since anyone of the line of David had sat upon a throne and a jealous usurper, Herod, reigned in nearby Jerusalem. The child is born in the midst of poverty in order to teach us by his wisdom where true wealth is to be found.

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. (2 Cor 8:9) This is the wondrous exchange, the divine economy of salvation, for us indeed a great bargain. The wealth that belongs to Jesus Christ by nature is the wealth of his godhead – that is true wealth; the poverty that belongs to us, even if we have houses to live in, is the poverty of our created human nature, reduced even to destitution by sin.

The key to “peace on earth”; the key to the way we treat each other in justice and charity; the key is to recognize our common poverty and the common gift that is given to all who will receive it. No human inequality, just or unjust has significance in comparison; no human excellence, however great, whether a natural endowment or acquired by hard work, has significance in comparison; no human weakness, has significance in comparison. In the words of St. Paul, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. (Ph 3:8)

And the gift received?

In the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

“The Word became flesh to make us ‘partakers of the divine nature’ [2 Pe 1:4]: ‘For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.’ [St. Ireneaus] ‘For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.’ [St. Athanasius] ‘The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.’ [St. Thomas Aquinas]” (CCC 460)

In Bethlehem God fulfills his promise. The fulfillment is great beyond all expectations. Only the poverty of Bethlehem can reveal the glory that infinitely exceeds all the glory that human beings can conceive or fashion. The silence of the Infant, who is the eternal Word of God, proclaims better than all human words, the wisdom of God that infinitely exceeds all human wisdom. The promise is fulfilled beyond all expectation because the Savior who is born to us is the very Son of God, who brings to us a truly divine salvation.

The prophet Isaiah had announced, God will come and save you. (Is 35:4) But no one – except the prophets – thought that he would do so by becoming man.

The birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem is proof that God is faithful, God is true. He promises and he fulfills. The birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem is a down-payment, as it were, on what is yet to come.

What has been given to us in the birth of Christ is already great beyond our conception; what is given to us in the birth of Jesus Christ is indeed given to us in a very real and concrete fashion, here and now, in holy communion. Taste and see that the Lord is good! (Ps 34[33]:8)

Yet, what is given to us is itself a promise of what is much greater, what no eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him. (1 Cor 2:9) Nothing less than to behold the very face of God. (cf. 1 Cor 13:12, 1 Jn 3:2) For the Son of God, without leaving his Father’s side, came down from heaven, where he is one God with the Father, that where he is, we may also be, so as to behold the glory given him by the Father before the foundation of the world. (cf. Jn 17:24)

God has promised; he is faithful; he will fulfill his promise. If only now, we live in faith, hope, and charity, rejecting godless ways and worldly desires, living temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.