Sunday before Christmas 2005 Ocala    

Today, the Sunday before Christmas, we heard from the Gospel of St. Matthew, the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to His human form. The Evangelist wrote his Gospel mainly for the Hebrews, to convince them that the Lord Jesus had received His human form as a descendant of the lineage of the Patriarch Abraham of the Old Testament.

The first verse of the New Testament, from the Gospel of Matthew we read: "The Book of the Genesis of Jesus Christ, the son of David, and the son of Abraham."

After mentioning all the forefathers of Jesus commencing with Abraham, St. Matthew also states in the first chapter: "All the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations, and from David until the emigration into Babylon are 14 generations, and from the emigration into Babylon until the Birth of Christ are 14 generations.

This from the first Book of the New Testament. But, this morning, I chose to have an unknown deliver the Sermon, because I feel it is so timely, as well as instructional, as to the way our Lord Jesus wants us to respond to the needs of our fellow humans..

I received what I consider a didactic sermon from Ellen Pantazis, who Emailed it to me saying, that she wanted to share an article with me titled: "Merry Christmas Jesus" I was so happy to have read it, and now I am sharing it with you.

The article commences: A week before Christmas, a large gift was left on my doorstep. I wondered, who it was from and I searched for the tag. It was from Jesus. I was so excited, but I knew I had to wait until Christmas morning to unwrap it. But, why would Jesus send me a gift? This was His Birthday. But, I guess that's just the way He is; He always wants to give to others.

As the week went by ever so slowly, I eagerly waited for Christmas morning to come. I was so excited, wondering what Jesus had given to me. It then came to me, that since it was really Jesus' Birthday, maybe it would really be nice to get Him something. What would I give Him? Maybe I'll give Him some cookies, and some Christmas pudding.

I know what I'll do. I'll prepare a whole meal on Christmas Day, and invite Jesus over. I worked very hard to prepare it that week. It was a feast prepared for a King, with all the trimmings. Of course, this was perfect for Jesus, because He is the King of Kings. I even thought, that maybe He might want some money, so I went and got ten crisp ten dollar bills, wrapped them in a card, just for Jesus.

I knew that there were many things, that He could use it for. That night in my prayers, I made a special invitation to Jesus and told Him I had a special gift for Him on His Birthday.

As the big morning came, I excitedly got up and went to the Christmas tree. There were many gifts this year, but there was one, that was especially important to me. I opened all my gifts, but left the gift that Jesus had given to me, until later. Yes, I would wait until He came to dinner and then open it then.

The meal was all prepared and keeping warm in the oven. I sat and waited, as the time went by; but, Jesus didn't come. Maybe He was only going to be a little bit late, so I waited some more. Finally, after a while, my heart began to sink. It looked like Jesus wasn't going to come after all. This Christmas was starting to look like one that I would like to forget. I left the food warming, dressed warmly, as it was a very cold day, and decided to take a walk, to try to forget about this Holiday, and put it behind me. I was so discouraged, and felt I never wanted to see another Christmas.

What's the sense of going through all the work, if someone like Jesus never even appreciates your caring? As I walked for some time, I began to think, that maybe I really shouldn't be so upset. Maybe He didn't show up, but I still had many nice things, that were given to me, and a wonderful meal still sitting warm in the oven. And even though Jesus didn't show up, He has still been really wonderful to me.

As my spirit began to be uplifted, I noticed a homeless man standing on the street begging for money. As I walked by, I reached into my pocket and gave him what little change I had. Suddenly, a thought came into my head; maybe this man would like to come for Christmas dinner today. Why should I allow it to go to waste?

He graciously accepted my invitation, and we proceeded for my house. As we walked along, an elderly lady was sitting on a bench in the cold wind. After asking her if she had anywhere to go for Christmas, she told me that she was alone. I invited her as well, and we continued on our walk. I talked to some people, as I continued on with my walk. They had no place to go for Christmas, so I invited them also.

As we arrived, people made themselves at home, and prepared to sit down for the feast. Then, I began to think of several more people in my local Church, who might not have anywhere to go for the Christmas dinner. There was Deacon Bob, whose wife had just passed away, and there also was the new single mother, with her two little girls, who had no family nearby. When I phoned them, they were all very surprised and happy to come.

Everyone had finally arrived, and we all sat down to enjoy the good meal. During the meal, I thought that since Jesus couldn't make it, maybe He wouldn't mind if I gave each person one of the ten dollar bills, that I was going to give to Him, so they could perhaps buy a gift for themselves.

As I gave each person one, tears began to flow down their faces. They couldn't believe, that someone, unknown to them, could show such love. We were having a great time, and I was truly enjoying every moment. This day could have been the worst I ever had, but instead, I had decided to turn it around and make it good.

As I was eating, suddenly my eye noticed the as yet unopened gift under the tree from Jesus. I totally had forgotten about it, until that very moment. I quietly slipped away from the table, and knelt down by the tree. As I took the ribbon off, and opened the top, my heart was beating, wondering what Jesus would give me!

As I looked inside, I noticed several ornaments for the tree. They were the most beautiful ones, that I had ever seen. They seemed to me as if they were made in Heaven. But, there was something very special about each one of them. On each one, there was an inscription. As I took the first one out of the box and hung it on the tree, the word PEACE was inscribed. Then I looked at the second one, and on it was the word JOY; on the third was FORGIVENESS, and finally the fourth was LOVE.

As I hung each ornament, I realized what Jesus was trying to tell me. These are gifts He gives everyday to each and everyone of us. As I began to put the cover back on the box, my eye caught a glimpse of something on the bottom I had almost missed. It was a Christmas card inside a decorated envelope. When I opened it up, I began to read: "These gifts I give to you that you might give them out to others!" And below these words, there was the verse from the Bible: "Inasmuch as you did it to the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me."

As I looked up at the table, and saw everyone around it, a tear began to flow down my cheek, and believed that Jesus really did come to my house today!

I thought that He had forgotten me, but he really didn't. He came through each of the invited persons, who needed a gift of joy, peace, forgiveness and love! As I wiped away the tear, I looked up at the star on top of the tree. It reminded me of Jesus and His light. I softly whispered, "Merry Christmas Jesus. Thank you for coming to my house today." So, the story ended.

There was no name of the Author, but the story is powerful, in that it emphasizes to all of us to be good Samaritans. I will not dispute, that today it's a dangerous game to pick up a stranger, or a homeless person, seeing and reading the fate of the victims, who were ever so trusting. But, the fact remains, that within our own circle, there are friends, or neighbors, and even relatives, to whom we can and should extend a helping hand, so that we could make the Holy Days more cheerful for the least fortunate.

It is within our power to decorate the tree of our life with the aforementioned ornaments of Peace, Joy, Forgiveness and Love. Applying these virtues to our fellow humans, is equivalent to inviting the Lord Jesus into our home. We must resist the tide out there, which is gradually and successfully attacking all those God-inspired traditions, when employees now cannot say Merry Christmas, but must say Happy Holidays. So sad -- but true, and so contrary, to what the God-centered Fathers of our Great Country practiced. That is why our own mainstay is our Holy Church, including all the Families, which comprise it.

 I express to you every heartfelt wish for a blessed Christmas and the New Year to be one of health, happiness and spiritual fulfillment. Amen.          +Fr. George Papadeas