Jesus Emmanuel

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.


There two very important words in our Gospel today. Well, there are more, but I’m just going to look at two of them.

Jesus and Emmanuel.


Jesus – he will save.

What does Jesus save us from?

(Sin) But what is sin?

Sin is turning away from God. That is why we are called to repent. The word which we translate as repent does not mean to be sorry for what we have done. It means to re-turn. It literally means to turn back around and continue on a different path.


When I first felt called to become a priest, I sinned against God. I turned away from that call. I put my head in the sand and pretended that I didn’t hear. This is a common reaction to any call from God. When God calls to us, we don’t always want do to what God asks of us. This is sin – resisting God’s call, acting in ways which we know we shouldn’t, doing things which we know we shouldn’t.


This is what Jesus saves us from – ourselves.

But how?

Emmanuel – God is with us.

God understands us, not only as our creator, but as a fellow human being. God walks with us through all of our lifelong journey.


When we experience the joys of our life, God is with us.

When we experience the pain of loss, God is with us.

When we follow God’s call, God is with us.

When we turn away from God and walk in the path of sin and despair, God is with us.


This is the true meaning of Christmas. This is the incredible grace of God. God is with us.