To make sure that we understand the true significance of Christmas the Church sobers us up the day after with the story of St. Stephen, the first martyr. The coming of the Christ Child is not about warm sentiments but the love of God entering the world and the opposition that engendered. We hear of the opposition initially in the Christmas stories themselves, then in Jesus’ public ministry and passion, and in today’s feast that opposition continued in his followers. What is it about the coming of a child, about preaching to love God and neighbor, about seeing “heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” that would cause such hostility? Probably at the root is fear, a fear of the call to change. Even though we know things aren’t right we still have gotten used to a certain way of thinking, a certain way of acting. We instinctively understand when we hear the call to compassion, to forgiveness, to generosity, to love that we are going to have to surrender some of our accustomed secruities. So we through rocks and hope the challenge of the gospel goes away.
