NATIVITY AND THEOPHANY - DAY 3
The earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ, from the manger in Bethlehem to his crucifixion on Golgotha, was a path of humility, obedience, and selfless devotion. The Son of God “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form” (Phil. 2:7). The hymnographer of the Miserere hymn of the third day of the Feast of Nativity calls it “inexplicable humility” which the limited human mind can never attain.
The greatest manifestation of humility in the history of the universe is the incarnation of the Only-begotten Son of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to the world and was born not in lavish palaces or mansions, but in a humble cave, for He “came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Math. 20:28).
So, just as our Lord Jesus Christ, in humility and obedience and with selfless devotion, fully accomplished the will of God the Father and “As a result, God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name” (Phil. 2:9), likewise let us “Humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift us up in due time” (cf. 1 Peter 5:6).
The Miserere Hymn of Nativity, Tone VIII.
O Word, image of the Father and co-creator,
for the salvation of the human race,
and out of your love for mankind,
today you put on the form of a servant from the Virgin;
Through your all-saving advent have mercy on us, O God.
Concealed with the Father and the Holy Spirit
in unapproachable light,
you rested on the Cherubic throne,
today you were wrapped in swaddling clothes
and placed in a manger with irrational [animals].
Through your all-saving advent have mercy on us, O God.
O King of glory, you came for the salvation of the human race,
in your inexplicable humility, today restore to eternal life my soul,
which was condemned to death through sin;
Through your all-saving advent have mercy on us, O God.
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