Life sometimes seems like a game of chance, doesn’t it? You do not choose to be born, much less when or where, or into which culture, or into which family. Some people seem to strike out and are born into dysfunctional families, into extreme poverty. Others get lucky and are born into royalty.

If you think about it, the people we befriend, we take a chance with them, hoping they will not betray us. The person we marry, we take a chance and hope that it lasts a lifetime, that despite whatever struggles might come, they and we will be able to carry out our promise to be faithful in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love and to honor till death do us part. Some look back at their partner and say, “How did I get so lucky?” Others say, “What happened?”

Sometimes people try to beat the odds, to increase the probability of a good outcome. My uncle says that is why you should have a lot of kids, chances are at least one of them will turn out all right rather than rolling the dice on just one. Some take their supplements, stay physically active to beat getting sick, hoping for longevity. Parents choose the best schools, enroll their kids in the best academic programs to increase their chances at career success. Others attempt to beat the odds through superstition, knocking on wood, avoiding certain numbers, anything for good luck.

Just think about what it took for you to even be alive. Scientists estimate there may be hundreds of quintillions of planets in the universe, many of them rocky, many of them in zones where life could exist. In our own galaxy alone, there may be tens of billions of potentially habitable planets. And yet, so far, Earth remains the only place where life is known to exist. Science can tell us how many opportunities for life there may be, but it still cannot tell us why life exists at all. It seems random. E.T. is still phoning home…

As many of you know, before entering seminary I studied biological anthropology, the study of human evolution. Evolution unfolds through changes in DNA over vast stretches of time, shaped by both chance and environment. From simple single-celled life came all the forms of life we see today, and eventually human beings. Scientists cannot give a single number for the odds of this entire process, because it happened through countless small steps.

Chance. Is life, is existence itself, up to chance? That is a question many people struggle with, especially people of faith. How does God fit into a world that often looks like one long roll of the dice? Some use probability to argue for an intelligent designer in the universe, while others argue the opposite.

So why are we talking about this? It is Christmas Eve. You were probably expecting a homily about a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. But may I suggest that it is precisely that baby, and the Christmas story itself, that gives us an answer to the question of chance and existence.

Christmas is about the dogma of the Incarnation. Incarnation teaches that in Jesus, God took on physical human existence. That says something profound about who God is and who we are.

It first reveals that God is love. A God who is love is a personal God who wants to be known and in relationship with creation. But for love to be known, it required a created being capable of intelligence, freedom, and love.

That is where we come in. From a perspective of faith, it is reasonable to believe that evolution has meaning and direction, moving creation toward the moment when God’s love could finally be known. Over vast stretches of time, the universe develops greater levels of organization and complexity. Energy gives rise to matter, matter gives rise to life, life becomes increasingly complex, until among all of it there emerges humanity.

We believe that our human existence, then, is not up to chance, it is the goal of God’s creation. Even if it took billions of years of what looks like random chance, humans became persons, self-reflective, spiritual beings, capable of understanding the order of the universe, possessing creative freedom, and above all, capable of knowing love itself, capable of finally receiving the Incarnation. Christmas is the story of God’s divine choice to be known.

That story begins with the Magi. They were not kings. The word Magi comes from magister, meaning teacher. They were wise men, think of them as the astronomers, the scientists of their time. Through their study of the stars, they came to the conclusion that a significant event in the history of the world was about to take place. Religion and science, from the beginning, share a common aim, to understand the world around us. They are complementary ways of knowing.

Yet the Christmas story also shows us that human freedom was, and still is, in need of healing. The story unfolds during a Roman census. Caesar Augustus sought to expand his power through conquest, and the census reduced people to numbers, subjects of an empire. Mary and Joseph are caught in that system, forced into a difficult journey in the midst of pregnancy.

The Magi then encounter Herod the Great, the so-called King of the Jews, though he was more of a puppet of Rome. When Herod hears the news, instead of responding with wonder and humility, he responds with fear. To preserve his power, he orders the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem under the age of two. This detail is important because in Herod we see what happens when human freedom is reduced to control and domination. Freedom separated from love always turns destructive.

That is why the message of Jesus’ birth is revealed not to the powerful, but to shepherds, nomadic laborers at the bottom of the social ladder. To them the angels proclaim, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

God’s favor does not rest on emperors or kings, but on those who believe that God is love and who accept God’s choice to be among them. Christmas reminds us that God’s favor rests on us, if we choose to believe it.

In the Gospel of John, the Incarnation is described as a light that enlightens everyone. To those who accept him, he gives power to become children of God, to become who they are meant to be. John also tells us that no one has ever seen God. The Son, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him by coming into human life.

As Christians, we claim that God exists not as an unknowable energy out there in the universe, but as a personal God who wants to be known by us and does so by assuming human life. The personal life of God penetrates our humanity in the person of Jesus, drawing us toward an inner evolution, an ever-greater capacity to love.

The Christmas story reminds us that our highest capacity as human beings is not technological achievement, not artificial intelligence, not calculating probabilities, not even exploring the mystery of the universe. Our highest capacity is love. God chose to enter human life as a baby who needed to be loved by a mother and a father, who learned love within a family.

That brings us back to chance. Your life is not an accident. You are the goal of creation. If we are not accidents, then neither are the people in our lives. The people God has placed around you are there so that you may exercise your God-given power to love them. Love is what makes relationships last forever. Eternal life is nothing other than love that refuses to end.

Tonight, as we celebrate Christmas, while much in life may feel like a roll of the dice, it is not. You are not an accident. The people in your family are not accidents, so love them. Use the greatest gift you have been given and revealed in the Incarnation.

Have a Merry Christmas. May God bless you through your family, and may his presence guide you toward a healthy new year, full of love.