We hear the story every year: a story of prophets and angels; kings and wise men; shepherds at night; a poor, young, unmarried couple with no place to stay; a baby born in a manger….
One would think we’d be tired of this story by now. We’ve heard it so many times. It’s like turning on the TV and watching the same rerun over and over and over again.
Except, it’s not like that, is it? For me, it’s not like that at all. Every year, some new aspect of this story grabs my attention.
When I was a young child, it was the baby in the manger, surrounded by peaceful farm animals. They were like the animals in Snow White, of course: they were clean, and kind, and curious, and intelligent. It wasn’t until later that I realized that farm animals were actually smelly and messy, and that a manger really isn’t the best place for a newborn baby.
There was the year that my thoughts focused on Mary riding that donkey while pregnant. Poor Mary, to have to go on such a journey at such a time!
Shortly after I became a father, I spent a Christmas or two thinking of Joseph, and what it must have been like for him, what thoughts and emotions must have been running through his head. I even wrote a letter to Joseph one year, and then turned that letter into a Christmas sermon.
There were years when I had more questions than answers, particularly in regards to facts that I always thought were true about this story, but which, as it turns out, may or may not be true. I always thought that there were three wise men, or magi, who came to see Jesus, but nowhere in scripture does it say that there were three; and their interaction with Herod on their way to see Jesus shows just how political Jesus’ birth was. Somehow, the political aspects of this story were left out of my childhood nativity scenes.
Matthew says that Mary and Joseph lived in Bethlehem. Luke says they were from Nazareth, but had to journey to Bethlehem because of a census. Scholars say that doesn’t even make any sense.
Both Matthew and Luke say that Jesus was born of a virgin, in order to fulfill a prophesy Isaiah made. But Isaiah doesn’t speak of a virgin, specifically; only a young, unmarried woman.
There were years when questions like these really bothered me. I wanted to know: what really happened?
I still have many questions. And I’ve come to learn that some questions are worth paying more attention to than others.
I still have questions regarding factual details and “what really happened,” but the older I get, as I travel further on my journey of faith, the more I realize that there are other questions, questions that are more important, more meaningful.
After all, if salvation were found in the details of “what really happened,” then you’d think that Matthew and Luke could have presented a consistent story, without the contradictions and discrepancies.
But Matthew and Luke had more important questions in mind. I leave you with some of the questions that I think were on Matthew’s mind and Luke’s mind when they put the Christmas story down on paper:
· What does the Christmas story say about the human condition, social justice, and how we are to relate to one another?
· Why would God allow and even choose for Jesus to be born in a manger rather than in a palace? Homeless the day he was born, vulnerable, without the care of doctors?
· What does it mean that Mary and Joseph were far from home, in what could almost be considered another country, when Jesus was born? Why is that an important part of this story, and why is it significant even today?
· Why did the announcement of Jesus’ birth come first to shepherds? Shepherds, for God’s sake! Men who stunk as bad as the sheep they cared for, who huddled around a fire as they watched their sheep, cussing and drinking, and sleeping at night with no bed but the cold, hard ground? Why did a wealthy and important person like Herod only hear of Jesus’ birth later?
· What does the Christmas story say about what is most important to God? What does the story say about what is God’s passion and vision for the world? What does the story say about your role in making God’s vision for the world a reality?
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