Christmas is a beautiful and hopeful time of year. Lights twinkle everywhere, gifts are given with love, and much patience is required when in traffic or the checkout lane. However, what believers celebrate is not the idea of Christmas nor a special myth that seems magically meaningful, but the actual, historical incarnation- the taking on of our humanity- of the eternal Son of God.
But why have I come to believe this Story of stories? Let me mention a few reasons that have been helpful for me over the years.
First, the Christmas story is unexpected history. It is unexpected because in that ancient culture, if you were going to ‘go public’ with your genealogy, you made sure you erased all the bad apples and presented the familial VIP’s from which you had descended, and of those you only mentioned the men. Instead, the genealogies found in Matthew and Luke are filled with misfit rebels, messy relationships, family tragedies, circumstantial difficulties, and female heroines. All of these were not kosher in the surrounding culture and communities during the time of the incarnation. If you were simply trying to create a believable- yet ultimately untrue- story, you wouldn’t have included these folks.
It’s also unexpected history. Rather than saying, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” or “Once upon a time there was…,” Luke names real people, in real places, during a real time. The story takes place during the reigns of Caesar Augustus and King Herod, while Quirinius was governor (Luke 2:1-2). Bethlehem is the center of the action. While other world religions and philosophies claim private revelations, Christianity is founded on public, historic events.
Second, the Christmas story is founded on unexpected testimony. For centuries prophets had been saying that the Lord would come and now their prophecies and testimonies of what God would do were coming true. Yet, the Christmas testimonies don’t come from the socially reputable and culturally powerful, or the “somebodies” of that day in age. Instead, the testimonies come from the poor and powerless shepherds, and the social “nobodies,” Joseph and Mary. And the testimonies even record their initial confusions and fears! Luke is careful to say that he has “followed all things closely” and has “written an orderly account” of all the eyewitness comments. Most of these “eyewitnesses” were of a gender or social class that weren’t even allowed to testify in the courts of their day. Yet, those are the ones through whom God himself testifies to the Son’s first advent.
Last, the Christmas story invites you to an unexpected experience. God doesn’t come in transcendent, overwhelming glory and power in order to destroy; instead, he is coming in humility, taking on our humanity, in order to rescue us from the slavery of sin. Thus, I’ve also come to believe in Christmas because I’ve experienced its power to rescue, comfort, and give hope. God’s grace and the Spirit have convinced me that Matthew and Luke are recording real events that occurred in Bethlehem over two thousand years ago and these real events impact my life personally.
There was a moment when all was calm and quiet, yet underneath the silence was a new world that was about to explode on the scene. Then, the cries of a little baby were heard, he was wrapped in swaddling clothes, and Joseph and Mary held their son- our Savior- in their very arms. All things were becoming new.
I often tell people that the nature of the gift reveals the nature of the need. If my twin brother gives me balding cream for Christmas, I know I’ve lost some more hair this year; if one of my sisters gives me a gym membership, I know that I’ve gained a few over the holidays. The gift of a Savior at Christmas reveals our need to be rescued. This gift was given to us at great an enormous cost to the Giver.
I want you to receive this gift, knowing that the Christmas story is absolutely true. Yet, even if you don’t, as the mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal once said, I hope that you at least want it to be true.
Merry Christmas!
Thank you for the Christmas post!!