Christmas People

Once there was a woman, a young girl actually, probably around thirteen. She was engaged to be married to an older man, a respected carpenter in her community in Nazareth. We don’t know that much about this young woman. One thing is clear, she loved God with all her heart. One day, while going about her business, she encountered an Angel. She was told she had found favor with God, and God was about to bless her in an unimaginable way. The Messiah was about to come, but not as people believed. He would arrive as a baby, born as the prophet Isaiah had promised long before, “behold a virgin shall conceive.” (Isaiah 7:14) Mary was to be that virgin. Surprise!

Much has been made of Mary. The Catholic Church raised her to godly proportions, creating a story that she too had been conceived by a virgin, making her fit to bear the Christ. Many prayers are given to Mary, believing she is a better, more open recipient than Jesus or God the Father. The “Hail Mary’s” are woven into Catholic ritual. But the Bible presents a much different story.  A normal, human girl found herself next to an angel with a remarkable announcement. God chose Mary to be the mother of the Christ. Why? Nothing about a virgin birth for Mary, only that she’d found favor with God. We find favor with God by faithfully following him, not by sinless perfection, because we have no sinless perfection. Remember, all have sinned, including Mary. (Luke 1:26-38)

Why a virgin? Some say to fulfill the prophecy, period. That seems silly, although a virgin conceiving is very miraculous in and of itself. Only God could do that. But couldn’t God have selected some doting mother who knew what she was doing? When a virgin conceives, no one believes she’s still a virgin after the conception. That’s just crazy. We all know where babies come from. And most people didn’t believe Mary’s story then, let alone today; especially today when we’ve lost sight of miracles. If a virgin conceives, without the help of any man, remaining a virgin after conception, that’s a miracle. We don’t do miracles very well today.

But beyond making Christ’s conception a miracle, establishing that this child came directly from God, lies a bigger reason. When Adam and Eve fell under the serpent’s words and ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, God placed the blame on the man, Adam. Not that Eve was less guilty, but that in God’s order, Adam was the head of this household and was judged responsible for the actions. Kind of like a corporate, CEO, responsibility.  (An aside here, people who cling to a patriarchal rule over women, saying that it is God’s way, often forget that in such a world, the responsibility lies squarely on the patriarch, bearing the weight of the household’s sin, and asking directly for judgement from God regarding that household). So sin comes through the male of the species, like bad genes passing on disease. This is the real curse of original sin, it is passed down to subsequent generations without fail, and leaves us all broken.  In order to circumvent the passing on of the sin nature, man had to be taken from the equation. What was required was a virgin birth. Then Jesus was born free of sin’s taint. (He could have chosen to sin at any time thereafter, but that’s another lesson).

So a virgin conceived. God asked a lot of Mary. She accepted it with humility and grace, and not just being pregnant without knowing a man, but living with that and all the other pain that came from watching how the world treated her beloved Son. Mary was at the foot of the cross.

Joseph was the carpenter, engaged to marry Mary. As I understand it, being “betrothed”, in the custom of the day, was as binding as a marriage, but the consummation of the marriage came after the wedding. Here’s Joseph, waiting for the wedding date, only to discover his betrothed is pregnant?! It must have been a terrible shock and insult. We know less about Joseph’s back story than we do Mary, but his actions portray a good, decent man. He could have had her stoned, made a public spectacle. But he decided to divorce her quietly, spare Mary some of the indignity. I’m sure she’d told him the story of the Angel’s announcement, but having not been there, well can we really blame Joseph his doubt.

Then in a dream, Joseph gets his own angelic moment. The dream confirms all Mary had told him, and gives him his own set of instructions, including naming the baby, “Jesus”. Again, Joseph could have dismissed the dream. After all, angels had been in recent discussions. Dreams are just dreams. But in the Bible dreams can be more than just dreams, and the faithful would know the stories of other important messages coming in dreams. Joseph believed, and rather than quietly divorcing, he quietly wed her. But the consummation of that marriage waited until after the promised baby was born. (Matthew 1:18-25)

This plays well in Joseph’s character. He was selected by God just as Mary. This would be the human father who taught Jesus to follow in his footsteps as a man and as a carpenter. And though young Jesus, being also God, knew who He was, we also know He honored His earthly parents. By the time Jesus begins his ministry at age 30, there is no further mention of Joseph. Most assume by that time Joseph was dead, and Jesus is referred to as the carpenter from Nazareth, so probably had been carrying on his earthly father’s business. He also had younger brothers (which blows away the idea the Mary remained a virgin for life. One of those brothers became the leader of the Jerusalem church and wrote the book of James in the Bible).

I recently heard a poem about Joseph. It talked about how we often relegate Joseph to the back of the crèche, putting focus on the Christ child, Mary and the visitors. Joseph has to hang back in the shadows. In our manger scene, I couldn’t tell who was Joseph and who was shepherd, so I just picked one and made him Joseph. I might be wrong. The poem suggested that we all had it wrong. A good father would have been out front, protecting the child, guarding the door, and probably even holding the baby while Mary slept. Joseph was as much a participant in this story as Mary, and should get his due. I place him next to Mary, behind the baby.

In many versions of the Bible, the Christmas story in Luke 2 phrases how the shepherds found Mary and Joseph and the Baby lying in a manger. As kids we used to love hearing that and picturing all three of them cuddled up in the manger. As an English teacher I see the value of sentence structure so you create the right image. The Baby is in the manger, and Mary and Joseph are outside the manger, carrying for the Baby. But it shows how easily we get distracted from the story and focus on the wrong things. There are many details added to the Christmas story, details that are not in the Bible, like the donkey, not mentioned. We sing of 3 wisemen, and the Bible speaks of men from the east bearing three gifts, but doesn’t say how many men there were. Was it a stable or a cave? We don’t know, but apparently today in Bethlehem it’s a cave. Did the wisemen arrive on the birth day along with the shepherds? Probably not, so Mary and Joseph apparently stayed on in Bethlehem waiting for Mary and the baby to grow stronger before journeying back to Nazareth. They end up going to Egypt. That’s another time Joseph is intune and obedient to Angels. The Bible details are simple and to the point, and don’t give us all the details. I’m always left wanting more.

Finally, I want to bring in those shepherds, “keeping watch over their flocks”. There they were, up on some hillside, watching over their sheep, nodding off to sleep themselves, or dozing. We don’t know if it was two shepherds or ten. We don’t know how far they were from Bethlehem. But “suddenly“, an angel of the Lord was there, and moments later a multitude of the heavenly hosts” arrived. A multitude is a lot, the new NIV says a “great company”, and the inference is there are more where they came from. The first angel says, “don’t be afraid”. Mary’s angel said the same thing. I guess you shouldn’t be embarrassed if your first instinct when encountering an angel is to be scared half to death; you are in good company.

“Don’t be afraid, because I have great news!”  What a way to start a conversation. And the great news the shepherds were about to hear was that a baby had been born in Bethlehem. This baby was the long awaited Messiah, Christ the Lord! Oh, and you’ll find him in a cave, among the animals, lying in a manger. Sure. Right. Kings are born every day in stables, why not the Messiah? But even before they wrap their mind around that, the “great company” begins to sing “Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.”

When the angels left, the shepherds said, “let’s go and see.”  Don’t you bet they had a lot more to say than that? You’d assume at least one was still back at the “don’t be afraid” part. They may have wondered if they had dreamed it all, the angels coming and going. But, when all is said and done, they decided to “go and see”. Pretty sure they were more than curious at this point. But they went and saw and believed. That’s the amazing part. They found a baby in a manger, just as the angels said, and they believed this baby was their promised Messiah, their long awaited King. The angels said it, they went to see for themselves, and they found it just as the angels said. Then they left, “glorifying and praising God”.

What a crazy night. No room in an inn, so the weary couple had to find shelter in a stable. Mary goes into labor and Joseph has to help deliver God in the flesh. They wrap the baby and place him in the feeding trough because it’s there. Then, just as things are calming down, shepherds arrive all excited with a story of angels and good news. Of course, both Mary and Joseph understand about angels. We’re told that Mary treasured up all these things, these events, in her heart. What an understatement. What a remarkable night. What lovely people.

The Christmas people really are not that different from you and me. The characteristic that stands out is willingness. They were each willing to do what was asked of them, even when it was very difficult. The shepherds left their sheep. If anything happened while they were away, they’d lose their job. And we know Mary and Joseph lost their reputations, not to mention their lives changed forever. In Luke 2, Mary’s response to the angel’s pronouncement is “I am the lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” Would we be so willing? What is God asking of us this holiday season? This coming year? Are we willing? We see how God met each of the Christmas people, supported, empowered and blessed them. He met them more than half way. They just had to be willing to take a step, to say “yes” to God’s request. Though what was asked was hard, all of them were profoundly touched by God.

What is our response to God?

“O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for you.” “O come let us adore Him.” “What can I give Him? I’ll give Him my heart.”