Let’s ask ourselves “What is Christmas?” This question comes up the same time every year, from the pulpit, the federal government, public forums, even the public schools system across the whole United States and the world. The question is applicable to the spirit of the celebrations surrounding the commemoration of Jesus Christ’s birth, and to the historical story of the manger itself. The gospel narratives of Matthew and Luke together form a beautiful image, one that has become familiar to many of us some 2,000 years later. A brutal trip by Mary and Joseph both under tremendous stress. A miraculous birth without any professional care, anesthesia or sterile conditions. And after the birth there were germ-ridden smelly and dirty shepherds wanting to hold the Christ child. All this must have been a far cry from what Mary had imagined that day when Gabriel informed her she was going to give birth to the Son of God. Can you imagine? Yet, there were wonders that night. Choirs of Angels. Animals in awe. A caravan of Magi bowing before a baby in a humble stable. Every year, we find inspiration in the Nativity which gives birth to a spirit of hope and faith; of promises fulfilled, of love exhibited. Things don’t stop there! There is also a call to carry that spirit within us, as the angels tell the shepherd’s, to the world beyond the holiday season. Maybe the meaning of Christmas, and Christ’s birth, is that we’re not meant to celebrate either for only one day each year.
The story of the nativity relies on personal imagery, personal beliefs, Biblical depictions to connect with readers throughout the centuries. An expectant Mary, a concerned husband Joseph in the lead, both desperately looking for some shelter for the birth of a baby, a Savior. However, beyond the setting of a straw stable lay the wider world the Lord would soon reshape.
The people of the Holy Land navigated three layers of political and social authority: The priests of the Temple, King Herod and the Roman Empire itself. The functions of the priests in Jesus’ time bore little resemblance to modern day rabbis. This was a temple religion of sacrifice and one dominated by a hereditary, priestly aristocracy led by the High Priest of that time. And because the priests determined who could enter the Temple in Jerusalem, they brandished their enormous power and authority over the people—their followers. Hey ruled with an iron fist. The Temple also served important administrative tasks for the whole region, acting as it main financial institution, establishing the year’s calendar and maintaining its archives documents of domestic and national importance. All these solidified the Temple’s role in Judean’s lives.
Over and above the Temple, King Herod the Great held nominal power on behalf of Rome, and sought to restructure Jerusalem in the Eternal City’s image. What we all look at now as ancient Jerusalem is really Herod’s invention. Herod used the immense wealth given to him by the Roman government to raise a new class of Jewish elites who felt similar affection toward the Romans. These allies of Herod felt no special need to conform to Jewish traditions, causing tensions throughout Judea. Why? Because some of them weren’t even circumcised and many felt themselves one with the Roman occupation and had actually grown fabulously wealthy by association with the Romans. The Roman Empire held ultimate control and authority over Judea since Pompey the Great conquered the region in 63 B.C. At the time of the Nativity, Caesar Augustus led the Empire, commanding its vast legions and overwhelming treasures. The Roman Empire mastered and dominated the known world, though its leaders considered Judea among the least—important of all their dominions and the Romans ruled the Holy Land with a degree of leniency.
Absolutely none of these authorities had reason to accommodate Mary and her husband Joseph. Their native district and area of Galilee was known throughout Judea as a out-of-the-way, somewhat isolated and withdrawn place festering with sedition. In Jesus’ day, outcasts, rebels were occasionally synonymous as Galilean-types. You see, Mary and Joseph faced severe punishment for opposing and breaking this time period’s social norms. Let’s face it, no one would have cared the lease if Joseph had insisted on stoning Mary to death after she came to him with child. Indeed, Jesus lived with the blemish, the disgrace, the stigma of being thought of as an illegitimate child among the tight-knitted communities of Nazareth and Galilee. Being an object of scorn and pity he should have expected a solitary life. This fact makes the rise of his ministry and messages even more miraculous. Jesus came not to a throne, but to a manger. He lived not as a king, but as a servant. He chose not an earthly kingdom, rather a cross. He gave not just a little, but everything. “…Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us.” Ephesians 5:2 NIV Remember, Jesus left his comfortable home in heaven and spent his first night in a cold barn subject to all forms of danger. Christmas is really about giving genuine thanks for this marvelous and incredible nativity story: that God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. Finally, its being reminded of a marvelous promise that even though life here isn’t perfect, we have a perfect inheritance that can never perish, spoil; or fade, that will be kept in heaven for us. This Advent, let’s look beyond all the glitzy schmaltziness of our culture’s celebration of the holidays and see the grand story behind Christmas and prepare ourselves to celebrate the bedrock truth of our faith and the reason for our hope: Christ has come, and He shall come again.
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