Oh, the magic and wonder that is the Christmas season. We went to a nearby village the other day for a tree lighting and
fireworks, and my kids just had to traipse through the snow to get up close to
the lights. There were thousands of
them, and the awe was overpowering – especially for the preschoolers in the
crowd (and me)! From lights, to haunting
melodies, to legends of Santa, this time of year is always good on its promise
to mystify.
However, when I read the Christmas story I am reminded that
much of what we find mysterious was actually once quite familiar, and in much
of what we find familiar lies the true Christmas mystery. Manger scenes, for example, are exclusively
Christmas for us. A baby in a
stable? That just doesn’t happen, not even
in Wyoming! However, to be rejected from
a hotel and forced to bed down in straw would have been a pretty normal
experience for a 1st century traveler. I’m not saying a lot of babies were born in
barns, I’m just saying it probably wouldn't be newsworthy enough for the Casper
Star. While the legend is perpetuated
that Jesus’ swaddling clothes were akin to the wrappings archeologists find on
mummies, the historians tell us that they were merely strips of cloth that most
all babies were wrapped in right after birth.
So much of what is mysterious to us was commonplace for them. It is as though God sent his Son to meet with
us in our most familiar environment.
Indeed, it is exactly like that, and therein we find the true mystery of
Christmas.
“’Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they
shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us)” (Matthew 1:23). In the Old Testament, we read many stories of
man encountering God, and it was always terrifying! In fact, God himself said in Exodus 33 “no
man can see me and live!” We cannot
reach God, and in order for God to reach us, something must change. He must come to us in a form that we can
understand, that we can look upon, that we can touch (1 John 1:1), and so it
came to pass, that out of his great love for us, God sent his one and only Son
(John 3:16). “And the Word became flesh
and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from
the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). He came.
He came as one of us. He came in
the approachable humility of the common man, at his place of work, celebrated
only by other common men, in work clothes.
God stepped out of omnipresence in order that he could be present. This is the heart and soul of the Christmas
mystery.
Celebrate it well this week!
God has come! Open your gifts
with a view of the true Gift. Tell your
Christmas stories centered on the first Christmas story. Enjoy your Christmas traditions, remembering
that they exist because of a rich and ancient tradition that anticipates the
redemption of mankind. Get lost in the
mystery, remembering the greatest mystery of all, “She will bear a son, and you
shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins”
(Matthew 1:21).
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