Sermons

Wed, Dec 25, 2013

The true Christmas story

Series:Sermons

In a recent poll taken in Britain…

five percent of respondents…

think that Father Christmas makes an appearance in the Biblical story of Jesus’ birth!

Seven percent think that the birth story includes mention of a Christmas tree––

which, presumably, Mary and Joseph had decorated themselves.

Twenty-five percent think that––

in the Biblical account––

it’s clearly stated that the newborn-baby Jesus didn’t cry.

One third of respondents believe the Bible names Jesus’ birthday as the twenty-fifth of December.

Seventy-five percent think that the Gospels mention Mary riding a donkey…

and that cattle are actually said to be lowing at the time of the birth.

Eighty-four percent are sure that the story explicitly names three Wisemen;

and a staggering eighty-seven percent of respondents believe that––

in the Biblical account of his birth––

it specifically states that Jesus was born in a stable.

 

Now, while I’m certain that no one here would imagine Father Christmas…

or a decorated Christmas tree…

lurking in the background of the first nativity scene––

let alone an octopus or a lobster––

perhaps some of us aren’t too sure when it comes to the mention––

or, as it happens, the non-mention––

of a stable.

Just for the record, the story claims that Mary…

“laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn”

and many have assumed, from that, that it took place in a stable.

Rather, the author speaks––

in the original Greek––

of there being no space for them in the guest-room of an ordinary house…

implying that the birth took place in the ‘living room’––

so to speak––

where the animals were usually kept at night.

 

The point is that few of us––

even those of us who go to church regularly…

and who have heard the story read year-after-year––

few of us hear, or remember, the actual story.

Often we import bits of Matthew’s story into Luke’s story––

even though the two stories are vastly different and not at all compatible.

But we also overlay the story with centuries of tradition and legend…

and creative reinterpreting.

And one of the main culprits, in all of this, is our Christmas hymns and carols.

The idea that the baby Jesus didn’t cry…

and that cattle lowed…

clearly comes from “Away in a manger”.

The idea that the birth took place in a stable comes from hymns like “Once in royal David’s city”.

The idea that there were three wise men has been perpetuated by hymns like “The first Nowell”…

and “We three kings from Orient are”.

 

And yet…

hymns and Christmas carols don’t just introduce novel elements to the details of the Christmas story––

they also shape the way that we have come to understand the Christmas story itself.

They shape, for us, its meaning.

Take, for example, the well-known hymn that we just sang:

“Hark! The herald angels sing:

‘Glory to the newborn King;

Peace on earth, and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled!’…

Mild, He lays His glory by,

Born that we no more may die.

Born to raise us from the earth,

Born to give us second birth”.

According to this hymn, the birth of Jesus was a decisive act––

if not a definitive act––

in reconciling fallen, sinful humanity to God.

Without the birth of Jesus, there could be no death of Jesus…

and, without the death of Jesus, humanity couldn’t be forgiven.

God needed to punish Jesus in our place…

so that we could be forgiven…

so that we could go to heaven…

so that we could have eternal life.

Now, I have said it before––

and I will keep saying it––

when we presuppose that God could not forgive us…

apart from the cruel and senseless sacrifice of Jesus…

we turn God into a vengeful and hypocritical deity…

who expects that we should forgive each other with no strings attached…

but who won’t do the same with us;

we turn God into an amoral fiend…

who operates as if the end justifies the means…

or that two wrongs make a right;

and we turn God into a Heavenly Father guilty of the worst form of child abuse.

In other words, this hymn––

and others like it––

are guilty of a gross distortion of the nature of God…

and of the essential Christian message.

But it’s also a gross distortion of the Christmas story––

not least because we find not a skerrick of that sort of theology in the story itself.

Within the story, the only clue that we get as to the author’s intent––

the only clue that we get as to the implied meaning of these events––

comes from the angels.

And, note, when the angels appear to the shepherds…

there’s no mention of “sin” at all…

let alone any mention of eternal life.

The angelic message is not one of “turn or burn”.

There’s no exhortation to give up their godless ways…

to believe that the baby who has been born is God incarnate…

and to accept him as their personal “lord and saviour”.

And the absence of that sort of language is all the more telling because––

in the world of the first century––

shepherds were the lowest of the low…

poor white trash…

unclean and uncouth…

irredeemable sinners…

little better than cut-throats and thieves:

just the sort of people whom their society would consider needed to hear a “turn or burn” message.

But, in the story as it is written…

there’s none of the language or message that so many Christians consider essential to…

or the core of…

the Christian faith.

Instead, after the angel announces “good news of great joy for all people” ––

that is, for everyone without exception or qualification—

the heavens are filled with angels singing…

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,

and on earth peace among those whom he favours!”.

Clearly, the implication is that those whom God favours—

those with whom God is pleased––

is all of humankind.

It’s not just the devout or pious.

It’s not just people of good will.

Indeed…

the very fact that it’s addressed to the shepherds mitigates against that idea.

It includes those whom we might imagine or presume that it wouldn’t.

And the point of Jesus’ birth––

according to the angels in the story––

is peace upon earth for all humankind.

Jesus is born that we might discover peace––

true peace––

not peace simply as the absence of conflict.

For, when the Bible speaks of peace, it means much more than that.

When it speaks of peace, it’s speaking about a state of harmony and wholeness;

a state of absolute justice and freedom, such that violence is completely redundant;

a state in which each and everyone of us is free to be whom we were created to be…

free to be the people whom God intends us to be.

 

So, until we begin to change who we are…

until we cultivate balance and wholeness in our lives…

until we strive for peace with justice for all––

both within our everyday relationships…

and within our society––

we’re not really celebrating Christmas…

and we’re not doing justice to the true Christmas story.

Powered by: truthengaged