Luke 1:26-38
It’s that time of year when the so-called holiday movies make their appearances. I don’t go to many movies and, when I do, it’s usually during the holidays. This year we have quite a variety to pick from.
While I understand how Happy Feet Two might qualify as a holiday movie, I hope no one celebrates Christmas by taking their child to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. As I understand it, the first movie is about some delightful dancing penguins; the second is not about a dragon, magical or otherwise.
Of course, there’s also The Adventures of Tin Tin and Hugo, both described as beloved, classic children’s stories. I’ve not heard of either one. You could invite someone to Chipwrecked; just make sure they don’t think your speech is impaired from spiked eggnog.
I can understand how a new Muppet movie might be a good choice for your children or grandchildren. I’m not sure a movie about vampires having children or a movie about Margaret Thatcher tweaking the British economy would be. One would be scary, the other boring. However, it would be interesting to know which movie Hollywood considers the scarier.
I may see some of the new movies, like Sherlock Holmes or Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. I won’t be seeing the new Mission Impossible movie. Making Jim Phelps the bad guy sealed the franchise’s fate for me.
Most of us like a good story. We enjoy getting to know the characters, following the plot, and waiting to see how the story will end. You don’t have to be a child for your ears to perk up when you hear the words, “Once upon a time.”All of this has me thinking of the Christmas story. If I were asked how I would describe the Christmas story for someone who had never heard it, what would I say? What kind of story is it?
We May See the Christmas Story as
An Epic Story
An epic tells a complex story that unfolds over a long period of time.
With that in mind, I suppose I could say the Christmas story is the pivotal installment of such an epic. It is the beginning of the final trilogy of the epic.
A la, Star Wars, we might entitle the Gospel story, Episode Four: The Surprising King. In that episode we’d tell of the king’s miraculous birth, unparalleled life, brutal death, and unexpected victory over the great enemy Death.
Episode Five: The King’s People Tell His Story would tell how those who came to know and love the king went everywhere telling his story. This episode would be filled with heroes from every land and race, accounts of victories and failures, and reminders of how the King kept his promises to his people no matter how badly their acts of love were received.
Episode Six: The Return of the King (Hey, you didn’t think Tolkein was the first to use the idea, did you?) This final installment tells of the King’s ultimate victory over the forces of darkness and his reign with his people.
If we wanted to, we could even make a three-part prequel to bring us up to Episode Four. We might call the first episode, The End of the World as We Knew It.
Epic stories often have underlying themes. I once heard an interviewer ask George Lucas what the Star Wars epic was all about. Immediately he said, “The redemption of Anakin Skywalker.” If you don’t know what that means, ask a twenty-something friend or relative.
What is the Christmas epic all about? We might say “The redemption of Adam’s family,” but instead I’ll use these words from a sixteenth century carol to sum it all up:
Sin brought us grief, but Christ relief
When down to Earth He came for our salvation
That’s one way to look at the Christmas story. There are others.
We May See
The Christmas Story as a Mystery Story
William Shakespeare suggested this mysterious element in the Advent story in Hamlet.
Some say that ever ’gainst that season comes
Wherein our Savior’s birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow’d and so gracious is the time.
A great mystery was revealed at the first Christmas, a mystery which the best of minds have not been able to unravel. Many have tried to explain it but have been unable. Matthew’s Gospel expresses the mystery in these words, “he will be called Immanuel, which means ‘God with us’.” John uses these words, “the Word became flesh and lived a little while among us.”
Theologians have written countless volumes and councils have hammered out authoritative creeds but the mystery remains. We haven’t been able to get too far beyond the conclusion of one of the greatest of those theologians: “The Son of God became a man so men might become sons of God.” Still, we try to solve the mystery. Don’t feel bad, we all want to understand and we ought to pursue understanding but there comes a point when sometimes the best we can say in the face of such mysteries is a confident, “This is how it all worked—maybe.” So, we do not know how that tiny, red, wrinkled boy-child in that straw-filled manger could have been the God of Creation, the Second Person of the Godhead, and the Savior of the world; but that truth is at the very heart of the Christian world-view.
The Christmas story presents a mystery which you and I may spend our lives exploring. The mystery should call from us the greatest wonder, humility, and praise.
And is it true? And is it true,
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,
A Baby in an in ox's stall?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Became a Child on earth for me?
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,
A Baby in an in ox's stall?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Became a Child on earth for me?
- Sir John Betjeman (1954)
We May See
the Christmas Story as an Adventure Story
Carols like Silent Night have an enduring place in the celebration of Christmas. Yet, we must be careful that we do not come to think of that silent night as a dull night, a calm night, a tranquil night. The birth of Jesus was just as much an invasion as the Allied assault on Normandy.
And, you may be sure, the enemy tried just as hard to repel that invasion. Very soon after his birth—after the beachhead was established—the vain, jealous Herod tried to destroy the Child. He was thwarted but his attitude and actions prefigured a coming conflict with the world.
This adventure story tells of a King who comes to liberate his people. We love stories of liberation. Whether the movie is Independence Day or Braveheart we love that moment in it when an oppressed people realize their chains have been broken, when the enemy is soundly defeated. The Christmas Story is such an adventure story.
That the adventure should begin in a Judean stable seems incredible, but from the very moment the angel announced what the Child was to be named the excitement began. “You will call Him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
The story of how Jesus saved people from their sins it a great adventure. The story is filled with conflict, inspiring challenges, and even includes an account of a seeming defeat. But, of course, it ends with the greatest escape in history, the Resurrection. That story which ends in kingly triumph begins in a humble stable.
In the end the Adventurer who came to Bethlehem that first Christmas would inspire other adventures. These men and women traveled the world to tell the story of the liberation Jesus offers.
We May See
The Christmas Story as a Love Story
Much of the Christmas story is told in an atmosphere of love. Only the innkeeper and the murderous Herod detract from that picture.
When we consider Christmas as a love story we must first think of the love of a couple. It’s evident that Mary and Joseph loved God, loved children, and loved each other.
Consider Mary’s quick, unhesitating surrender to God’s purpose. In Luke’s account of the angel telling her that she, though a virgin, will bear a child we first see Mary as a bewildered young girl but soon her bewilderment becomes commitment. I find Phillips’ translation of Luke 1:38 to be appealing. Mary says to the angel, “I belong to the Lord, body and soul, let it happen as you say.” This was a story of people who loved God.
It is a story of people who loved children. Sad and strange as it may seem, sometimes children suffer at Christmas. I was walking through a mall and heard several parents yelling at their children. One child, fascinated with the lights and the decorations, wasn’t keeping up with her father. He yelled at her, “We’ve got things to do. Stop wasting time.” She looked to me like she might have been four. He thought she was wasting his time. In truth, he was wasting his time—his time with her.
Despite Mary’s youth we may be sure she not only accepted God’s role for her, but she accepted the child as a blessing. While many today see their children as burdens or as detriments to their careers, saw the child as the gift of God.
This is the story of people who loved each other. Think of the questions that must have been in Joseph’s mind. Mary was going to have a child; they had maintained a chaste relationship so he knew he couldn’t be the father. What did that mean? At first, he believed the worst, but even then he loved Mary so much that he would not see her embarrassed or hurt. He would release her from the obligation to marry him.
But an angel appeared to tell him that what was happening was God’s doing, was a miracle. After that angelic explanation his love showed its true maturity by accepting Mary and any ridicule which might have come to them. The story reminds us that one of the best memories of Christmas we can pass on to our children is the memory of parents who love each other.
But, above all else, we may see the Christmas story as a love story because it presents a Savior who loves the world. The love of God for a lost world is the great theme of Christmas. John’s Gospel does not contain the Christmas story but the apostle could have used his most famous line to introduce the story. You know it; “God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die…”
Love motivated the eternal Son of God to forsake his heavenly throne to live among men and women.
Christina Rossetti captured the idea in this little poem.
Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine;
Love was born at Christmas;
Star and angels gave the sign.
Love all lovely, Love Divine;
Love was born at Christmas;
Star and angels gave the sign.
Such love should capture us and draw us as a magnet draws steel shavings. We allow its attraction to change our lives and put our lives in order.
Conclusion
C. S. Lewis tells about riding a bus one Advent season. The bus went past a small church that had a Nativity scene on its lawn. Lewis overheard a woman complain, “Look at that, they’re trying to bring religion into Christmas. When will they stop?”
Apparently that woman, living in 20th century England, living in the land of carol writers like Charles Wesley, hadn’t heard the story. Around the world there are many who haven’t heard it. Chances are you know someone who hasn’t.
