The writers of the Gospels faced a unique challenge when they sat down to write their accounts of the life of Jesus. How do you communicate the significance of the event they had experienced, for all of humanity, for all time? However they did also face one challenge which is common to all writers – where to start!
One, Luke, after a bit of context setting, starts with the birth of the last great prophet, John the Baptist, before moving quickly to the birth of Jesus. Another, Matthew, goes back a bit further, to Abraham, before fast forwarding over the intervening generations to get to the arrival of Jesus. Mark, who was, shall we say, not very family oriented, jumps in much later. He also starts with John the Baptist, but as an adult, and Jesus as he starts preaching. And John decides the only way to capture the full cosmic significance of this story, is to go back to the very beginning of time: “In the beginning was the Word…”
The two evangelists who do include the birth of Jesus in their stories have such different accounts that they cannot be reconciled into a single historical narrative. Except we have constructed for ourselves a nativity story that happily combines the shepherds from one with the kings from the other, plus the ox and ass who only arrived 1200 years later (via Assisi, thanks to St Francis), plus fir trees and reindeer…
And all this is OK.
How could we expect that the decisive intervention of God in the affairs of His people could be captured in a single version of the story? Just as the gospel writers came to the story in their own ways, so do we. And not just one way. We may well find that we need to approach the newborn Christchild in different ways at different times.
This year we may arrive at Christmas carrying more burdens, worries, difficulties, and weariness than in most years. We may find we get support from holding fast to the traditions of nativity scenes, trees, and festive food. Or maybe this year we find all that too much to handle and we prefer the timeless grandeur of a savior who speaks throughout time and space. Or perhaps we need to focus not on where we’ve been but on what lies ahead, so we’ll simply get stuck in to following Jesus’ life as he shows us the way of the Lord.
However we approach it, our celebration of Christmas means that we understand we have a God who is with us, a God who came to live among us, as one of us. He is not far away, he is as close as our breath, as close as our heartbeat. However we find that experience it is a reality that overwhelms all else.
May you experience your blessed Christmas this year.