Saturday, December 31st, 2005
Here’s a few checks for the differences between Christmas traditions and what is actually written in the gospels about Jesus’ birth.
1. The date of December 25. ‘Christmas Day’ was attached to the Saturnalian festival held on December 25 - a way of connecting Christian faith with the local culture.
2. How did Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem? The Christmas cards usually show Joseph walking and Mary riding on the donkey. In fact there’s no mention of a donkey in Matthew and Luke, the two gospels that cover the birth of Jesus.
3. Did the innkeeper tell Mary and Joseph there was no room in the inn? Actually there’s no mention of an innkeeper, though we can assume that someone told Joseph and Mary they could use the hay. The stable isn’t mentioned anywhere - it’s just assumed that because Jesus was put down to sleep in a feeding trough that it was in a stable.
4. Which animals does the Bible say were present at Jesus’ birth? Cows, sheep, goats, donkeys? There’s actually no mention of any animals.
5. How many angels spoke to the shepherds? Just one.
6. What’s a heavenly host? A host is an army. So we’re not talking about the angel choir, we’re talking about an army of angels.
7. There is no mention of how many ‘wise men’ there were - just that there were ‘magi’ from the East who had consulted the stars - in other words astrologers.
8. The magi found Jesus in a house with Mary. We assume the house was in Bethlehem.
Matthew 1:18-25 (Contemporary English Version)
This is how Jesus Christ was born. A young woman named Mary was engaged to Joseph from King David’s family. But before they were married, she learned that she was going to have a baby by God’s Holy Spirit. Joseph was a good man and did not want to embarrass Mary in front of everyone. So he decided to quietly call off the wedding. While Joseph was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord came to him in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, the baby that Mary will have is from the Holy Spirit. Go ahead and marry her. Then after her baby is born, name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” So the Lord’s promise came true, just as the prophet had said, “A virgin will have a baby boy, and he will be called Immanuel,” which means “God is with us.”
After Joseph woke up, he and Mary were soon married, just as the Lord’s angel had told him to do. But they did not sleep together before her baby was born. Then Joseph named him Jesus.
Luke 2:1-7 (Contemporary English Version)
About that time Emperor Augustus gave orders for the names of all the people to be listed in record books. These first records were made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3Everyone had to go to their own hometown to be listed. So Joseph had to leave Nazareth in Galilee and go to Bethlehem in Judea. Long ago Bethlehem had been King David’s hometown, and Joseph went there because he was from David’s family.
Mary was engaged to Joseph and traveled with him to Bethlehem. She was soon going to have a baby, and while they were there, she gave birth to her first-born son. She dressed him in baby clothes and laid him on a bed of hay, because there was no room for them in the inn.
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Friday, December 23rd, 2005
An Angel Tells about the Birth of Jesus
One month later God sent the angel Gabriel to the town of Nazareth in Galilee with a message for a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to Joseph from the family of King David. The angel greeted Mary and said, “You are truly blessed! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was confused by the angel’s words and wondered what they meant.
Then the angel told Mary, “Don’t be afraid! God is pleased with you, and you will have a son. His name will be Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of God Most High. The Lord God will make him king, as his ancestor David was. He will rule the people of Israel forever, and his kingdom will never end.” Mary asked the angel, “How can this happen? I am not married!”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come down to you, and God’s power will come over you. So your child will be called the holy Son of God. Your relative Elizabeth is also going to have a son, even though she is old. No one thought she could ever have a baby, but in three months she will have a son. Nothing is impossible for God!”
Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant! Let it happen as you have said.” And the angel left her.
Luke 1:26-38 (Contemporary English Version)
Reading this passage fresh reminds me of the assumptions I and my peers have been built up around the language here.
“Angel” literally means “messenger”. Somehow we’ve managed to build a stereotype of shining man dressed in white with wings. There’s nothing about shining or wings here. As I read this today I’m reminded of Lamb’s song, “Gabriel” - a sensuous jazz/ambient track used in the soundtrack for CSI Miami.
“Virgin” is the English translation of the Greek word, “parthenon” which literally means “virgin” or “unmarried girl”. The Parthenon in Athens was named after Athena the Virgin, the city’s patron goddess. I grew up in a church environment in which people fiercely debated the need to believe in the ‘virgin birth’. People knew you were a true Evangelical if you said yes. And of course you were a true Catholic if you believed that Mary remained a virgin!
So how am I reading this Scripture today? With no need to supernaturalise. I’m quite relaxed about a scene without halos, glows and spooky voices. But I’m also open to God’s capacity to do something out of the ordinary here. Nothing is impossible. Or as the Adidas advertising campaign says, “Nothing is impossible”.
As Sarah Dylan Breuer notes at Sarahlaughed.net, Mary would have been thinking about the odds of surviving an ‘illegitimate pregnancy’. Honour killings were known in Mary’s culture and in fact were called for in the traditional laws. Being pregnant with a future ruler also would have been a dangerous state. The child would be a threat to many who now claimed power. Maybe she’s not yet fully aware of the danger as she says ‘yes’ to ‘Mission Impossible’. At the heart of her response is a willingness to take on the future knowing that she’s serving a God who can work things out.
So what’s the good news here?
The future may be unclear. It may be dangerous. I may face fragile and strained relationships because of my decisions to follow God’s leading. But ‘impossible is nothing’ with God.
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Friday, April 15th, 2005
They just stood there, long-faced, like they had lost their best friend. Then one of them, his name was Cleopas, said, “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard what’s happened during the last few days?” He said, “What has happened?”
Luke 24:18
The long faced disciples remind me of the joke told by Geraldine Grainger, Vicar of Dibley, at the end of one of her shows. “A horse walks into a saloon. When he sits down the bartender asks him: ‘why the long face’?” What’s probably more funny is the response of Alice. “What’s so funny?” “Don’t you get it Alice? Horses have long faces.” “I didn’t know horses get depressed…”
What I appreciate about this resurrection story is the way in which the risen Jesus walks alongside these depressed guys who don’t even recognise him for who he is. Jesus listens. He draws out of them their grief, their version of the story. And gradually helps them get some perspective.
“What has happened” is such a great question to open up a review of recent events. It’s a question that Jesus continues to ask as he comes alongside us now.
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