As we celebrate Christmas in 2020 …differently, what of the original Christmas, the first one?
Imagine the scene, where two ‘older’ characters meet up:
Two people chatting
Have you seen the time?
Yes ….it’s 70 AD
Your smartwatch seems to have gone awry… seems like times are moving on… Can you remember those days when we just went to the Synagogue and heard one person talk and talk and talk?
Then Jesus came and changed everything. He made our life real, gave it purpose all because he came back to life after being killed.
How did it all start I wonder?
My Grandad told me that Jesus’s Mum and Dad (although I’m not sure he was the Dad) were in a house in Bethlehem and when she had had the baby, they called him Jesus or was it Emmanuel, they then were visited by wise men, who were very rich, from the East, and then they became refugees as they sought refuge in Egypt. Eventually they got back to Nazareth.
No, that’s not what my Grandma was told. They journeyed from Nazareth to Bethlehem, because of some Census. Mary had the baby there and was visited by Shepherds, the lowest of the low, who are now called key workers. They stayed there some time before going back to Nazareth.
Were these grandparents actually present at the time of his birth? It would appear that we have two different stories.
Ah I have not got time now, let’s chat about this next week….which will be next year…
Which one was the original Christmas?
We all like a story
We have purposefully given the two different accounts of the Nativity: one from Matthew’s Gospel, and one from Luke’s Gospel. Why? Because they are different. They were written by different communities, at different times, in and around 70AD, that’s 70+ years after the birth of Jesus. Why?
Because why would you write it down at the time?
The prophecies were only really seen after the event, the miracles of Jesus were only evident after he had healed, restored, after the crucifixion and the resurrection. It was only after these times did the followers truly understand what had happened.
The Nativity sets which are here, shop windows or at your home may display the melded story but that mixes up the beauty of the incarnation, God with us.
Jesus came for the powerful, those rich wise men who would not listen to the cruel King Herod of that time, but also for the powerless, the key workers of the day, those Shepherds who were possibly alienated.
Matthew, speaking predominantly to Jews introduces ‘Gentile’ foreigners; whereas Luke, speaking mainly to Gentiles, introduces Jewish Shepherds: inclusivity at the core of the story.
and of today?
If Mary and Joseph were to walk through the door in 2020, would we say “There’s no room here for you”. Some churches have offered a variety of alternatives, but oddly for some churches today that might be the case due to numbers whom can attend due to Covid. Is that like the original Christmas?
So where might Joseph and Mary go? They didn’t go to the lights and buzz of Jerusalem but to Bethlehem. Would they now go to the back streets of our city, to those areas where we might not go?
What stories might they have told?
Would they have to travel so far to find refuge in another country, or return to Galilee perhaps and arrive blocked by a wall? Or is this like the original Christmas?
What might we say today?
What we would tell and ask Jesus if he was standing in front of us now?
It’s quiet here Lord, carry me to Bethlehem. I invite us to close our eyes and see the new baby so dependent, so small. That baby is you Jesus, you’ve grown up, healed people and you’re here now with us.
Can we see Jesus sitting beside us, walking home with us and loving us?
Here we are Jesus not the Christmas we expected.
This year we can choose:
to walk in the park with hot soup and cake instead of moaning at Aunt Maude who always takes out her teeth to eat lunch;
this year we can eat our favourite food in front of the fire without driving miles on the motorway;
this year we can read our favourite book in the chair we like best and eat nuts noisily with no one grumbling at us; and
Jesus, this Christmas we’re free to choose, to be ourselves and set our own agenda.
Our prayer today Jesus is how do you want us to celebrate your birthday?
Show us Jesus who we can reach out today, encourage and support that person giving them memories of this Christmas that they and us can tell others about and show your love in everything we do.
Amen
As we take Jesus out of the traditional nativity leaving it empty, will we celebrate as we always do? Well, perhaps not this year.
But Jesus isn’t in the stable any more …
So will we go out of the stable and onto the streets to tell everyone whom we meet that Jesus is alive and show them his love by what we do and say?
That is our choice. Is this the message of the original Christmas?
What will we choose?