The Christmas story

It's Christmas Eve and soon we will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. We will go to church and hear the story of His birth and celebrate this miracle.


Now we all know the Christmas story, it's pretty familiar...Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem and she gives birth to Jesus. Shepards follow the star to the stable and tell everyone the good news. Three wise men show up and give gifts... I happen to like the version in the Gospel of Luke the best but they all are pretty good.

Now of course these events were written down hundreds of years after the actual event and they are a composit of the oral stories that were told. In the spirit of Christmas I have decided to give my take on this wonderful story. Please know that I mean no disrespect to the original authors or to this story.

First we have Mary. She's just sitting there minding her own business when out of nowhere the angel Gabriel appears and tells her that God has chosen her to be the mother of His child. I'm sure Mary is asking herself what herbs were in the tea she was drinking. She listens to what Gabriel tells her and agrees to God's plan even though it means becoming an unwed single mother--not a very popular career choice in those days.

Fast forward to the dinner table that night. I'm thinking the conversation went something like this. "Mom and Dad, you're not gonna believe this but an angel named Gabriel visited me this afternoon and you know those prophesies we read about in the Torah, the ones about God sending a Messiah? Well not only has God chosen me to fulfill them but in 9 months you're gonna be grandparents." Yeah, that's a real conversation starter.

Next, we move on to poor Joseph the fiancee. He hears this news and I'm sure he's thinking that his wife to be has been listening to a few too many Roman storytellers. It's either that or craziness runs in the family and they conveniently forgot to mention it to him when they were drawing up that marriage contract. He's going "I'm outta here" and starts making plans to quietly break the contract and look elsewhere for a new wife. Is it any wonder God has to tell him in a dream that no, Mary is not crazy and no, you can't get out of your marriage, and yes, she really is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. He wakes up and does the right thing and takes a wife and gets ready to be a father.

Now here is where things get really fun. Thanks to Julius Cesar, Joseph and Mary have to make a long journey via donkey just to be counted. I'm so glad that all we have to do is fill out a form and mail it in. I'm sure the last thing Mary wanted to do was spend hours at a time sitting on a donkey for days on end. I really feel for these two people. They finally arrive tired and hungry only to find no place to stay. This was before telephones and the Internet so advance reservations were unheard of back then. They go from place to place begging for a room. Not even the plight of a very pregnant mama to be will soften the hearts of these innkeepers. Thankfully there is one guy who at least lets them bunk down in the stable. I'm sure he probably charged them for the "privilege" too.

Well at this point Mary has the baby. Now I wonder if she had to go through labor like the rest of us women do. If God cursed us with painful childbirth because of Original Sin and Mary was born without Original Sin (according to the Catholic Church) would she be exempt from the long and painful labor? I'd like to think that when the time came God commanded Jesus be born and He appeared instead of poor Mary all alone and in pain with only her husband (and hopefully a midwife) present. At any rate the new baby had to have been cold since it does get quite chilly at night. The only items he got to wear were whatever rags and blankets Mary packed to take with her. But at least he was loved and had a place to sleep even if he had to share it with animals.

The last part of this story involves a group of shepards out doing their job. Suddenly a group of angels appears and tells them that the really neat star they have been admiring is actually a marker and if they follow it they will be amongst the first to see the new king. After the angels leave I'm betting those guys looked at each other and said "you saw that didn't you?" Perhaps they asked themselves if maybe it was the wine they had drunk for supper that caused them to see things. In any case, they decided that what the heck why not go and check out this child the angels spoke about. I'm sure Mary was happy to have guests, even if they were strangers. I'd like to imagine her showing off this little baby, eyes full of pride to these simple shepards telling them yes, he is the Messiah and yes, you can hold him.

Twelve days later when the Wise Men arrived, the gifts got much better. Hopefully, the couple sold those gifts to pay for the trip to Egypt they had to take due to the very real and very mean king who wanted to see the baby dead.

This story is possible because of three very important things. They are belief, acceptance, and obedience. The first and most important is belief. Mary believed that the angel was from God and she was chosen to fulfill the scriptures. Joseph believed that what was told to him in a dream was in fact God speaking to him telling him not to abandon Mary in her time of need. The Shepard's also believed. They made the choice to listen to those angles and leave their sheep and follow a star in search of a baby.

The second thing is acceptance. Mary accepted the will of God and accepted the challenge of motherhood. She had to know how difficult this task was going to be and she did it without complaint. Joseph had to accept the fact God chose him to fulfill His role as the earthly father Jesus needed. I'm not sure if he is the patron saint of adoption but he should be. Imagine how he had to feel knowing the child his wife was carrying wasn't his and yet he was expected to raise and love this child as if he was his own. The shepards were willing to accept the news of the birth but I'm sure they spent time questioning whether or not they would be believed.

The last thing is the most important and that is obedience. Mary obeyed God's command and put her faith in Him. She was his faithful servant and even though she was given a very unreal set of circumstances, she obeyed and fulfilled the role God had designed for her. Joseph was put in a very unfavorable situation but he still obeyed. It would have been very embarrassing for him to admit that his intended was pregnant before they were married and I'm not sure how many people would believe him if he said that not only was the child not his, it was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was God's son. He had every right to walk away and not look back but when God told him that he was needed, Joseph obeyed. The shepards listened to the message given to them by the angles and they obeyed and did as they were told which was to spread the word that the Messiah was here.

Well there you have it, my version of the Christmas story. I hope you have enjoyed it. I want to wish all of you a very merry and Blessed Christmas.