Merry Christmas! And happy Christmastide to you. The festivities of Christmas are ending, and the world will move on to the next thing. The stores will display the next holiday goods very soon. But for us, Christmas is still magical—it is still a "big deal," and our 12-day celebration goes on through the feast of Epiphany.
Unfortunately, most people know about the 12 days of Christmas but nothing about Christmastide except the English Folksong lyrics about 'what my true love gave to me' with ‘five golden rings’ each day. The lyrics speak volumes about the heavy materialism we put into celebrating Christmas. But for true Christians, the 12 days of Christmas are very sacred. We continue to celebrate when God acted to be in a relationship with us.
Paul confirms this fantastic relationship between God and man in his letter to the Galatians, 'God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that they might receive adoption as children.'
An Appalachian Christmas carol by John Rutter expresses this wonderment with these lyrics:
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.
How Jesus, the Savior, did come for to die for poor ordinary people, like you and like me.
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.
When Mary birthed Jesus, (it was not in a royal palace surrounded by royalties and queens and princes);
t'was in a cow's stall with wise men and farmers and shepherds and all,
If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing
He surely could have it, for he was the King!
I ask - then, why did the King of the universe come to ordinary people like us? A traditional Hymn by Marty Haugen answers:
"He came down that we may have Love, Hope, Joy, Peace and Life. Hallelujah forevermore!
In John's gospel today, we hear the Christmas story, which is far different from Matthew's and Luke's, mainly because different folks have various ways of telling the same story. In many traditions, such as African and the Irish, storytelling is a big part of the culture. Seasoned storytellers can deliver different versions of the same story and still produce the same interest. The same is true about the Nativity narratives - each apostle told their story according to their background.
John’s story has an entirely different flare. His narrative has a poetic flavor, and his viewpoint is very different from what we hear on Christmas Eve about Jesus's virgin birth miracles. John delivers this same miracle story from the viewpoint of a theologian with a sparkle of mysticism, giving an extraordinary mystical depth to the relationship between God, Jesus, and man. He begins with the creation of Genesis 1 and points us to Jesus as the "Word" who existed before creation. Jesus was with God, and he is also God. He was the "Light" that lightened the dark world. The poetic and close relationship between God and Son is unique, and one writer describes this relationship as "a chip off the old block."
How about Luke’s narrative? The Apostle Luke was a physician and a historian. As a physician, his interest was primarily in the facts he collected about a Jewish teenager who was a virgin but was pregnant – a story beyond clinical reasoning. However, the miracle of Mary’s story fits the old prophecies regarding the birth of the Messiah (Isa 7: 14). So, as a historian, he focused on getting the correct dates and rulers so that his readers could go back to the prophecies and have the time and space right. Also, because Luke was a gentile convert and an outsider, it appears his views included outsiders - shepherds, social outcasts, and gentile witnesses. Nevertheless, his story shows that something phenomenon happened on this miracle night.
Matthew also tells the same Nativity miracle story; his version is from a traditional/Jewish perspective. He was not into what the Shepherds witnessed. His interest seems to be more in the royal side of Jesus, with royal wise men from the East, and in fulfilling the prophecies of Jesus as Messiah. For the same reason of interest, he narrated the story from the eyes of Joseph. He reported the flight of Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus to Egypt (Matthew 2: 13-23) to depict Jesus as the type of Moses who delivered the Israelites from bondage.
No matter how the Christmas story is told, it is a fantastic story of a love relationship between God and creation. Through Christmas, God offers us Jesus, the Word and the Light that transforms the despair of gloom into a bright night of hope.
The 12 days of Christmas will soon be over. As we enjoy the gifts and put the decorations back in the box, may we pause for a moment—just for a moment—and think about what God offered to us on that Christmas night in Bethlehem. The big question is, what do we give back in exchange for God’s precious gift?
Merry Christmas!