I posed a question on Monday asking why, or even if, the Christmas story matters in the grand scope of Christianity. Jesus' birth is only told in two gospels, so one-half of the gospel writers didn't even include it! And, the story is different in each gospel, with different themes and different characters. Matthew tells us a story about Magi and massacre and fleeing to Egypt, a story that parallels the life of Moses and sets Jesus up as a new Moses here to renew and fulfill Mosaic law. Luke gives us a story with a manger, shepherds, and lots of angels, he focuses on Mary (a woman and therefore a minority/marginalized person in her time period) and the poor, telling us that Jesus came for all people, not just the rich.
But you can see these two messages elsewhere in the gospels. Everything in the birth stories is told in another way in another place. So why bother?
I think that the very fact that Jesus was BORN is important. It makes the Incarnation complete.
Think about it. God didn't have to send Jesus as a baby. He could have appeared as a fully-grown man and just walked out of the desert and started preaching. He still would have been able to teach, die and rise again, and fulfill his mission on earth without any of the other messy details.
Yet I am extremely glad that Jesus was born. Not simply that he chose to become a baby, fully dependent on mother and father for care, and be laid in a lowly manger. This is all part of the message, but not the key to Jesus birth.
Jesus was born and lived a full life. He had parents to care for and to respect and obey. He had brothers and sisters and cousins and friends to hang out with, get into mischief with, laugh and cry with. He worked at his father's trade, he participated in the daily life of every day people.
Jesus was totally and fully human not just because he took on flesh but because he experienced human life with all of its joy, sorrow, hardship and toil. His parables are colored with imagery from Galilee--he didn't just teach out of divine wisdom but also out of personal experience!!
Jesus can empathize with us because he is one of us. Before he died, he lived. Isn't that amazing? God lived a normal life. He participated in funerals and parties, he went to weddings and circumcisions. When I think of Jesus sacrifice I don't just think of the cross, I think of his life.
So no matter what the details of the Christmas story, each version tells us this: Jesus was born, grew up, and lived.
He is a better savior because of it, because he didn't take the easy road and just incarnate as an adult. He learned how we feel, how we act, how life works and fully understood the struggles we go through. It is this willingness to simply be with us for thirty years before taking up his ministry that amazes me.
So when you're hearing about silent night and away in a manger and shepherds watching their flocks and little drummer boys, remember. It's not just that he was born, but that he lived. Just like you, just like me. This is how Jesus became fully human, so that he could bring humanity back to God.
Merry Christmas!
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