Skip to main content

What are we really celebrating at Christmas?

Christmas is a wonderful time of year when we gather with friends to sing carols about the birth of Jesus and often indulge in too much food and drink. We get to enjoy our version of Christmas because we are relatively wealthy and live in a country that is peaceful most of the time.

Unfortunately for many millions of people, our sort of Christmas celebration is a fantasy … whether for those struggling through a cold winter in Ukraine without electricity or water, or hungry and famished in East Africa or asylum seekers still living in limbo in Australia and wondering if and when they might be deported or offered a visa.

The Christmas stories that we are given in three of the four Gospels are far more gritty and challenging than we usually imagine. The best known in Luke’s Gospel suggests that Jesus was born on the road to an unwed mother far from home and in the shadow of the oppressive threat of the Roman army. There was no roast dinner or a warm bed to snuggle into.

Matthew illustrates a different danger, this time from King Herod and his violent soldiers on the warpath to remove any perceived threat to Herod’s hold on power. Joseph and Mary and Jesus had to be ready to flee at short notice. Then there is John’s expansive view of events from a heavenly perspective where the Word of God risks taking on human flesh in Jesus and faces rejection from most people, which was also the lived reality for John’s community.

So there is a real cost that underlies the Christmas story – hardship, threat and persecution. The good news is that God considered these challenges worth taking the risk for. And so Jesus was born into a divided and dangerous world, born to an obscure rural couple and whose birth was celebrated only by those at the fringes of society, the shepherds.

Yet these stories also point to God being content to bring hope and favour in the most unpromising situations and to work through unlikely people. The warning to the comfortable and rich like us in these stories is that it is easy for us to miss or reject what God may be doing in our midst. May the Spirit open our eyes to see what is really worth celebrating at Christmas and what the cost might be if we are to fully embrace the story of the one born at Bethlehem.

From the Minister, ,

Christmas – God’s extraordinary adventure

When we think of the classical Christmas story, we tend to think of Luke’s account with Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus in the manger, shepherds and animals. Apart from a few angels it’s a fairly rustic scene. In my imagination it’s also fairly smelly and messy, the scene of a typical human birth. Nothing very special to see here in fact. And perhaps that’s the point. The birth of Jesus was just like that of so many other babies.

But the angels add a different element, announcing that this is no ordinary baby – although born in very ordinary circumstances – who is described as a Saviour, as Messiah (or King in English) and as Lord (the most common title for God in the Hebrew Scriptures). Another angel, Gabriel, had earlier informed Mary that her baby would be called Son of God, would rule on King David’s throne and be given the name Jesus (meaning God saves). So we have a very human birth of one who has a very high calling as a future king and ruler of God’s people.

John’s account of the origins of Jesus pushes hard in another direction. This child is none other than the Word of God, the form of God that spoke creation into existence in the opening chapter of Genesis. As the Word of God, this child brings God’s life and light into the world. And in John’s mind, the child is this Word of God taking on human flesh and dwelling amongst us – God laying aside all of God’s glory and power and being born as a human baby.

And so we have the mystery of the incarnation – Jesus born as a fully human and vulnerable baby (as in Luke’s account) – and yet no less than God taking on human form and living amongst us (as in John’s account). In this birth and in this life, then, God is embarking on an extraordinary and deeply risky adventure. Who will listen to the message that Jesus brings? Who will dare to follow where he leads? And just what is the relationship between God and Jesus? These are the questions that those who knew Jesus in real life ask of us. Who is this Jesus for us?

From the Minister,

What is the significance of the Christmas story for you?

Christmas is here! For many of us this means a time to gather with family and friends and share a sumptuous meal. For others, this day brings sadness as we remember those no longer with us, or loneliness as we have no place to go. For those newly arrived in Australia, from various religious backgrounds, Christmas Day is a confusing experience as a secular country stops for a religious festival.

The four Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus are equally split in how they present the story and significance of Jesus’ birth. The earliest Gospel, Mark, makes no mention of it at all. Matthew and Luke in their own way address this omission. Both these Gospels stress God’s pivotal role in events, with Matthew telling the story from Joseph’s perspective and Luke from Mary’s perspective. The final Gospel of John takes the story way back to creation to stress the divine nature of Jesus.

For those of us who profess to be followers of Jesus, it’s difficult to free the Christmas story from its cultural and materialistic wrappings. At its heart, though, the story speaks of God acting to bring light and love into a darkened world through the person of Jesus. His birth marks a new beginning, offering new possibilities. How has this story shaped your life? What is its significance for you?

From the Minister, ,