By Reverend Deacon Jerry Bauman
And so it begins “The Greatest Story Ever Told”, the birth of Jesus as recorded in the Holy Gospels.
As we’ve just heard, Matthew’s account starts with, “This is how the birth of Jesus the Christ came about.”
But Luke’s Gospel begins “Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good to write an orderly account for you.”
Clearly, they are challenging each other to tell the best story.
Each of these Gospels reveals different scenes from the birth of Jesus.
If we read the Christmas story only from Matthew’s Gospel, we miss some of the scenes.
If we stick exclusively with Luke’s version, we miss other scenes.
So let’s build the story with the elements from both Matthew and Luke’s accounts, in the order in which they should have happened, so we can be filled with awe and wonder at the miracle of Jesus’ birth.
He is Immanuel, God with us!
Matthew’s entire first chapter is a version of Jesus’ lineage where we learn Joseph is descended from King David and that his father is Jacob.
From Luke, we hear the story of an older couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth, getting the good news from an angel, that they would bear a son, John, the baptizer.
Next Luke tells us that an angel visited Mary, a virgin betrothed to Joseph, to announce that she is with child as Matthew just mentions that she was ‘found’ to be with child by the Holy Spirit.
Luke then says she set out ‘in haste’ to visit her cousin Elizabeth, where Elizabeth’s child leaped in her womb and in Elizabeth’s excitement, we hear the Magnificat, the Canticle of Mary.
In today’s Gospel from Matthew, we hear that Joseph had his own angel’s visit in a dream.
Then Luke says, John is born and his father praises God with the Benedictus, the Canticle of Zechariah.
After which Luke tells us that a census brings all descendants of the house of David, including Mary and Joseph, to the little town of Bethlehem.
Luke then recalls the story of Jesus’ birth, being wrapped in swaddling cloths, and placed in an animal’s feeding trough because there was no room at the inn.
Then Luke tells us Angels appeared to nearby shepherds and sang Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Canticle of the Angels.
Then on the eighth day after his birth, Luke tells us that Jesus was presented at the temple in Jerusalem, where as was the custom, he was blessed, named, circumcised, and we hear the Canticle of Simeon.
Having accomplished all that was required of them, the family then returned to Nazareth according to Luke, where the boy Jesus grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him.
And the story continues a few years later when Matthew tells us that traveling Magi, no mention of how many, show up in Jerusalem inquiring about the birth of a “king of the Jews” because they wanted to pay him homage.
The reigning king, Herod, according to Matthew, was fearful of what he was hearing, so he sent the Magi to Bethlehem to find this king and report back.
According to Matthew, they found the child and presented him gifts fit for a king after which they had a dream concerning Herod’s intentions, and decided not to return to Herod to report on Jesus’ whereabouts as requested.
Matthew tells us Joseph had another dream, he was to flee with his family to Egypt, and remain there until the death of Herod.
Matthew says that Herod, realizing the Magi had tricked him, ordered all male children in and around Bethlehem who were two or under to be murdered.
Later, Joseph had another dream according to Matthew, an angel showed him that Herod had died and it was once again safe to bring the family out of Egypt and back to Nazareth.
In Luke, we find all of the canticles.
And in Matthew, there sems to be a lot of dreams.
Which character from the Hebrew Scripture was known for his involvement with dreams?
And, what was his father’s name?
Coincidence? I think one story was built on top of the other!
Only the Gospels of Matthew and Luke mention Jesus’ birth but John’s Gospel also plays a big part in Jesus’ story.
If we miss his unique perspective, we might forget that Jesus was 100% God as well as 100% man.
John’s Gospel begins with, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”
These Gospels are all stories of incarnation.
And for us as Christians, that means that Jesus Christ is God’s Son in human flesh, fully divine and fully human.
This was a very controversial topic for the early Christians and it took a gathering called by the Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth-century to “settle” the issue.
It was a simple argument; was Jesus the same essence as God, or was he the same substance as God.
It sounds like a trivial pursuit question, but they had to agree on something so that Rome could exert complete control over everyone’s beliefs.
Sound familiar?
How can we keep this incarnation alive; this belief that God’s Son, the Word, became human in the person of Jesus the Christ, when the way Christmas is celebrated in our culture is so secular?
So commercial, so glitzy sometimes, that it actually keeps us from the real business of the season.
There are many examples of how the birth of Jesus the Christ has been appropriated by our culture. Just look at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, or shelves at any store the day after Halloween, or Starbuck’s holiday cups or the White House Christmas tree display, or, — well, you get the idea!
But one example still exists that doesn’t reek of profits or cheap toys
The annual children’s Christmas pageant.
Little children acting out the nativity, combining the birth stories of Matthew and Luke.
The stage, crowded with sheep, cattle, donkeys, shepherds, angels, three wise men, (yes 3, and only men), and finally Mary, Joseph, and a gender-neutral doll representing baby Jesus.
And, we are filled with delight because in it’s telling, the merging of two different Gospels about Christmas is complete.
We should be delighted that our children and grandchildren are involved.
But there’s more to these pageants than just seeing all of these ideas coming together.
These children performers help us to get it right.
They help us gain clarity in the Christmas story.
The occasion of Jesus’ birth was unplanned, messy, chaotic, and totally human.
A birth in a cattle stall, with all the noises and smells of real life.
The characters that night could not have been more marginal, more unlikely than the little ones who portray them in their bathrobes, prōcessing down the aisles at the pageant.
A frightened teenager, unmarried, nine-months pregnant, missing her mother at a time when she needed her the most,
accompanied by a man, twice her age, who she barely knew,
the target of cruel gossip when she began to show,
and everyone knew she was engaged but still single.
An underrated Joseph, an embarrassed man, whose fiancée turns up pregnant and he knows he isn’t the father,
a good man who doesn’t prosecute and punish,
a courageous man who does the most unlikely thing,
trusting in a dream, in a message delivered by an Angel,
marrying her, naming the baby Jesus,
and becoming a real dad to the baby he knows is not his.
Emmanuel — God with us.
In these marginal, unlikely characters, poor, scorned, and homeless,
God surely knows what it’s like to be weary and discouraged.
and what it’s like to be pushed to the sidelines.
and what it’s like to be overlooked when important decisions are made concerning their lives.
Emmanuel – God cares about how we live in this world.
God cares about how we show compassion and act justly,
God cares about everyone wanting better lives for their families,
God cares about desperate and anxious people everywhere,
God cares about those who are lonely this Christmas season.
My heart’s desire is that by reviewing these accounts of Jesus’s birth, we will find something new this year to inspire us, whether it be the faith of Joseph, the submission of Mary, the generosity of the Magi, the worship by the shepherds, the blessing of Simeon, or a fresh amazement of the miracle of Jesus’s birth.
These are the most important, radical, yet hopeful words in human history:
“And they shall name him Emannuel,” which means “God is with us!”
Amen, Holy Family?