When you forget who begat who, Angels flying solo or singing in choirs, Prophets and political intrigue, Little Drummer Boys and Charlie Brown's Christmas ... you finally reach the stripped down story.
Before decades of embellishment in the retelling, Cantatas and Carols, trees with lights, Holly, mistletoe, gift swapping and special candlelight services ... this is what happened.
Mary gets pregnant and thanks God she is.
She's engaged but not married when she consistently begins missing her period.
Her finance Joseph, upset and embarrassed with his pregnant not-yet-wife, contemplates calling off the marriage but obviously loves Mary and goes through with it.
They have a baby boy.
The world's never been the same.
That's what happened.
Sure all that other stuff ... Angel's appearing in dreams to tell Mary it's God's baby she's having or Joseph to get the family the Hell out of there because of Government instigated murder ... Wise Men bearing Gifts following a star ... who knows if Shepherds tending their flocks actually visited ... even the birth in a manger because there was no room in the Inn ... make for one great story but were added later as what happened was told and retold.
All together it is the Hollywood version of the birth of the Messiah!
As nice and wondrous as they are, they're not really necessary.
Two of the four Gospels don't mention any of this at all preferring to focus on the end of the story ... a boy was born and the world's never been the same!
Matthew, the Jewish version, is the masculine take on the birth of Jesus and focuses on Joseph, Jesus' surrogate father while Luke, the Greek version, is the feminine account and through the eyes of Mary.
Both pack the plot with tons of extras who over the next several decades become integral to the story.
We're still adding to the cast with Little Drummer Boys, Santa Claus, Red-nose Reindeer, Snoopy and a Grinch who steals from believers in everything.
They're all great and wonderful ... I just love "A Charlie Brown Christmas" ... but they don't get to the heart of Christmas.
It's a very human story about faith.
A pregnant woman believes God blesses her with a baby and her lover goes ahead with the marriage after some second guessing because, in the end, he loves her more than anything and they have a baby boy.
Honestly the same story had played itself out countless times before Mary told Joseph the good news and still happens every single day.
I've been the protagonist in the very same story myself on more than one occasion!
It's really unimportant though which is why neither Mark or John pay any attention to the birth stories of Jesus ... who cares how he got here ... all that matters is he did.
The boy lives a short life ... 30 years by one account and 33 by another ... but he left his mark.
Jesus says and does a lot in a little while but in the end his message is a simple one:
Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and mind and soul
and
love your neighbor as you love yourself
That's what he had to say.
But if you believe like Mary did, every newborn baby is a message from God and this is the one Jesus came to symbolize.
For God so loves the world
he sends his son
and if you believe
every little things gonna be alright
and you can really start living now.
We have a newborn baby in our house this Christmas and she came about pretty much like Jesus did save Sarah and I were already married but no less surprised than Mary and Joseph.
Missed periods led to calling out God's name and serious second thoughts about lots of things but we went through with it anyway and now we have a baby girl.
Who knows what message God's sent the world through her?
Happy Christmas Everyone!
Micheal
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