Reflections on the birth of Jesus

“Joy to the World the Lord has come!” “Good Christian men rejoice with heart and soul and voice.” “Joyful all Ye Nations rise, join the triumph of the sky… and the mountains in reply echoing their joyous strains” “Dear desire of every nation – Joy of every longing heart.” Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day – O tidings of comfort and  joy – comfort and joy – Joy, Joy for Christ is born – the babe – the son of Mary.  Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we – let all within us praise His holy name! “Oh, come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant / Oh, come ye, oh, come ye, to Bethlehem.”

Many of our treasured Christian hymns declare a glorious joy associated with the birth of Jesus Christ.

And the secular world around us seeks a version of this – we are decking the halls, roasting chestnuts, enjoying sleigh rides, and rocking around the Christmas Tree. Jolly old St Nickolas is always laughing and Frosty the Snowman is a jolly happy soul. It’s the Hap-Happiest season of all, with the kids jingle belling, and everyone telling you be of good cheer. It’s the most wonderful time of the year – SO we are told.

But maybe you would identify with blogger Nancy Hightower wrote an article for the website Sojourners: “I dread the holidays. I dread the weeks leading up to Christmas, starting the day before Thanksgiving when Christmas Carols begin to permeate the radio…” She explains, “The worst of my childhood trauma was experienced between Christmas and Easter, and not having family means I am emotionally homeless during the holidays…” According to one study 48% of us dread the holiday season, due to financial stress, 13% of us are still paying off our holiday bills from last year.[1] Add to that family stress, weight gain, and loneliness and we begin to wonder about the validity of the “be of good cheer” stuff. I mean I have actually never been on a sleigh ride in my life, and I don’t know what a chestnut is.

The secular version of Christmas – leaves little room for hurting people. But the true Christmas story – the Christian Christmas story – at the manger – speaks to all who are oppressed, broken, wounded, grieving, angry, lonely and lost.

The angel said: “I bring you good news of great joy!” And that is indeed true – but not in the way we usually think about it. What good news of great joy was the angel referring to? The birth of Jesus, of course – but in what ways did the birth of a baby bring joy to a broken world? How can an announcement of joy – coexist in the darkness of a fallen world?

The problem is that we romanticize the birth of Jesus.

We romanticize the Christmas story, meaning we tidy it up; we view it through overly positive eyes. And when we romanticize Christmas – we lose the meaning of Christmas. The Christmas story involves a scandal, an oppressed nation, a government mandate, violent crimes, and refugees. We need to first take the shine off the apple to understand its connection to joy.

Here are five truths of the nativity

TRUTH #1: THE SCANDAL

Matthew 1:18-19 reads: “This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.”

It would take an angel from heaven to convince Joseph to stay with Mary. Mary’s pregnancy – by the Holy Spirit – was scandalous and something the townsfolk would not understand. Joseph knew that disgrace and judgment were coming, and because he was a man who knew the Mosaic law he knew this situation could lead to Mary being shunned from the community, punished, or even put to death. So, he decided to call the whole thing off. The Christmas story begins with a young engaged couple whose world is unexpectedly turned upside down.

A common question is why did Joseph bring Mary to Bethlehem when she was so far along in her pregnancy? Only he needed to go. it was likely to shield her from gossip and continual judgment.  

So the Christmas story starts with a scandal in a small town.

TRUTH #2: NATIONAL OPPRESSION

Luke 2:1 “At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire.”

Rome was strong – Israel was weak. Jesus is not born a free man. Jesus is not born to a ruling nation, he is not born to a prosperous nation – but to an oppressed nation, a defeated nation – and this plays a part not only in his birth but also in his death. Jesus would ultimately be killed, from a human perspective, because he refused to be the military leader the people wanted. Jesus was born into a nation where there were regular military skirmishes – uprisings – and Jesus would not support any of these. In 70 AD, the Romans would completely destroy Jerusalem.

The Carol O Holy Night says: “Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.” That statement is true but not in the way anyone at the time expected.

TRUTH #3: NEW TAX PROGRAM

Luke 2:1-4 “At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee.

We romanticize the nativity with Mary sitting serenely on the back of a donkey with beautiful stars in the sky, but this was a forced march. The purpose of the census was for Rome to extract more taxes from the already heavily taxed people. The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem would have taken 4 to 8 days depending on how many miles per day they were able to walk. This tax mandate came at the worst possible time. Mary’s doctor was like doctors today, “No you should not travel when you are this close to your due date!”

Luke 2:5-7 “He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child. And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

In a Hallmark movie a kindly soul would have taken them in; like Mr Bingley who took in Jane  and provided the best doctors. But it was not like that. Mary is screaming from contractions as Joseph gets one more door slammed in his face. Mary gives birth in a strange city, with no midwife, no mother, no home comforts, on the floor of a barn.

The Christmas Hymn – Once in David’s Royal City begins to capture the tone of this time:

Once in royal David’s city,
stood a lowly cattle shed,
where a mother laid her baby
in a manger for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little child.
He came down to earth from heaven,
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable,
and His cradle was a stall;
With the poor and meek and lowly,
Lived on earth our Savior holy.

TRUTH #4: VIOLENT CRIMES

Matt. 2:16-18 “Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance. Herod’s brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: ‘A cry was heard in Ramah—  weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted, for they are dead.'”

After Jesus’ birth, some time passes and wise men from the East show up looking for a newborn king. They come to Herod, a monstrous puppet king working for Rome whose paranoia kicks into high gear. The wise men worship Christ and are warned by an angel – not to return to tell Herod of Jesus’ location.

The timing on this is debated. Jesus could still be a newborn or he could be two years old –  which means that Mary and Joseph had decided to stay in Bethlehem perhaps because of their tarnished reputation in Nazareth. Jesus’ age at this time is unclear –what we do know is that Jesus’ birth led to a slaughter of children:

This never makes it on a Christmas card and will not be stitched on a pillow at Mardels.

TRUTH #5: HOMELESS REFUGEES

Matt. 2:13 After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

This is an urgent command by the angel, “You are in danger – go to Egypt – go now!” So to Egypt they go where they will be for two to four years, until the death of Herod.

Imagine the fear, the sense of loss that must have been experienced by Mary and Joseph’s families back home. Grandparents would not see Jesus born, and would not see him grow up. Mary and Joseph do not return to Nazareth, in all likelihood, until Jesus was nearly in Kindergarten. There were no phone calls, no social media, very little opportunity to communicate. Refugees are displaced people in a hostile place. Refugees are people running for their lives. A normal consequence of fleeing is disconnection and isolation.

IKEA – known for cheap furniture that is easy to assemble – won a design of the year award when they partnered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees – to develop an easy to assemble 188 sq foot plastic shelter with solar panels. It sleeps five and can be set up in 4 hours. This are now used globally by the UN to care for millions of refugees in our world. Insert IKEA joke here.

Joseph, fortunately, did not need IKEA because he was a carpenter whose skills I am sure came in handy as they settled into their new country seeking to find work and a place to raise their new child.

APPLICATION

The problem is that we romanticize the Christmas story. We polish it up and put it under the tree with twinkle lights. BUT to understand JOY we must remember that nothing about the Christmas story in and of itself was joyful. Jesus was born into the scandal of an unwed mother and into an oppressed nation to a poor family. He was born in an unwelcoming town on the back of another tax increase. Jesus is born with nothing but the love of his parents and God above.

In many ways, Jesus’ birth mirrors his death. His birth brought scandal and his death betrayal. His birth sparked violent crime and in his death he endured violent crimes. Jesus was born into an oppressed nation and was sentenced to death by that same nation. Mary was there at his birth, and Mary was there at his death.

So what are we to make of the angel who announced, “I bring you good new of great joy?”

To understand the Christmas story we must understand this:

Jesus brings joy TO the world
because there is no joy IN the world

Joy comes down to us from heaven in the most joyless of circumstances. And that is what it is all about. That is what our faith is all about. God takes what is dead and raises it to life. Joy is an outsider that arrives just when needed. The Christmas story is a serious of tragedies and  trials – and it into that mess God brings joy in the person of Jesus Christ. And this is why we can have joy because God brought it to us. Joy is not self-generated, it is not indigenous to the land – but comes into our sufferings, into our tragedies and into our frustrations. God brings us joy like a rescue team brings water to a lost hiker. It was what we desperately needed but did not have. Jesus brings joy to the world – because there is no joy in the world.

What is joy?

JOY IS GLADNESS OF HEART. That is a simple biblical definition. joy is hopeful, optimistic, and positive. This is what Jesus brought into a world that lacked it. Into a world of despair, and pessimism, and negativity – Joy is the greatest of foils, the starkest of contrasts and because it comes from God joy comes alongside our grief and sadness. Joy is so strong and powerful that it is not dependent on favorable circumstances. The Joy Jesus brings shows up at the strangest places – it comes into a scandal to oppressed people. Jesus’ arrival did not change any of the circumstances his parents were in, it did not change the politics of his time – it came into and lived alongside the brokenness already there. That why while the secular jolly holly tunes make no room for sadness. The true meaning of Christmas is all about sadness, and Christ’s joy coming to those who are in need.

At my dad’s funeral in 2021 – I was grieving as my father was so central in my life. I dreaded his death for years before it happened. I did not know how I was going to function without his wise presence in my life. But at the funeral, and in the hospice room, right there alongside of sadness and grief was a deep and true and beautiful gladness of heart. I know many of you have experienced this as well.

Joy grows in the soil of hope.

Our hope is our confidence in Jesus’ promises for the future – and because we know our future is secure –  this bedrock understanding of God’s promises – no matter how bad things become on earth – makes room for joy. Hope allows joy to coexist with pain. Joy grows in the soil of hope. Without the promises of heaven and the promise of those tears being wiped away by our Savior, there would be no hope and therefore no joy. 

And be sure – this theology is not found in the secular silver bells. The secular version of Christmas says, “Get over it. Don’t be sad. Come on Grinch – get with the program!” But Jesus meets us in our pain – so we can walk through the valley with no fear – and with joy because of hope in Christ and His promises for our future.  

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[1] https://www.lendingtree.com/credit-cards/study/holiday-shopping-sentiments-survey/