a few years back, (well, actually eight years! wow!) i wrote a series of posts on the characters in the CHRISTmas story from the bible. the major characters of mary, joseph, shepherds, wise men, and caesar augustus were all discussed, as were minor or implied characters such as zechariah, anna, simeon, herod, and even the innkeeper. i thought i had covered everyone, but as i was reading through the CHRISTmas story in matthew today, one stuck out to me that i had never noticed before, enough that it caused me to want to get back on here and write about it, because odds are, you missed them, too!
i want to take you back, just for a moment, and have you revisit a scene from the CHRISTmas story. this is not a character people like to focus on in the story, because it doesn’t fit their idyllic version of CHRISTmas, but it is one that is important to not miss. imagine, for a moment, that you are a mother or a father in the region of bethlehem, an area approximately 16 square miles just south of jerusalem. you have a toddler, a boy under two years old, that is playing in the floor of your house, when there is a knock at your door. you answer the door and there are a half dozen soldiers at your door. they push past you, and walk over to the toddler playing on the floor, and run him through with a sword, killing him, and then they walk out. this is how you will forever remember this day. not happy memories. not peace on earth. it’s a memory that you would like to forever remove from your mind, but won’t be able to. you may not have even been aware of the birth of a special baby boy within the last two years. all you know is that your world has just been shattered and you are left to pick up the pieces, perhaps not even knowing why.
this is the reality of the CHRISTmas story. it’s the reality of the world Jesus was born into. it’s a reality of the world we live in today, a world marred by sin that Jesus came into in order to redeem. while many of us have nice memories of CHRISTmases past, others are not so fortunate. their memories of CHRISTmas are ones of nightmares. of abuse, of violence, of poverty, of drunken relatives, of absent fathers or mothers, of screaming, of trauma, of prison, of war. they did not ask for these memories, they may not have a discernible source of blame for these memories, other than the ones that forced them on them, but they are stuck with them all the same. they dread the holidays coming up, because of the memories they bring, or perhaps because they know what awaits them during the holidays. the cycle may still be continuing, and their CHRISTmas will be filled with those same things that they grew up with. as a chaplain, i hear it all the time, of how the sailor or marine will be staying on base for CHRISTmas because it’s better than going home. i have known friends who hated CHRISTmas and did everything they could to avoid acknowledging the holiday. they suffered with those memories that they could not/can not erase from their minds. throughout our world, CHRIST-followers are forced to celebrate CHRIST and CHRISTmas in secret, for fear of tyrannical governments that would jail or kill them. CHRISTmas day atrocities are committed around the world against CHRIST-followers, with increasing frequency.
so how does this line up with the story of CHRISTmas? the story of CHRISTmas is there, in all it’s exposed truthfulness, as a story of peace in the midst of a broken and violent world. not the peace that men envision, but peace between God and man. Jesus repeatedly talks about this broken world, and how His coming would have far-reaching effects for the rest of history. He reminds us that His peace is not peace as the world sees it, and also warned us that as far as His purpose, He came not to bring peace, but a sword. that is because this world is the enemy’s territory, and satan hates the gospel, and will do everything within his power, including using people and their propensity for conflict and violence, to stop it, but ultimately will fail. the Sword of the Spirit is the sword Jesus brought, which was the Word of God fulfilled in Him. that is why john says, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” did you catch that? the Word is Jesus, the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. why did He do this, knowing the calamity that His coming would bring? He did it because there was no other way for the gap between God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness to be bridged. He did it because the eternal is far greater than the temporal.
so while the CHRISTmas season may not be joyful for many people, that is all the more reason for us to tell them the real meaning of CHRISTmas. the peace of God surpasses all understanding, and can not only redeem the holiday for those who dread it, but it can redeem their very souls. Jesus said that in this world we will have trouble, not we might, but we will, but He has left us His peace. and the only way that peace can be received is through the saving work of His death and resurrection. because that is why He came, for the violence that His birth wrought would be the violence that He would surrender to in order to free us from the nightmare of sin and this broken world, and all of the horrible memories it contains.
my question to you this CHRISTmas is do you have that peace? did you grow up knowing the meaning of CHRISTmas, or just saw it as a holiday with presents and a nice story juxtaposed over the trauma as the stresses of the commercial holiday resulted in conflict, oblivious to the coming of the CHRIST? is the CHRISTmas season a time of rejoicing at the arrival of Emmanuel, God with us, or a time of getting bogged down in the tragic memories of the past, of failed examples of what CHRISTmas should have been? if it’s the latter, i pray that you will seek CHRIST and His face, and you will truly find His peace.
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