What We Know, What We Don't

Cards and long held traditions are not necessarily the best place to get our facts about the events of Christmas. We really don’t know if Mary rode on a donkey. We don’t know if she and Joseph traveled alone. We don’t know if she gave birth the first night she arrived in Bethlehem. Nor do we know if the angels sang, or if there were three wise men. We most certainly don’t know if Jesus was born on December 25th. We don’t even know what year He was born.

On the other hand we do know that an angel(s) appeared to Zechariah Mary, Joseph and the shepherds. We know for sure that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, wrapped in cloth and placed in a feeding trough. We know He was visited by magi and that they were guided by a star.

We know too why he came. It’s right there in Isaiah along with the virgin birth (7:14) and the promise of a male child (9:6). The answer is one filled with the life giving breath of grace and hope. It’s a picture of a tender healer and gentle shepherd. “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” (61:1)

Behind the historical events of Christmas lies a tremendous upside. And a very hideous underside. Our need was so dark, so ugly, so hopeless. Distress that flows out of our own defiant hearts. The wickedness of others that have mis-shaped and misled us. Sin mingled with shame. Abuse, abandonment, self-indulgence, addiction, deceiving spirits, pride, self-hatred, rejection, all conspiring together to leave us heartbroken and captive.

His coming became paramount. It was the beginning of a rescue. It was a beam of sunlight breaking through the ominous storm clouds. A medic reaching the battlefield wounded. Unbelievably glad tidings. Good news that is life saving and life giving.

Ultimately we know, too, how we make our own entrance into this Christmas story. “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Know what I mean?