As I was getting ready for my two Christmas Eve services, one of my daughters asked me: “Dad, why is it that we read the same stories during the Christmas Eve service?”
She asked me that question because I had given her two short Biblical stories about Christ’s birth she had to help me read during worship on Christmas.
Of course, she was right.
We read the same stories every year on Christmas Eve. Don’t we? That was my answer to her.
As a Pastor for close to about 15 years as of next year, we’ve read and heard the same old stories. But, through these stories, God still speaks to us.
Through the stories, God gives us a message that meets us exactly at the point of our changing needs.
In other words, while the stories do not change, God’s message remains relevant to our current and individual situations.
Here are three truths we can learn from the Christmas stories we read about throughout the Old and New Testaments.
Christmas means that God turns the impossible into something possible
There are two stories primarily in Luke 1 that point out the truth that God is able to turn what we call the impossible into something possible.
The first story is that of Elizabeth and Zechariah in Luke 1. Elizabeth is related to Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Both Elizabeth and Zechariah were advanced in age and had no children of their own. But, God made it possible, which turned what they (and the other people in the community who knew them) called impossible into something possible.
The child they would have would be known as John the Baptist, the man who would eventually baptize Jesus.
The second story is that of Mary, the mother of Jesus. She was very young, unlike Elizabeth, her relative, when an angel brought to her the news that she would be of a child.
In addition, she was only engaged to Joseph at that point, and technically, there was no way that would even be possible.
However, the angel would say to her that “nothing is impossible with God” (see Luke 1:37).
Christmas then implies the following:
Christmas means that God has come near us
The birth of Jesus Christ is proof that God allowed Himself to become like one of us. That’s why they had to call him Emmanuel (Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:21).
God allowed Joseph to name the new baby and give him the name of Jesus (Matthew 1:21). What an honor for Joseph that God has asked him to name the Son of God.
Being the one to give a name to a new born baby is such a privilige in real life. And, to name the Son of God, that’s even much more than just a privilege.
Joseph gives a name to God, the Son. Not only does he do that. But, he will also care for this baby until when Jesus, as a human being, learns to be independant and take care of himself.
What that means is how God would choose to come to us in such a fragile manner: a baby boy. It was the lowest means one could think of, and which God, the Maker of everything and everyone, chose to come near us.
Of course, that was to fulfill Scripture. God didn’t want to come to us in a flashy and noisy way. He had no beauty or majesty to attract people to him, nor special appearance that anyone should desire him (Isaiah 53:2).
The truth is that even though God seems so powerless and fragile, God was still in control of times and circumstances.
Chirstmas means an invitation for us to join God’s story
God came to us using a very unattractive way so that God could reach every human from every social class.
Look at the people who got the chance to witness at the birth of the Christ.
On one hand, you have the human parents of Jesus: Mary and Joseph. They were regular people even though Joseph belonged to king David’s descendence (family). In real life (in Nazareth), he was known as a carpenter, and nothing more.
On the other hand, you come across the shepherds who were in most part at the bottom of the social structure during those days.
When everyone else had the luxury of sleeping at night, they didn’t have that because they had to watch over people’s flocks and rarely theirs.
But, they would be the first ones to hear the news about the birth of the Messiah. And, they didn’t hear it from people, but from an angel sent by God.
They were also able to witness at the joy the birth of the Christ had produced in heaven. They saw a multitude of other angels join together to praise God, the Father, for this silent night.
The last group of people who witnessed at the birth of the Messiah are the wise men and others the Bible does not mention. But, there were probably women who helped Mary give birth to the Son of God.
These wise men are of royal and priestly ranks in society from where they had come. They are not even Jews. God, however, allowed them to come from afar and witness at the birth of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
All these people have come to Bethlehem to worship baby Jesus who’s lying in a manger.
That’s the invitation of Christmas: to worship Jesus, our Christ.
[bctt tweet=”Christmas isn’t just a one-time celebration, but the beginning of a lifetime journey to 1)treasure God’s perfect gift, 2)commit to follow Christ like the wise men who chose to follow the star leading them to Jesus, and 3)join this community gathered around Christ! ” username=”emmanuelnaweji”]
In conclusion
No matter what you’re going through, Christmas is always a reminder that God isn’t done with us yet. It means God is at work behind the scenes, and the only thing we’ve got to do is to continue believing that God is always in control even when life seems so impossible. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
