A Post-Christmas Musing

Another year has come to an end. Another Christmas is behind us. Has this Christmas been any different from the ones gone before it? Or is there anything new at all to learn of Christmas? Each year, there's the ritual of enacting the nativity scene at churches, retelling the story of the birth of Jesus and then feast after feast! I'm sure for most of us, the message of Christmas is a stale one. Perhaps, there is more excitement on what would be the menu for the feasts, how to decorate the Christmas tree better, and friends and families to catch up on, rather than celebrate the birth of our Saviour. To make things worse, by writing another piece on Christmas, even after Christmas, I'm giving you an overdose of it! But bear with me, and allow me to take this opportunity to narrate something I've learned just recently. At a Bible study group some weeks before Christmas, I was hit by the question, “What is your worldview of Christmas?” Now, that, I thought, was something to think about. After all, Christmas symbolizes God coming to dwell with human beings – the end of men's wait for the Messiah and the beginning of a new era. Undeniably, we all have our 'worldview' on virtually every topic on earth, whether we realize it or not, from political to sports to social to economic issues. But, as Christians, it is pertinent to ask, “Is my worldview Biblical?”

For many Christmases, it never dawned on me that I may have constructed a different kind of a Christmas story from all the influences I have had since my childhood days. The Christmas cards, the Sunday school stories, picture books, etc. paints different pictures of the story of the birth of Jesus Christ and they certainly influence us. As children those things were quite helpful in making us understand the Christmas story in some ways. The problem, however, is that we have not grown beyond such stories. Somehow, we assume that there's nothing more to learn of the Christmas story. But if we closely look into the biblical narrative of Jesus' birth, many of what we believe could be wrong or ill-supposed. Take, for instance, the classic Christmas card image that shows the newborn Jesus placed naked on the feeding trough (manger) in a brightly lit cosy stable, the Magi with their exotic gifts, the shepherds staring at the baby in wonder, Mary and Joseph with a contended look and the animals at the shelter peeping at the strange event. And yes, the star that guided the Magi shining bright above them and the heavenly choir of angels swarming the scene! That is, indeed, a fairy tale picture. And we thought that was really the scenario.

Unfortunately, that is a very flawed depiction of the birth of Christ. First of all, the bare baby on a manger would never be an accurate picture. The Bible mentions that “She (Mary) wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger” (Luke 2: 7). Who would have imagined a newborn baby to be placed half-naked on a cold winter night, that too on a bed of straw? Secondly, unlike the cosy scene of the stable, it would have been a dark, dirty and deserted place. Because of the pictorial depiction of baby Jesus on a feeding trough of wood, we thought that was the manger. However, commentary points out that stables are often caves with feeding troughs carved out of rock walls, which are also used to feed wild animals. The scene could have been on the outskirt of the town vicinity, somewhere where harsh wind blow. Joseph and Mary must have tried hard to keep themselves warm. Now, that would not be a pleasant picture for Christmas card. The first place to introduce our Lord Jesus was somewhere no one would expect. No wonder, the Jews couldn't digest the fact that their Messiah could be born so lowly. Some may wonder, “What could have driven Joseph and Mary to the fringe of Bethlehem?” The mention that they could not find room in the inn also suggest that the little town of Bethlehem could have been buzzing with people around that time, as people like them would have come from different places to register in the census according to the decree by Caesar (Luke 2: 1-3). Poor people like them would obviously be out of favour when there were limited rooms. Besides, the late arrival because of Mary's pregnancy might also made them run out of luck in finding a suitable place. The uninhabited animal shelter house seems to be the only option for them. And by the way, there is no mention of cattle in the stable. Most likely Joseph and Mary found it suitable because it was deserted by animals.

Thirdly, the Magi didn't visit baby Jesus at the manger unlike popular belief. Matthew 2: 11 says, “On coming to the house, they (the Magi) saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him...” (Note that it was a 'house' not a 'stable') When the Magi came visiting Jesus was most likely 2 (two) years of age or little lesser, as commentary suggested. Thus, Herod's order “to kill all they boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under” (Matt. 2: 16) was also based on the information given him by the Magi. Jesus and parents probably moved into a proper 'house', suggesting that they might have even thought of settling down in Bethlehem, after all it was Joseph's hometown. Besides, the Magi weren't kings, as many would have believed, and we don't even know how many there were or where they were from. At best, identifying them as 'wise men from the east' could be the closest interpretation. They could have been Jewish remnants of the Babylonian exile, or they could have astrologers or scholars of ancient manuscript, or even could be from different lands. However, the identification of the three gifts heightened the belief that there might have been three of them. But there could have been more gifts and the mention of only three could have been Matthew's purpose to symbolize Christ's identity and what he would accomplish – gold for royalty, incense for priesthood and myrrh, a spice to be used in death.

And though we would have imagined Joseph and Mary to be happy at the birth of Jesus, I wonder if their happiness would have lasted. Sooner, the reality of having to bring their first-born child into the world as would an animal surely would have brought many questions to their minds. Why would God want his Son to be born in a forsaken edge of the world? Wouldn't he have provided somewhere more humane at least to usher in the Saviour of the world? Did Mary imagined that the special child promised by the Holy Spirit would be born that way? Did Joseph began to doubt the dream he dreamt? For most part of my life, the picture of the brightly lit cosy stable has been the picture of Christmas in my mind. And all the wonderfully decorated nativity scene enacted everywhere during Christmas season boosted that mindset. Today, Christmas is more of commercial than spiritual celebration, especially in big towns and cities. Everybody celebrates Christmas. But for most people, it is about installing beautifully decorated Christmas tree and Santa Claus with his white beard and red clothes. Jesus, the reason for Christmas, is nowhere near the scene. That is something to be bothered. If we let non-Christians get away by thinking that Christmas is about the brightly-lit-Christmas-tree and the gift-giving-Santa-Claus, then we're failing as a Christian! But before we get into that we need to get the Christmas story 'right'.

Is Christmas something of importance to you? If yes, what is the source of your Christmas story? Is it the Sunday school narratives or the story which the pastor once told on Christmas or the Christmas card pictures or the nativity scene enacted somewhere or the Bible? The Bible is the only authentic source of the story of Jesus. It is important that we read it and try to understand it for all its worth. What we hear may not always be the 'right' story, we need to verify its truth from the Bible. Often we only scheme through it and not study it. That is a problem. If we want to live a fruitful Christian life, we ought to carefully observe what is written in the Bible and apply it into our lives.

That said, however, it is difficult to get the whole picture of the birth of Jesus because the Bible didn't record the entire narrative. It is, then, left for our imagination to fill those gaps. And that is very challenging. Because we may not get the accurate picture. It is understandable that all the pictorial depictions of the biblical narratives are creatively done, but they may also be not all 'rightly' done, like the Magi visiting the baby Jesus at the manger. Now, I'm not trying to condemn all the picture story books on Christmas or even other stories of the Bible. All I'm concerned is what kind of sources inform you about the various stories. Do we accept the story of Jesus' birth as enacted somewhere or do we look into the Bible to see what's written? The untold stories of Jesus' growing up years could be a good storyline for some to recreate, but it could become heretic if we don't study biblical history properly. We all bear testimony of our Christian life wherever we are. Therefore, we ought to be responsible people. As a parent, I've realized that I need to be more aware of what kinds of information gets passed on to my daughter. Often I get tempted to pick any nice-looking book without looking into what could be the motive within. But that would be a mistake. My experience is that a child's mind is like a sponge, it can absorb everything. So also, how we tell Bible stories to children becomes a matter of importance. We all are living proof of that. Part of growing up in life is also to 'unlearn' many things. Though we've just celebrated Christmas, perhaps we could just re-read the first two chapters of Matthew and Luke and see if your 'worldview' of Christmas is in tune with the Biblical narrative.