Just Angel's Words

If you think about that first Christmas, it was probably anything but silent. Likely neither calm nor peaceful thoughts and sloughs of questions ran through the heads of what we have comes to know as the main characters of the Nativity Scene. What questions, do we overlook in this picturesque scene? Joseph was being forced to travel to a distant city with his very pregnant teenage bride for the very first Roman required census of Judea in order to pay Taxes. What would that tax return was like? He probably had not been to where he was going in a very long time, if ever. He had no relatives or friends to stay with when he got there. Regardless of what he believed to be true about his bride and her condition, he probably had to bring Mary along for her safety because of her reputation. How well did they know each other in this arranged marriage that had yet to be consummated? Mary was a very young virgin in her 3rd trimester who had been riding on a donkey for days to go to a city she has also likely not visited before. She might have known the rumors of the Judean king’s obsession with her baby and what murderous lengths he would go to weed him out of existence. Yet she rode to a town to tell him and his Roman masters exactly who and where they were. And when this young couple arrived to the great city of David, it was crowded, too crowded! So she stayed with her donkey in a damp stinky stable filled with the animals of the people in the inn, instead of on the street, which was bustling with everyone afraid of what a census and taxes meant for their country. How long was this virgin in labor before they were in the stable? Is that why the innkeeper let her stay? How private is the stable of an overfilled inn in a crowded city? Do you think Joseph had watched a woman deliver a baby before or only animals? Do you think he had ever seen that part of a woman, let alone his wife? Would he have to pay more taxes if the baby was born before he registered?

Maybe miles away it was quiet. But this time was also the most dangerous part of watching the flock. Many predators come out at night and many shepherds appoint only a few to stay awake. There was no light pollution this far away from the city. Only the torches or fires of the men at work to compete with the dark but starry sky. Then out of nowhere, a stranger appears! Did the sheep run away or fall over in fear when the stranger appeared and began to speak? Did the shepherds jump out of their skin from his sudden startling voice or his abrupt appearance from nowhere? Was he floating or flying or glowing? What combination would be less terrifying? They knew the story from Isaiah of the Messiah to come. But in their wildest dreams did any one of them ever believe that they would be the first to know where and when it was happening? Were they given directions or something to follow or just a vague idea of the city? And then after the idea might have just begun to set in how miraculous this message was, how quickly did they get bombarded by witnessing what was probably greater than any Super Bowl halftime show? Did heaven actually open up to let herdsmen partake in the literal angelic host glorification of God? How long did it last? Did they wait until the spectacular presentation was over, or did they run towards the Messiah, full of urgency and adrenaline? Or did they stare at each other in the dark after the bright as day chorus suddenly disappeared? Did they have to evens/odds it to decide who would have to stay behind with their entire family’s livelihood or did they try to bring the sheep along? Did an Angel stay behind to watch over the animals? When these working-class men, sweaty, and perhaps herding their sheep, made it past the city limits and somehow managed to find the foretold infant, was the scene what they expected? Did the people in the streets believe them? How long did they spend with the exhausted family? When shepherds went home and told their families of what happened, were they labeled as crazy?

Years later, Mary was back at home with her young toddler Jesus, while Joseph was at work. Jesus had already been dedicated and in so doing made a wise old man and old woman very happy to have lived to see him. However, Mary’s reputation probably had not improved, except with the people who actually knew her. Then, she gets an unexpected visit from more strangers. These men, guessing 3, were not privileged enough to have been among the smelly adrenaline driven shepherds. These men had spent years traveling. Not according to a map or a specific destination, but like 3 ships on the lands of destiny, they followed a star in the sky. These men were well educated, well-dressed, well-funded, and well-motivated. Through how many cities, back roads and valleys did these men have to protect their treasured gifts? How many reports did they have to send back to the Roman endorsed obsessed Judean king Herod, who sent them? How many infants in how many towns were massacred after they left for the next city? How much did they believe they would find what they were searching for and how much did they hope they would not? When Mary saw them enter the town or when people pointed out her house, did she know who they were? Did Mary know who sent them? Did they truly understand who sent them to Jesus? In that small house, they met the Messiah. Did he still have his baby fat? Did he speak in complete sentences? Was Mary terrified the entire time about what they would do to her baby boy? They gave him a savings account, medication, and some pain reliever, just what every young mother needs. And then these men had a dream and made a decision. They decided to recognize who actually had brought them to this small child and to disobey the man that had sent them. They also had to go on the run from Herod. Then these well-educated, less well-dressed than when they started, no longer funded, but more motivated than ever, men did not return from whence they came. What lengths would they travel to avoid Herod? What about Jesus as a young toddler made them believe that this sacrifice was worth it?             

Joseph is now warned in a dream to leave the country and flee to Egypt. Joseph understood that Herod was not done with the deadly search of the Messiah rival and that only in a place where it would be difficult to be a Jewish family would they be safe. As Joseph had once believed Mary, it was now up to Joseph to explain why they must leave their home and every support system they hadhave ever known to move to a country where Jewish people were hated and ending with “Mary, you just have to believe me, as I did you.”

Again, Joseph loaded up his young family and moved to Egypt. He probably did not speak the language or know anyone there. He did know the country was not fond of his people, after Moses’ escape. He also knew that his family would not survive if they stay where they were. Would his family be able to return someday soon? How would he support his family as an immigrant in a hostile nation? Jesus would spend many of his formative years in a land where the people did not speak his parent’s language. He would learn early in life what it was like to be disliked for where you came from and who you are. Was this lesson to prepare him for the rest of his life?

The facts of Jesus’s birth are like a story of an out-of-town teenage couple sent to an IRS audit, then having a baby in a downtown metropolis motel garage with farmers from outside the city sent to witnessing the event. Many of the scary and crazy questions that might surround this bizarre modern scenario, probably also ran through the minds of the people in the nativity scene. That first Christmas was not about being peaceful, it was about bringing peace. So if your Christmas feels out of control and you have no idea how you’re going to make it through, believe that God has a plan that is bigger and greater than all your questions. This truth was something that each one of the people in the nativity scene on that first Christmas had to believe.