There is so much about the story of Jesus birth that we ought to celebrate, there are so many little gems about how it happened, about how God broke through to us. There is so much that we could point to as signs of the wonder of God’s ways of finding us. So I thought it might be fun for us to explore the story that has become our story as Christians. So let me begin with a few questions for you:
What did Mary ride on the road to Bethlehem? It doesn’t say…we know a pregnant woman would not be walking, so we might assume it was a donkey, but we don’t read anything about it either way…
How soon after they reached Bethlehem was Jesus born? The Gospels don’t say how long it was…it could have a day or that night or the next night, or it could have been a while…
In what kind of building was Jesus born? The Gospel of Luke tells us that it was a manger, which is a feeding trough, so we assume it was something like that…My recent visit to Nazareth and Bethlehem led me to believe he was most likely born in a cave, which is where his family would have lived.
What kinds of animals were present at the birth? The Gospels don’t say, because we read that it was a manger, we might add some animals that we would assume were present, but animals are never actually mentioned…
What did the innkeeper say to Mary and Joseph when they came to Bethlehem? Well we read that there was no room at the inn, but there is actually no mention of an innkeeper and therefore no words of that kind were recorded by the Gospel writers.
How many wise men were there? The Gospels don’t say, it says that there were three gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh, but the Gospels don’t tell us, it could have been a whole group of wise men chipping in on just a few gifts or it could have been one or two generous wise guys…
What were their names? It doesn’t say anything about that…although later tradition, perhaps medieval times names them Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar.
What about that star that they followed, how did its brightness compare to the brightness of other stars? The Gospels tell us that the wise men observed a star at its rising, but the scriptures do not say anything about how bright it was or how long it was there or anything like that…
Did the shepherds see the star? It doesn’t say anything about that…
Did Joseph or Mary meet the magi? It doesn’t say anything about that…
Did the shepherds speak with the magi? It doesn’t say anything about that…
The story of Christmas is a story so big and vast, so life-changing and earth shattering, so spectacular that the story itself comes from many different places and many different sources. Some of what we celebrate as the Christmas story comes from the Gospels, but as we just learned, a lot of it doesn’t. This story is so compelling that human beings throughout history have joined Jesus’ birth so fully that we have made our own additions. We have added to the Christmas story with poems and novels, we have added to the story with carols and hymns. We have added to the story with our own stories because of the power and presence of this universal human story- the story of light in the darkness, hope and comfort in difficult circumstances and God’s presence in all and through all. We want there to be a star rising and glowing so bright because of our need for a light like that to burn in us in the darkest of winter nights. We want there to be the lowing of cattle and the baaing of sheep and the crow of the rooster perched on the stable window because of our need for God to be present for all of creation. We want there to be an innkeeper who rejected the young couple with the harshest of words and the coldest of hearts because there was a time when we lived that night too and we need God to offer us a warm place anyway.
The truth is that we actually know very little about how Jesus was born and the oldest Gospel, the Gospel of Mark has no birth story at all. So it seems that this story, the story of God breaking into human flesh, this story of light shining bright even in the darkness, this story of God extending a special blessing even amidst animals and dirt and straw, this story of being rejected but pressing on, this story of God using unlikely people: two teenagers to change everything, this story of Christmas is a story so big and vast, so life-changing and earth shattering, so spectacular that the story itself cannot even be contained or confined in our scriptures.
Thus, it is fitting that, after Jesus was born, the wise men asked a simple question, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” Where is the child? Where is the one for whom we have been waiting? Where is the one who is to remind us that God is with us? After all, most of what God needs from us is a seeking heart, an inquiring spirit and just enough openness to get through. The wise men started their journey to the child with nothing more than some odd gifts and a question. Where is the child? And like the shepherds, they heard about the birth after it happened. We don’t know much about these wise men; we don’t know why they believed deeply enough to travel so far with only a star to guide them. We don’t know if they were in need of healing or if they had another urgent reason for making such a long trek. We don’t know if they left family behind or where they stayed along the way. We don’t know what they were hoping to find. We don’t know very much at all about these wise men, but the Gospel of Matthew tells us that they saw the child, that they knelt down and paid him homage, that they offered their gifts and that they went home by another road, they went home by another road. It could easily be a line we forget or dismiss but the Gospel of Matthew tells us that these men “left for their own country by another road.” The Gospel writers leave out pretty much all of the details about these much celebrated men of the story of Jesus birth, they leave out how many of them actually came, they leave out their names and why they were coming, they leave out what they might have said when they saw Jesus, but they do tell us that they went home by another road. Whatever they witnessed, whatever they felt, whatever it was that stirred within them on that night, they were so changed that they had to take a different path home. And I guess that is the only detail that really matters. From that encounter with God in the flesh, they could never be the same again. They could never again travel the same road and look at it the same way. They could never again look at the starts and not see them glowing brighter. They could never again see Herod as their King because they had an encounter with a King who rules in love. The story of Christmas is a story whose details don’t matter much, what matters is which path we take after we encounter Jesus. What matters is what God’s love breaking through to us, does to our hearts. What matters is not what we bring to the birth, but what we bring home. We don’t know very much at all about how Christmas happened, we know very little about how Jesus was born, but we do know that those who met him were changed. The site of love and light and life, right there was so amazing that it made them all go home by another road. This story of Christmas is a story so big and vast, so life-changing and earth shattering, so spectacular that the story itself cannot even be contained or confined in our scriptures; instead it is told in the road we take after meeting God in Jesus. May it be so. Amen.
This exercise has been done in a whole variety of ways, but this one was inspired by the Rev. Martin Copenhaver and a sermon by the Rev. Timothy Stern.