Turn on your television set this time of year, and it’s nearly impossible not to see a film that you haven’t seen countless times before. One channel shows Santa Claus sending customers to the competition in The Miracle on 34th Street. On another, George Bailey is wishing Mr. Potter a merry Christmas in It’s a Wonderful Life. Not to be left out, Clark Griswald is stapling thousands of Christmas lights to his roof in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, blissfully unaware of his cousin Eddy’s upcoming, unannounced visit.
“Merry Christmas, Clark!”
Christmas movies have become a cherished tradition among many, many others in our Christmas season. More than any other culture, ours likes to tell stories through film. Perhaps it’s the allure of the visual over the audial, or maybe it’s simply because we’ve gotten good at it. Either way, whether you like it or not, you are going to be surrounded by stories this December, and most of them are ones you’ve seen before.
Did you know that every year, around this time, a young man moves back to his hometown in Vermont, discovers a young woman who owns a bakery, falls in love with her, they eventually get married, and then they live happily-ever-after?
The story of Mary’s pregnancy, Joseph’s confusion, and Jesus’s birth is a story we’ve heard many, many times before. Unlike the wonderfully filmed, sentimental yet sappy Hallmark specials that air every year (hmmm…I wonder if they will fall in love?), we never tire of reading, hearing, or watching the story of Jesus’s birth.
We wait with bated breath as Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem, wondering if Mary is going to make it there before she has the baby. Sure enough, she does.
We participate in the astonishment and wonder of the shepherds as they hear the good news of a Savior born this day in the city of David. We put ourselves in their sandals—what would it have been like to be there? Would we have fallen on our faces at such a sight?
We marvel at the wise men—their tenacity in watching the night sky, and their faith in following the star all the way from the east to Judea. (Now, the wise men actually came about two years later, when Jesus was older, so every Christmas card and nativity scene you see with the wise men gathered around is factually wrong, but we won’t worry about it—after all, it’s Christmas. And what’s a timeless story without making the fish a little bigger than it really was?)
I once heard someone discussing the importance of classical literature—why we should read it, study it, digest it, and always keep coming back to it. I remember him saying, “A classic is a piece of literature that never finishes saying what it has to say.”
If that’s true for Moby Dick, then how much more for the gospel of Jesus Christ?
Every year, we realize how much we need to hear this story. We come to the end of the year tired, exhausted, worn out. We’ve been busy putting up decorations, volunteering for events, shopping for family, friends, and charity—it’s a lot! It’s not that we forget the true meaning of Christmas or devalue its importance…rather, the beautiful melody played by the story of Jesus’s birth is drowned in a cacophony of other songs and choruses, to the point that we almost can’t pick it out from the others. The entire season can become a bit of a blur.
This year, let’s make it a point to spend some extra time with this classic—the story of Jesus’ birth. After all, every other classic, no matter how profound, is a work of fiction.
What about the story of Jesus? Mary, Joseph, the angels, the shepherds? They’re real.
The fear and trepidation that must have gripped Mary’s heart when she realized who was speaking to her, and the awesome call God was placing on her life—real.
The confusion and astonishment felt by Joseph as he struggled between his faith in God, his love for Mary, and the reality that God’s plan would create rumors that followed them the rest of their lives—real.
The incredible, awesome, holy, astounding fact, expressed so beautifully in the song Mary, Did You Know?, that this child would one day deliver her… that He has walked where angels trod… that when she kisses her little baby, she kisses the face of God?
That, brothers and sisters in Christ, is no work of fiction—it’s real. And that story never has, and never will, finish saying what it has to say.
Wishing you peace and joy,
Pastors Logan & Jacey Zepp
