At this time of year, we have all the traditional holiday stories like “A Christmas Carol,” “Santa and Rudolph,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and that is fine, but here's the problem; many put the birth of Jesus is on that same level.
It is often called the Christmas story which permits people to think that it is fiction. Much better to call it the Christmas account, because it is the re-telling of factual events that happened; events of such cosmic importance that we have retold it every year for 2,000 years.
Have you ever noticed how most fables begin with “Once upon a time?” The reason they do this is because they have no historical backing. They are fiction. You cannot place them in real time with real people.
The Christmas account however is filled with time and place and people. It is the first and vital step of God's plan of salvation where God got down in the dirt for you and for me. When mankind fell into sin God said, “From dust you came and to dust you will return.” In coming to us to redeem us from our sins, God put on our body made of dirt and the infinite became an infant. Think on that. Almighty God humbled Himself with our humanity to save us from our sins.
No, it is not fiction. We have the place: Bethlehem. We have the witnesses: a group of shepherds and some Magi from the East. The manger was just the first step of the plan, but that’s not where it ended. It ended on the cross where the full-grown Jesus paid the price of our sin on the cross.
And so, to make sure that this account never gets relegated to the ranks of fiction, our Lord gave us many details. Luke tells us that in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus. We can place him in human history. We also read that this census was taken when Quirinius was governing in Syria; we know about him too. Jesus was born at an identifiable time in history. He lived among real people and walked in places that we can go and visit today.
This tells us that the Christmas account is no work of fiction but rather the factual account of God coming to rescue us. He got down in the dirt of our sins and endured it all for us so that we might be saved. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but receive eternal life.” So let us rejoice today and give thanks that He got down in the dirt of this world and that He gave us these details that give us such certainty and comfort at Christmas time and throughout the year.
Merry Christmas… Amen.
