Who was the real hero of Christmas?
Published: Tue, 12/24/13
Since it is Christmas Eve today I have been thinking about one of
the most intriguing characters in the Christmas story. Of course
when discussing the birth stories of Jesus you have to decide which
particular narrative you mean, there are just two, one in
Matthew's Gospel and another, quite different story, in
Luke's version. The way the two stories get conflated together
in popular carols, re-tellings and children's nativity plays is
a source of irritation to me and to anyone else who actually knows
the New Testament. I believe that mythology is open to a wide
range of interpretation and invites many different responses. That
is as it should be in any story or writing which has a spiritual
message, but please don't quote the bible, or any other source
inaccurately. Develop any theory or idea you like about who the
magi who visited from the east were but don't tell me they had
to cram into a stable alongside the shepherds. Luke talks about
Shepherds, Matthew tells us that visitors from the East came to a
house where they found the baby Jesus. The only consistency
between the two stories is that a. Jesus was born in Bethelehem, b.
he was raised in Nazereth, c. his mother was called Mary, d.
Mary's husband was called Joseph. That's it, apart from
those four details two out of four Gospels tell two very different
stories.
Which one do I prefer? Thats hard to say and probably meaningless
anyway. Apart from the four details listed above I don't think
anyone can say for sure anything about the birth of Jesus. So as
with all mythology what matters is the inspiration that comes from
reading or hearing the story and seeing how you respond to it in
your heart. In Matthew's version of the nativity story Joseph
is certainly the hero. We know nothing about him really apart from
two facts, first he was a resident of Bethlehem and secondly he was
engaged to a young woman called Mary. Mary gets pregnant and
Joseph certainly wasn't the father. His first intention was a
quiet divorce but then he has a dream which tells him that Mary is
'with child through the Holy Spirit'. Does this mean that
Joseph was convinced Mary was pregnant by divine intervention? I
have no idea, he just accepted that Mary's pregnancy served a
higher purpose and he had a role to play in God's plan. Then
after the baby is born important visitors from the East come,
present themselves to King Herod and tell the paranoid puppet ruler
that they believe a king has been born and they want to pay their
respects. Herod is not one to take any chances on maintaining his
dynasty and decides to ensure the death of this usurper baby.
Joseph has another dream and promptly moves his young family to
Egypt where they are safe from Herod's wrath. After the death
of Herod Joseph brought his wife and adopted son back to Judea but
considered it safer to settle in Nazareth because Herod's son
Archelaus was still reigning in Judea. That is the last we hear of
Joseph. But even in the brief Gospel account he comes across as a
man of compassion, even when he believed he had been cheated on. A
man of faith, willing to respond to a call to play a part in a
higher purpose than his own expectations of life. A man of action
willing to move his young family to a far away place and keep them
safe from harm, even though his enemy was a powerful and vicious
king and Joseph was just an ordinary man.
The two christmas stories are both delightful and inspiring tales.
I believe though that they should be considered separately and seen
as examples of ordinary people responding to extraordinary calls to
action. Luke focusing on Mary, Matthew on Joseph. When the
stories are disentangled from each other the message comes through
much more clearly.
Happy Christmas to you anyway, may you have a happy time over the
holidays and let us make 2014 the best year yet.
regards
Graham