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by Jill Carattini
If the first chapter of Luke is the preface to a great story - the foretelling
of a herald, the prophecy of a child, the return of the throne of a king - the
second chapter is the culmination. The Roman world is called to a census. A
young couple journeys to Bethlehem to be counted. A child is born. "And there
were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks
at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone
around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be
afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in
a manger.' Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the
angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace
to men on whom his favor rests.'"(1)
Christian or otherwise, the Christmas story is often viewed as wonderful in its
familiarity, calling forth each year a childhood delight in the monotonous,
beckoning our imaginations to a stable and a story. Christmas hymns, full of
imagery and story, are piped in as background music at post offices and malls.
Manger scenes can still be found as part of familiar Christmas décor. Yet often
for those to whom it is all most familiar, it is also a story we can find
surprisingly unfamiliar each year. Like children delighting in another reading
of a bedtime favorite, the Nativity is somehow still startling in its mysteries,
the child still out of place in the manger, the story full of profound paradox.
The first time I walked through the crowded, pungent streets of Bethlehem, I was
struck by the disparity between what I was seeing and "the little town of
Bethlehem" I had imagined in pageants and songs. The harsh reality of God
becoming a child in the midst of the cold and dark world I knew myself suddenly
seemed a blaring proclamation: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among
us. There is a plaque of the same words outside the dark and ancient church
built upon what was once the place of the nativity. Reading this in the actual
Bethlehem, I remember thinking I had never really considered it before: God
taking on flesh to live here, with us, in our chaos and fighting and despair.
Upon his conversion, Charles Wesley took to hymn writing as a means of
attempting to capture the strange hope of a God among us, which was persistently
stirring in his mind. Though a few of the words have long since been changed,
one of Charles Wesley's 6,000 hymns is a widely beloved declaration of the
Incarnation. Seeking to convey in pen and ink a Christmas story both familiar to
our hearts and startling in its wonder, Wesley wrote: Hark, how all the welkin rings,
For Wesley, the Christ child in the manger was forever an indication of the
great lengths God will go to reconcile his creation, a savior willing to descend
that we might be able to ascend. "Welkin" is an old English term meaning "the
vault of heaven." Wesley was telling the radical story of the Incarnation: All
of heaven opening up for the birth of a king and the rebirth of humanity.
The star of Bethlehem, the magi, the shepherds, and the willing child Mary are
all amid the long-imagined and inconceivable markers of a God among us. The
birth of Christ is the timeless gesture that God has chosen to remain. And
Christmas is a time to imagine what it means if the hard cries of a real and
unpolished world have really been heard, if a savior was born, if the vault of
heaven was truly opened. Hail the heav'nly Prince of Peace! Hark! the herald angels sing,
References:
(1) Luke 2:8-14.
About The Author:
Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias
International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.
Source: A Slice of Infinity. Copyright © 2012 Ravi Zacharias International
Ministries, All rights reserved.
"Glory to the King of kings;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris'n with healing in his wings.
Mild He lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth
"Glory to the newborn King!"
See Also:
Christmas Home | Sermons Home | General Sermons and Essays | Articles Home | Library - Home
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