The First Christmas

For the first time in many years I attended a Christmas Eve worship service not as a professional functionary but rather as a worshiper—a layperson as it were. I must admit that it felt somewhat strange to sit out amongst the congregation with no responsibilities and with nothing to do. Deep down I expected to hear a voice say to me: “Get up and go say a prayer!” But no voice was heard. I was off the hook for sure.

So I entered into the flow of worship, along with about 2500 other worshipers. The church we attended was one of the megachurches near our new home. It was definitely conservatively Evangelical with hip looking musicians pumping out rock versions of Christmas tunes. If I recall we sang about four songs standing and one sitting. We did sing Silent Night.

Then in the middle of the service, just prior to the sermon, ushers passed out two little disposable plastic cups. One contained grape juice and the other an almost microscopic size piece of hard bread. We were told to drink from the cup and eat the tiny piece of bread. Yes there were some “holy” words spoken but for the life of me I cannot remember what was said. I turned to my wife and asked: “Did we just celebrated the Eucharist?” She whispered back: “Now don’t be critical.”

Then the message, which was communicated quite well with enough humor to hold our interest and just enough seriousness to make it pass as a bonafide Evangelical sermon. It wasn’t bad. The pastor came across as being approachable and was confidently passionate in what he believed. “I probably would enjoy having lunch with this guy” I thought to myself, “and talk to him about why we had Communion in the middle of worship.”

So what did he believe? Well he believed that Jesus’ whole purpose for being born was to become our “personal” Savior. He made this very clear. In other words, the main reason God sent Jesus into this world was to provide us with a personal Savior who would give anyone who believes in him everlasting life. That’s the real big gift of Christmas and “it’s the reason for the season” so they say.

Now who would argue with such an explanation for the meaning of Jesus’ birth? Certainly there is truth in this understanding of why Jesus was born. But I wonder if this emphasis on the so-called “personal Savior” theme reflects our own cultural traditions of consumerism and individualism more than the Gospel traditions handed down to us in Matthew and Luke in the New Testament?

In other words, when we hear the Christmas story repeated each year in churches across America what do we actually hear? Does the story actually reflect the original purpose of Matthew and Luke in their telling of the birth of Jesus or does it reflect our own obsession with consumerism and individualism in this country? I suspect it is the latter.

Do we realize that the original stories of Jesus’ birth in Matthew and Luke were actually stories subverting the Empire of Rome (Matthew) and the way poor, marginalized people, and women were being treated in Jesus’ time (Luke)? Do we realize that the only two birth stories in the New Testament are vastly different from one another and each was intended to address the political and social issues of the time? Would it be too much to ask American Christians to look into the historical context in which Matthew and Luke were written and ask a really important question: “How did those first Christians understand the Christmas stories in Matthew and Luke?”

Yes Jesus is the Savior of the world, but he is much more than just my personal Savior whom I can possess for myself (consumerism). There is no danger or risk in this insipid understanding of the Gospel. Jesus said: “Follow me!” But his command was not to follow him into heaven once this life is finished, but rather to follow him into this dangerous and hostile world as his disciples. By following him it is implied that one will live as Jesus lived and taught, which often stood opposed to the standard ways in which the world operates.

I would like to recommend to you a great little book entitled The First Christmas: What the Gospel’s Really Teach About Jesus’ Birth by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan. I guarantee you that once you read this explanation of the original Christmas Story you will never hear that story in the same way again—ever!