Merry Christmas to all…
It’s Christmas time! Grab your fuzziest pair of Christmas socks and some hot coco because it’s story time.
I don’t know if you have ever seen Charlie Brown or not, but if you have then you should know that Christmas is not just about the presents or Santa Clause or frosty the snowman. Even though all of those things are great and we love them, none of them are the true meaning of Christmas. What is the true meaning of Christmas you ask? Let me tell you a story a little baby boy named Jesus.
Once upon a time, in a far off land there lived a young girl named Mary. Mary, I believe, was around 13 years old at the time. So she was basically a middle schooler. She was also a virgin, this is very important later on in the story. One day she was just going about her every day routine and she went to get some water from the well, as she does everyday. She got to the well and suddenly and Angel appeared to her and said “do not be afraid”. Have you ever noticed that every time and angel appears to a human in the bible the first thing they say is “do not be afraid”. Now I have no clue what is is like to see an angel or what I would feel like if I did, but i’m guessing that it’s probably a little nerve-wracking if they have to constantly tell people to calm down at the first sight of them. So Imagine this thirteen year old girl suddenly stoped by a very intimating looking angel and the angel says “God has been very kind to you. You will become pregnant by the Holy Spirit and give birth to a baby boy and you will call him Jesus. He will be God’s own Son and his kingdom will never end.” So now the thirteen year old virgin Mary is going to become pregnant and give birth to the messiah, the son of God. So Marry probably in shock right now, I mean she’s only going the mother of the freaking messiah at age 13. Then the angel told her that her cousin Elizabeth, whom everyone thought was too old to get pregnant, was also having a baby boy who God chose to “prepare the way” for Jesus, no pressure of course.
Mary went to see her cousin after saying bye to her family. When she got there an angel had already told Elizebeth and her husband everything and that their baby was to be called john. They had a nice reunion and they were all happy together, Mary stayed at their house for three months before going back home.
Meanwhile Joseph was freaking out because Mary was going to have a baby right before they got married and he considered just putting off the wedding all together. While Joseph was in the middle a being a scaredy cat, an angel appeared. Not in the same way they appeared to Mary though, no this one appeared in Joseph’s dream. The angel said “do not be afraid to have Mary as your wife” and he explained that Mary was chosen by God to be the mother of his son and that his name is Jesus. He told him that Jesus means savior and he will be named that because he will save people. So when Joseph woke up his nerves were gone and he decided to roll with it and marry Mary.
Marry and Joseph are together and happy living in the Roman Empire when suddenly… Taxes. Now everyone’s got to travel back to their hometown and register their names because the emperor wants a list of names so he can make sure everyone pays their taxes. They traveled 70 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, because that is where Joseph’s family came from. Keep in mind Marry is pregnant and her baby is due soon, so they are traveling pretty slowly.
When they got to Bethlehem every single room, guest room, and bed in every house and every inn was taken because so many people had traveled back to register their names. They were rejected everywhere they when except for one place, who said they could stay in the animal house. So in the barn with a bunch of animals, Mary gave birth to Jesus, the son of God. He slept in a manger and was swaddled in a long cloth.
When Jesus was born a new super bright star appeared in the sky right above them. There were shepherds watching their sheep at this time. For them it was just another average day, nothing really happens when your only job is too make sure the sheep don’t run away. When suddenly, an angel appeared and said “Don’t be afraid. I have good news for you and everyone. Today in Bethlehem a Savior has been born for you. You will find the baby lying in a manger.” Then choirs of angels come and start worshiping and singing ‘Glory to God in the Highest’. That’s technically what they say at least, but personally I think a mare accurate description would be chanting armies of angels, but I guess singing choirs of angels works too. So of course after that the shepherds we like that sounds cool lets go check it out and off they went to follow the star. When they saw him they were overwhelmed in joy they went to tell everyone in Bethlehem. Think “the British are coming” but with “Jesus is here” and more happy.
Wise men in a far away land saw the star in the sky and just like the brainiacs they were, they somehow guessed exactly what it meant and made plans to follow the star to see Jesus (their was also ancient writings that said this would happen so they weren’t wizards or anything). They got to a place called Jerusalem where they started asking around for where the son of God was. Herod, the king, heard of this and confronted the wise men about it. When he asked them they told him everything that they were following the star until they found the baby king. So the king was like alright that’s cool, hey when you find him let me know so I too can worship him. But what the wise men didn’t know was that Herod was secret planning to murder this “baby king” they spoke of.
The Wise men found Jesus and they bowed down and worshipped him, they gave him their gifts. Then they were warned in a dream, by God, not to go back to Herod so they didn’t. When they left an angel appeared to Joseph in his dream. The angel told Joseph all of the kings plans and said he should escape to Egypt. Joseph took Mary and Jesus and they escaped Egypt where they stayed until the king Herod was dead.
That is the story of Christmas. Christmas is the day we celebrate when Jesus the Messiah was born. The baby boy who was born to bring peace and good will to all. This is the true meaning of Christmas, to celebrate the day our savior came to earth. So keep that in mind this Christmas as your exchanging presents and spending time with family. Think about how lucky we are to have been saved by God even though we don’t deserve it, and think about the true meaning of Christmas. Happy Holidays!
Citations:
The Bible. Oxford University Press, 2004.
