INTRODUCTION
Every year, on
Christmas Eve, we tell the story of the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ. This year, we’re going to try to tell it in a
little different way. We’re going to tell
you the story from the point of view of some of the characters in the story. We’ll read the story out of the Bible,
too--it’s very important that we do that.
But we’re also going to try to get into the heads of the characters-- to
tell you what they thought, how they felt, and why they did what they did. Obviously, some of this will be
speculation. The Bible does not tell us
a lot about what many of the people in the Christmas story thought or
felt. We hope, though, that telling the
story in this way will make the story seem more real to you, and will help you
appreciate in a different way the incredible gift God gave us on that first
Christmas night. We’re going to start by
looking at Joseph.
FIRST SCRIPTURE: Matthew 1:18-25
JOSEPH SPEAKS
I
am Joseph. I was engaged to be married
to a woman named Mary. I was looking
forward to it. Who would not? I thought very highly of Mary. She appeared to be a godly woman, a woman of
great faith. I thought she would make an
excellent wife and mother. I looked
forward to us having many happy years together.
And
then. Then she came to me one day. I could tell she was scared. I could not imagine what was wrong. Then, she told me she was going to have a
child. I could not believe my ears. Mary?
Unfaithful to me? I had trusted
her. I had trusted her more than I had
ever trusted anyone. I was hurt. I was upset.
I felt betrayed. I--well, I
really was not sure what I felt. It was
unbelievable.
But
what was more unbelievable was the explanation she gave me. She insisted that she had not been unfaithful
to me. She said she had not betrayed me
at all. She said she had been visited by
an angel, and that this child had been conceived by the Holy Spirit. She said this child would be the divine Son
of God, and that God had chosen us to raise this child.
In
a way, that made it even worse. It
seemed like she could not even be honest with me about what had happened. I decided not to go through with the
marriage. I would not make a big scene about
it. That would not do anyone any
good. I would just end it quietly and we
could all get on with our lives. But
then, an angel came to me in a dream.
And the angel said that Mary had been telling the truth, and that I
should go ahead and marry her and raise the child. And the child would be the divine Son of God,
just as Mary had said.
It
still did not make any sense, but when an angel tells you to do something, what
can you do? I apologized to Mary and
promised never to doubt her again. And
we made preparations for our wedding.
But
before that was the trip to Bethlehem.
I’ll let Mary tell you about that, but it was not easy. Even after the child was born, though, our
troubles were not over. We could not go
home. We had to go to Egypt to get away
from King Herod. Egypt! I did not know anyone in Egypt. What were we going to do there? Still we went. Luckily, we were not there a terribly long
time until King Herod died. Then we were
finally able to go back to Nazareth and settle down to married life together.
It
was quite an adventure. A lot of the
time, I really did not understand what was going on. I’m not sure I ever understood it all,
really. But I knew we were obeying
God. I knew we were doing what God
wanted us to do. And that was all I
needed to know. As long as we obeyed
God, I knew things would work out the way they were supposed to.
SECOND SCRIPTURE: Luke 1:26-38
MARY SPEAKS
I
am Mary. I, too, was looking forward to
my marriage to Joseph. He was a good
man. He was a godly man, a man of great
faith. He would be a good provider. He would be a good husband and a good father
to our children. I was looking forward
to us having many happy years together.
And
then. I was minding my own business,
doing my work, when an angel of the Lord came to me. I recognized him as an angel right away. Don’t ask me how I knew--when it’s an angel,
you just know, somehow. I was
scared. I was confused. I did not know what to think. What did an angel want with me? I was nobody.
None of it made any sense.
Then
the angel said that I was going to have a son.
And my son--my son--was going to be the divine Son of God, the Savior of
the world.
That
made even less sense. A thousand
thoughts ran through my head. I tried to
talk, but nothing would come out.
Finally, I stammered out, “How will this be since I am a virgin?” And the angel said the child would be from
God, conceived by the Holy Spirit.
That
did not make much sense to me, either.
But when an angel says something, what can you do? I said yes.
And the angel left.
And
then I realized. I would have to tell
Joseph. What would he do? He’d never believe me. I was still not sure I believed it
myself. But when you’re pregnant, you
cannot hide it forever, you know? He’d
find out eventually, and better for him to hear it from me than from someone
else.
So
I told him. And he did not believe
me. I did not blame him, but it made
things even worse. It looked like I was
going to have to raise this child by myself.
How could I do that? How could I
make enough money to support us? And
who’d look after him while I was working?
I was terrified.
But
I should not have been. God had it worked
out. An angel saw Joseph, too, and told
him that I was telling the truth. Joseph
came to me an apologized, but he did not need to. I understood.
And now we could have a life together.
It
was not an easy life. When I was almost
ready to give birth, the government made us go to Bethlehem. Something about a census. Joseph tried to get us a room, but there was
nothing. Finally we got a barn. A barn!
Still, it was a roof over our heads, and it was warmer than being
outside. And that’s where Jesus was
born.
But
that’s not all. After a while, here came
a bunch of shepherds. They wanted to see
Jesus. Who were they? Why were they there? But they said an angel had talked to them,
too, and told them what had happened.
After what Joseph and I had gone through, I had no reason to doubt
them. They came, they saw, and they
left. And finally, Joseph and I were
alone.
Joseph
told you about the trouble we had after that.
It was quite a deal, I can tell you that. But still, it was worth it. We had our son. And our son was the Son of God.
THIRD SCRIPTURE: Luke 2:1-7
INNKEEPER SPEAKS
I’m
the innkeeper. Everyone makes me out to
be the bad guy in this story. I’m known
for one thing. I’m the guy who told Mary
and Joseph I did not have a room for them when Jesus was about to be born.
But
look at it from my side. I did not have
a fancy hotel. We’re not talking the
Hilton here. We’re not even talking a
Motel 6. All I had were a few extra
rooms in my house that I rented out when visitors came to town. And those rooms were all full. It was not my fault other people got there
first.
Sure,
I felt sorry for them. Here was this
woman, obviously very pregnant. I did
not want to turn them away. I don’t ever
want to turn anybody away. But what was
I supposed to do? Kick somebody else out
into the cold? Because that’s what I’d
have had to do. Would that have been
right, to send someone else away so Mary and Joseph could have a room? What could I do?
So,
I did the only thing I could. I let them
stay in the barn. Was that a great
option? No, of course not. But no one else would even do that for
them. It was better than nothing. They took it, and you know what? They never complained. They never said it was not good enough. In fact, they were grateful for it.
I
knew there was a commotion out there during the night. Later, I found out that Mary had her baby,
and they’d had some visitors come out to see it. I went out to see the baby, too, of
course. Who would not? I was glad things had worked out for them. Did I feel bad? Well, yes and no. I felt bad that I did not have more
room. But I felt good that at least I
did something. I did the best I
could. And somehow, I got the sense that
things had worked out the way they were supposed to.
FOURTH SCRIPTURE: Luke 2:8-20
SHEPHERD SPEAKS
I’m
a shepherd. It’s a tough job. You’re outside all the time. It gets really hot in the summer. It gets really cold in the winter. You’re constantly looking out for the
sheep. You’re constantly on the move,
trying to find good pasture. And we’re
kind of out in the desert, you know?
Good pasture is not easy to find.
You don’t get much to eat. You
don’t get a warm bed to sleep in. You’re
out in the elements all the time.
There’s nobody around, other than the other shepherds. It’s a pretty hard life.
But
you want to know about that one night.
Well, I’ll tell you. It started
out just like any other night. We’d
gotten the sheep settled down. We’d had
supper, and we were deciding who was going to watch the sheep while the others
slept.
And
all of a sudden this angel appeared.
None of us had ever seen an angel before, but we knew it had to be one
because, I mean, what else could it be?
There was this incredible light all around it. We found out later that was the glory of the
Lord, but we did not know that at the time.
We did not know what it was. We
were terrified.
But
the angel got us calmed down. And it
said that a Savior, a Messiah, had been born that day. And he told us to go to Bethlehem, and we
find this baby, the Savior in a manger.
Well,
that seemed pretty strange. Why would
the Savior be in a manger? But the angel
had said this was where he’d be, so we did not question it. We went to Bethlehem. We were a little worried about whether we’d
find him. Bethlehem’s not that big, but
there were lots of people there because of that census thing. But we asked around, and it turned out that a
lot of people had seen Mary. I guess a
woman who’s that close to giving birth gets noticed. Anyway, it was not too long before we found
them. And sure enough, there the baby
was, in a manger, just like the angel said.
He
looked, well, like any other baby. I
mean, he was cute, but what baby is not?
But we knew what the angel had said.
And so we spread the word. We let
everyone know about what the angel had said about this baby. Some people believed us, some did not. That’s always the way, right? But the truth is, it did not matter a lot to
us whether they believed us or not. It
would’ve been nice, but we knew we were telling the truth. We knew what the angel had promised. And that was all that mattered.
FIFTH SCRIPTURE: Luke 2:21-35
SIMEON SPEAKS
I
am Simeon. People describe me as
righteous and devout. Well, I try. How true it is, well, it’s not for me to say. I pray.
I try to follow the law. I do my
best. What more can I do?
I
did receive a message from God once. Not
a voice, exactly, but the Holy Spirit told me that I would not die before I saw
the Lord’s Messiah, the Savior.
That
was some time ago. Obviously, I kept my
eyes open. I thought maybe it was going
to come soon. But time passed, as it
does, and nothing happened. I thought,
well, I guess it’s possible I saw the Messiah and did not know who it was. But it did not seem likely. I mean, it seemed like if the Holy Spirit was
going to go to the trouble of telling me I’d see the Messiah, the Holy Spirit
would also let me know when I’d actually seen him.
So,
I waited. And then, one day, the Spirit
told me to go to the temple courts. The
Spirit did not say why, just that I should go there. So I did.
And there was a couple, a man and a woman, with a little baby. And somehow, I knew--I just knew--that this
was the one.
I
took him into my arms and praised God. I
could now die in peace. Not that I
wanted to die that minute, but if death came, it would be okay. Because I had seen the future. I had seen the salvation of my people.
But
I also spoke to the mother of the child.
The words were not mine. Again,
they came from the Holy Spirit. The
Spirit told me that this salvation would not be easy, and that it would come
with a cost, including a cost for the child and his mother. I could see she was bothered by those
words. To be honest, I was a little
bothered by them, too. I was kind of
glad that, at my age, I would not be around to see all the trouble. But at the same time, I knew things were
going to go the way they were supposed to.
And I knew that salvation would come.
And that was enough for me.
SIXTH SCRIPTURE: Luke 2:36-40
ANNA SPEAKS
I
am Anna. I am a widow. I have been for a very long time now. Am I lonely?
Well, yes, sometimes. But I have
dedicated myself to God. I spend all of
my time in the temple courts. The
priests are kind enough to let me sleep there.
I take my meals there, too, but in fact I don’t eat very much. I spend my time fasting and praying to God.
And
then, that one day came. I was in the
temple courts as usual. I was praying,
as usual. Then I saw Simeon. I knew him, of course. I knew all the people who came to the
temple. He took a child into his
arms. Nothing unusual about that, but I
was moved to go over. I don’t know why,
I just felt like it was the thing to do.
I
heard what Simeon said about this child, that he would bring salvation to
Israel. And I knew, somehow, that he was
right. And I thanked God.
I
never forgot that day. I did not know
how many days I had left--after all, I was eighty-four at the time--but I knew
how I was going to spend them. I would
spend every day telling people about this child who was going to bring
salvation to Israel.
I
was never happier in my life. I had
wondered why God had let me live so long, but now I knew. It was so I could tell people about this
child, this child who would become the Messiah, the Savior.
SEVENTH SCRIPTURE: Matthew 2:1-12
WISE MAN SPEAKS
I’m
a wise man. Well, that’s what they call
me. I don’t know how wise I am. Along with others, we study the stars. We look for signs.
Well,
one night we got a doozy. It was a new
star, one we’d never seen before. It was
incredibly bright.
We
knew what it had to be. It was a sign
that someone had been born who was to be the king of the Jews. And we knew what we had to do. We had to follow that star, find the king,
and worship him.
But
then, for wise men, we did something pretty stupid. We went to the current king, King Herod, and
asked him where this child was. We
should’ve known that would give Herod a conniption fit. After all, what king wants to hear about
another king in his kingdom? But, hey,
we study stars. We don’t pay attention
to politics. Anyway, at least we got the
information we needed. We found out the
child was in Bethlehem. Herod sent us
there and told us to come back and tell him after we found the child.
We
set out, and there was the star again.
It seemed to stop over a certain spot.
And sure enough, we found the child.
His mother was there, too. You’d
think she’d have been surprised to see us, but if she was, she did not show
it. It was almost like so many things
had happened to her that nothing surprised her any more. Some strangers show up and worship her
son? Fine, whatever. You brought some gifts? Cool.
Thanks. She just seemed to take
everything in stride.
We
did have gifts. We had gold. We had frankincense, which was a type of
incense used in religious rituals. We
had myrrh, which was another type of incense.
We gave it to the woman, who we found out was named Mary.
We
talked for a while, then we left. We had
intended to go back to Herod--again, not a very smart thing for us to do, but
again, we knew stars, not politicians.
Luckily, though, we did not go back to Herod. God apparently realized we needed some help,
because we were warned in a dream to go back home a different way, and we did.
We
went back to studying stars, because that’s what we did. But this was the highlight of our
careers. We had seen the king of the
Jews. It was a night we never forgot.
EPILOGUE
We
hope you’ve enjoyed our telling of the Christmas story in this way. Again, some of what we said was
speculation. But there’s a reason we did
it this way.
One
of the problems with a story we’ve heard over and over again, like the
Christmas story, is that it can come to be just that--a story. It’s a good story, it’s a story that we like
to read and like to hear, but still, we start to think of it as just a
story. We can forget that it’s something
that actually happened. We can forget
that it’s something that involved real people, people who ate and drank and
laughed and cried and did all the things that you and I do. People who had real feelings and real
emotions. People who felt joy and pain
and happiness and sadness and all the other things you and I feel. People who had trust and doubt and fear and
faith and all the other things you and I have.
Mary was a real woman. Joseph was
a real man. The innkeeper was a real
person who owned a real inn. The
shepherds were real people who took care of real sheep. Simeon and Anna and the Wise Men, all of
these people were real people who lived on the earth.
And
Jesus was a real person, too. Jesus was
a real person who was born just as we all are born, who lived just as we all
live, and who died just as we all will die.
And Jesus was a real person who conquered death so that we all can have
eternal life. The story of Jesus is a real
story that really happened.
And
that’s the message we hope you’ll get from our service tonight. That Jesus is real. He was a real man. And he’s the real Savior. And he brought real salvation to the
earth. Real salvation that’s available
to each one of us, if we’ll only accept him as our Savior. And he also brought real life that’s
available to each one of us. Real life
on earth as God’s children, and real eternal life in the actual presence of God
in heaven. All that is available to us,
if we accept Jesus as our Savior, just like the shepherds, and the wise men,
and all the other people in the Christmas story did.
No comments:
Post a Comment