VIEW POINT
Unwrapping the Incarnation
Jeff Morton wonders whether the significance of Jesus’ birth has been lost in the commercialism of Christmas
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O sooner has Halloween tat been removed from supermarket shelves than music associated with Christmas starts to play and the money-making frenzy begins again. This commercialism can obscure the truth behind the celebration, that God the creator visited this world in order to save it: ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us’ (John 1:14). The message that God is with us has been buried and lost among the tinsel, gifts and music. If the message had been listened to, our world would not be in such a mess. The selfishness of humanity has caused the planet to become so polluted that it may never recover. The problem for Christians is that the Christmas festivities indulged in by most of the wealthy parts of the world have nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus. For many it is just an excuse for making merry and exchanging gifts that commercialism has persuaded them to buy. The resulting social pressure drives people of limited means to go into debt. Our difficulty is that the Advent of God has been obscured by time. The accounts of his birth in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were written down 60 to 80 years after the events to confirm Jesus’ divinity to followers who were new to the faith. According to some scholars, this meant the accounts were subject to distortion. Regardless, I prefer the more perceptive statements of John. The accounts of Matthew and Luke were written from differing perspectives.
Matthew commences his Gospel with the genealogy of Joseph, showing him descended from King David to accord with prophecy that the Messiah would emerge from this lineage. The weakness of this is that Joseph is not Jesus’ father. He is born of God’s Spirit in the womb of Mary, who is stated to be a virgin. Luke, who writes from a historical perspective, says the birth took place in Bethlehem because the Emperor Augustus ordered a census to be carried out. If Luke is correct, this took place in AD6 under the direction of Quirinius, the governor of Syria. It required citizens to return to their place of birth, which meant Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem. For Matthew, this fulfilled a prophecy that the Messiah would enter the world at this location (see Micah 5:2). Luke 2:7 records that there was no room at the inn for Mary to give birth to Jesus, so she ‘placed him in a manger’. The inn was probably not a commercial operation. Houses in this period had a guest room where visitors would stay – usually on the first floor, as the ground floor was used as a stable for the owner’s animals. Luke implies that Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem a day or two before the census but, because of the number of guests, the room was full. They were found a place on the ground floor – so Jesus was born in a stable. The detailed circumstances of the birth are not recorded in either Gospel, but Mary must have had a midwife to
assist with the birth. There is a tradition, based on the apocryphal Gospel of James, that a relative of Joseph named Salome was the midwife at the birth. Many biblical scholars believe that the Nativity took place in the spring. This is based on the fact that the shepherds mentioned by Luke had flocks out on the hillside. At some time, according to Matthew, a group of astrologers – the Magi – arrived from the east and gave the child gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. This has perhaps caused modern commercial interests to embark on the idea that we should all give gifts to recognise the occasion, despite the fact that in our secular world many have more faith in Father Christmas than in the creator of the universe who entered our world. We in the northern hemisphere only celebrate this event in winter because the Church, after becoming the official religion of the Roman empire under Emperor Constantine, incorporated pagan festivals surrounding the winter solstice in order that people would have an easy transition to the faith. Have we allowed the significance of the Incarnation to be lost to the commercial exploitation of Christmas? We need to make sure the entry of God into the world is not just incidental to the events of the season.
JEFF SOLDIERS AT BATH CITADEL Salvationist 4 December 2021
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