Christmas Myths

I recently heard on the radio a Christian personality talking about a story he'd recently heard or read about how Jewish shepherds would have taken great care with a firstborn lamb who was meant to be sacrificial, wrapping it in cloth so that it wouldn't hurt or blemish itself, and putting it into a stone manger for safe keeping until it could be sacrificed. 

I recently saw on social media, as most of us have seen nearly every year, the "story of the candy cane," how the red stands for the blood of Jesus and the white stands for the cleansing of sin ("white as snow") and the curved shape is the shepherds' hook. 

A few years ago, the "star of Bethlehem" appeared in the local December sky, causing quite a heightened interest, and all kinds of stories came out about this star and what it would have meant 2,000 years ago. 

No one has, as yet, proposed a theory as to why Christmas supposedly smells like cinnamon and not, you know, myrrh. 

But I digress.

The point is that everywhere we turn this time of year, there seems to be someone who has a story to tell that we've never heard about the story we all think we know so well - a baby born in a manger, but what have we been missing? In a time in which we have invested ourselves deeply in historical criticism (trying to place the Scriptures into their accurate historical context for "better" understanding), there's something in us that wants to latch onto it every time someone says, "You know, to the people who were living back then, this would have meant _________." 

But don't buy it. 

Some of these stories are cool. Don't get me wrong. There's a reason so many persons love to read fiction. When well done, it feels so real, and it can help us to think about things more deeply. And it would be awesome if some of these stories were true. Of course, as Christians, we want to see Christ reflected in our world. We want there to be a blood-sacrifice story behind the candy cane. We want there to be some powerful meaning in way He was wrapped in the manger. We want to keep discovering new things about Christmas, things that draw us deeper into this story. Closer to Immanuel. 

But what could possibly bring us closer to God this Christmas than God Himself putting on flesh and coming to walk among us? 

That's the thing. At least, for me, it is. We have all of these stories that are cute and cool and might be nice to think about, but the truth is that 2,000-some years ago, God Himself came in human flesh to dwell among us. He was born as a human child, wrapped in blankets the way that any newborn babe would be, laid in a bed of hay because that's all that was available, and came to walk our streets, eat our food, wash our feet, and redeem our souls. 

Friends, I don't need a cooler Christmas story than that. 

I don't need the neat little stories that, if you haven't caught it by now, are completely made up. They're not real. They're just stories, meant to go viral to get you talking about something else. But the talking point of Christmas is the Christ child. Period. Do you really need God to do anything more than that?