What would the Christmas story be with no stable, no manger, no Joseph, no Mary, no Bethlehem, no shepherds, no angels, no star, no wise men and no baby? No angels, swaddling clothes, or sheep enter the scene to deflect attention from the essential point: God, through whom the world was created, the one who gives light to all people, became flesh and lives among us. Could the Christmas story even be told without those very familiar elements?
The account of the Christmas story in the Gospel of John is totally different from the other nativity narratives. Matthew begins with Jesus’ genealogy, locating him in a Jewish–Davidic lineage. Mark starts with John the Baptist’s preparation for “the One more powerful than I.” And while Luke starts with the Infancy narrative that is most familiar to us, John’s beginning is very distinctive, taking us back even before creation began. Fourteen verses, no Joseph, no Mary, no Bethlehem, no manger, no stable, no shepherds, no wise men, no star, no angels, and no baby. But this is not any less the story.
Not because of the physical features of a stable and a manger or a young couple and their baby. They all participate, of course, in the physical historical features of the birth of Jesus. But the real story is that before all time God speaks his Word. The Word always was in timeless existence, was always in relationship to God and always was God. It is this Word, this Christ, who became flesh and who lives with us still.
This is the divine story, a story that never loses its power, never loses its profound nature. God has not stopped speaking the light-bearing Word, the light that shines in the darkness and which the darkness has not overcome.
All of creation came through the Word. It is the source of life and has come to bring light where sin has caused darkness.
On Christmas Day, we celebrate the amazing miracle of the birth of Jesus, of God becoming human for us. The Gospel reminds us that God was there in the very beginning, and that nothing and no one could possibly exist without God.
So, we reflect today on the wonderful things God has done for us in Christ Jesus. He can be found in humble circumstances, in surprising places and, by the world's standards, among the least important. Christmas celebrates the Light of Christ. The brightness of that Light reaches beyond all borders and touches all peoples.
A blessing has been said over us and a new name given us. This year's Christmas will enable us to discover God-With-Us anew and, with him, the key to our existence, the taste of the essential, the fountain of peace, the joy of dialog and the wonder of true freedom.
And from our hearts, hope will overflow.
