How the Christmas Narrative of Jesus' Birth Contradicts the Worldly View of Christmas

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As Christmas Day draws near - I tend to think, "Do I hate Christmas or do I hate the world's view of Christmas?" I thought of how some Puritan writers renounced it like Arthur W. Pink. Charles H. Spurgeon didn't like Christmas but still saw it as an opportunity to reach out to people for Jesus Christ. Personally, I do still have mixed views on Christmas. I do hate the Christmas season because of all the wickedness and stress it brings. However, the blame may be better off to fall on the shoulders of people with a worldly view of Christmas.

It's a shame really at how Roman Catholics go to the mass on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The Christmas narrative is read. There's a picture of the Nativity Set. As erroneous as it is to put the three wise men there (since they didn't arrive until sometime later) because they were in a house - not a stable. The Christmas narrative shows the very bitter picture of the first Christmas. I remember all the rage I get when I try to go out to eat somewhere and there is no vacancy. Do I even think that Jesus was laid in a manger because the inns were full (Luke 1:7)? There was no grand delivery, no grand welcome - the precious Savior allowed Himself to be born in a stinky stable and to be placed on a manger used for feeding animals!

Now, it turns out that sheep are still grazed even during December. Let's assume that Jesus was born on December 25th past 12 midnight. Just imagine the pain that Mary and Joseph had with their long journey, no room in the inn, they had to stay at the stable, and put the newborn Lord on a feeding box for animals. Yet, God the Father allowed it to happen! 2 Corinthians 8:9 said that He became poor for the sake of man. Then you have the announcement made by angels. Was it at the houses and palaces? Were the dignitaries of the world called? Instead, Luke 2:8-20 talks about shepherds instead of kings. Who came to visit Jesus in His birth? It was at first shepherds. Lowly shepherds. No grand parade of dignitaries over the world came to bow to Jesus that night! Shepherds were brought to proclaim the message that the Lord Jesus is born in human flesh.

You would later have more events in Luke 2. We realize that Mary the beloved earthly mother of Jesus was now ceremonially unclean. I could imagine how Mary my beloved sister in Christ. She followed every last step such as the eighth-day circumcision and presenting Jesus in His humanity at the Temple. She had fulfilled the requirements of Leviticus 12:2-4 concerning pregnancy and ceremonial uncleanliness. She offered two turtledoves instead because she was so poor at that time. Joseph her husband was but a carpenter. Later, Luke 2:35 has Simeon the priest telling them that Mary would soon break her heart. She would see it because later - she would see her son and Lord die also for her sin. Mary becomes the ideal mother that every woman should model by the life she's lived. She's no proud Madonna of Rome but a humble woman who glorifies God. Ironically, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI pretty much was right in saying that Mary's greatness is that she exalts God and not herself.

Later, Herod the Great would hear of the birth of the Savior. Was he even going to go and worship our Lord in the flesh? Matthew 2 records the account of the wise men from the east to Jerusalem. Herod the Great wasn't going to let anyone usurp his power. I read through Josephus' summaries and hearing that he had his eldest son Aristobulus executed was something. Also, Herod the Great as Idumean, not a Jew. Herod the Great only secured that power by bootlicking the Romans. The reason why I'd assume that there were actually three wise men (and possibly with escorts to guide them in a thief-infested desert) was because of three types of gifts. Herod the Great lied to the three wise men. I think the wise men were probably still pagans when they came to Jesus but got saved after the visitation. It was too good to be true for Herod the Great to plan a visit. Instead, he was planning to kill the Savior. God the Father would later intervene since it wasn't time yet for Jesus to die for our sins. Herod the Great's madness caused many innocent baby boys to be massacred by his hatred. Today, we have abortion clinics that continue the sins of Herod the Great and the Pharaoh of the affliction.

The thought of the Christmas narrative before we'd enter the Lenten and Easter narrative is this. The birth of Christ had no high festivities to celebrate it. Yet today, the world uses Christmas as the opportunity to be twice as worldly while having fake acts of charity. People get a lot of drunkenness, premarital sex, and adulteries during Christmas and not just Valentine's Day. The Christmas narrative ought to shame such people. If they were truly to honor Christ's birth then shouldn't they honor it the whole year round by doing acts of goodness? Instead, such people are stuck with worldly spirits because they themselves have had not a personal relationship with Jesus the reason for all seasons!

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