The Greatest Story Ever Told

What is it about the Christmas story that makes it so captivating, so memorable? It’s a story we never tire of hearing.

Well, I think it is because the Christmas story is just that: a story – and people love stories. In revealing Himself to us, God didn’t give us a book of theology, or a list of rules. No, God chose to reveal himself in a personal way. He entered history. He got involved with us on our level, as a human being, as a baby. He became part of a human family. And that gave him a story.

The Christmas story has all the elements of a real-life flesh and blood drama.

1. It is the saga of an obscure little family caught up in the huge tidal waves of history. A simple carpenter named Joseph had to move himself and his pregnant fiancée, Mary, who was almost at her due date, to a strange town 100 miles away just so that they could register for a Roman census.

2. The story contains intrigue, struggle, and suspense, as Joseph and Mary face one challenge after another.

   1. For Mary, there is the reproach of being an unwed mother; for Joseph, the public shame of being betrothed to this girl.

   2. The long hazardous journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

   3. The lack of a place to stay when they arrived there; no room at the inn

   4. The suspicions of King Herod the Great, an insane tyrant

   5. The strange unannounced visit of the Wise Men

   6. The warning of the angel in Joseph’s dream

   7. The nighttime escape into Egypt. The Christmas story certainly keeps us on the edge of our seats!

3. It is a love story. Joseph loves Mary; they are betrothed to be married. Mary turns out to be pregnant. Joseph, not knowing the real reason for her pregnancy, and not wanting to expose her to the disgrace of a public trial for adultery, considered divorcing her quietly. (In those days, a betrothal was much more binding than an engagement, and could only be broken by divorce.) But an angel steps in and offers Joseph an explanation for Mary’s condition. Joseph accepts and takes Mary to be his wife, in spite of the snickers, the gossip, the glares of disapproval.

4. It is a story of great sadness, but also of great joy

   1. The sadness comes with the slaughter of all the baby boys in the region of Bethlehem who were 2 years of age and under. This bloody order was instituted by Herod, who wanted to ensure that the newborn King of the Jews would not survive. There was weeping and great mourning when this edict was carried out.

   2. Though there is sadness in the Christmas story, there is also great joy.

      1. Baby John the Baptist leaps for joy in his mother Elizabeth’s womb when Mary enters the house and greets her

      2. Mary sings with joy that she has been chosen to be the bearer of the Messiah

      3. The shepherds rejoice after seeing the baby Jesus in the manger in Bethlehem

      4. The Wise Men were overjoyed when they saw the Star that would lead them from Jerusalem to Bethlehem

5. In keeping with the theme of Joy, the Christmas story has a lot of singing in it. It is a musical; it contains four hymns of praise to God…

   1. The Magnificat – Mary

   2. The Benedictus – Zechariah

   3. The Gloria – Angels

   4. The Nunc Dimitis – Simeon

6. The Christmas story is about rich people and poor; the powerful and the obscure.

   1. The Wise Men were wealthy scholars from the east – they came to Jesus bringing precious gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Their entourage was quite impressive; it certainly got Herod’s attention!

   2. The shepherds, on the other hand, were social outcasts in those days. Shepherds occupied the lowest rung on the social ladder. They couldn’t bring gifts to the baby – they had nothing to give. But they brought themselves.

   3. Herod was an all-powerful king who ruled by intimidation and terror. He had ruled Israel for the Romans for 33 years. He had built many great buildings and monuments with his name on them, but the older he got, the more paranoid he became of losing his throne. That’s why Herod saw anyone labeled King of the Jews as a competitor to be wiped out without mercy.

   4. Simeon and Anna, on the other hand, were just simple, elderly folk who were quietly awaiting the saviour of Israel. They made it their daily business to worship God in the Temple courts. So it was that they were there on that fateful day when Joseph and Mary brought their newborn baby to present him to the Lord. Simeon and Anna, though they were obscure, were among the few who had eyes to see who Jesus really was.

7. The Christmas story is rooted in history; it’s not like a fairy tale or a myth that way. It doesn’t start out “once upon a time”. Luke begins his account by telling us that this happened during the first census ordered by Caesar Augustus while Quirinius was governor of the Roman province of Syria, and during the time that Herod was king of Judea. You can look up any of these names and find them in the pages of history. This is a story that is true.