Christmas: Historical or Current Event?

Time Magazine published an article on the “Secrets of the Nativity,” back in 2004.  The article said that Biblical scholars have a more difficult time dealing with the nativity narratives (found only in Matthew and Luke’s gospels) than they do with the miracles of Jesus.  The author raised a lot of questions.  Some of those questions were:  “Where was Jesus actually born?”  “Who showed up to celebrate his arrival?  “Was Mary a virgin?” “Are angels real?”  “Who were the wisemen?”  Such articles appear almost every year around Christmas time.  People get disturbed and sometimes angry about such articles, but then say, “Who cares?” and go on celebrating Christmas as usual, including all the pageantry of the original story: shepherds, wisemen, the virgin Mary, the angels, and the manger of Bethlehem.  I guess we handle the whole business about Santa Claus in a similar way.

Do we celebrate Christmas as a historical event that happened once upon a time, thousands of years ago, or as a current event?  I think this is an important question and makes a huge difference.  Angelus Silesius in the 17th century made this difference clear, “If Christ were born in Bethlehem a thousand times and not in thee thyself, his birth would be in vain.”  

The story of Christ’s birth is not about the nativity scene in Bethlehem, but rather about his continuous birth in people through all the centuries since.  Christmas is meant to happen now—it is a current event—and if it doesn’t happen now, then I find it difficult to believe that it ever happened.  What I mean by that is:  if God isn’t with us, if we don’t sense God and experience God in the here and now with us—then all that business about Emmanuel, Jesus (God with us) being born into this world is false.

We aren’t called to believe anything in particular about angels, wisemen, or a virgin birth.  We are only called to believe that something stupendous happened back then, maybe in Bethlehem, maybe in Nazareth (who cares) that changed the course of history.  Christmas is about the stupendous good news that God is with us and in us now, contradicting what is and showing us what can be.  Christmas is about Jesus being born anew in us, so that we become, as he became, one who contradicts what is and proclaims what is meant to be.