Religious Education Update, December 24

I think that I’ve never met an American over the age of six that didn’t know the story of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus. This powerful story is told through crèches, and Christmas Carols, and story books. We know all the little details, from the angels to the wise men.

What is not as well known is how the story evolved and how much might be true. Scholars who have searched for the historical Jesus believe that the gospels were written long after Jesus and his parents had died. We know that the different gospels were written to support various factions within the early Christian church, and that only certain of these gospels, and thus certain stories about Jesus’s early life, were selected to be part of the Bible. The gospels vary greatly from each other, and include assertions that can’t possibly be true according to current historical knowledge of that faraway time and place or even reconciled with each other.

However, the story is very powerful in its own right, regardless of the academic controversy over its historical accuracy. Imagine a young couple expecting their first child at any moment, forced by a foreign government to travel to a distant city to pay taxes. The expectant mother must have been frightened to leave her female friends and family members, who could have helped her through childbirth. Perhaps she was already in labor when she and her husband arrived in Bethlehem. Imagine the desperation that the expectant father must have felt when he couldn’t find a decent place for his wife to spend the night. Imagine the two of them all alone in the stable, surrounded by animals, delivering the child. (My modern mind tries to imagine childbirth without painkillers, Lamaze breathing, or any medical assistance!)

The baby was born, and it was a miracle. As Sophia Lyon Fahs wisely said, “Every night a child is born is a holy night.” As Mary and Joseph admired their new baby, they must have felt the joy, and wonder of that particular holy night.

Just as Mary and Joseph experienced the miracle of birth as they welcomed their new little son, let us all welcome the joy and hope of this Christmas season into our lives. Let us remember that even in very difficult circumstances, love and hope can triumph over pain and hardships.

Merry Christmas!

Marlene Abel

Director of Religious Education