And So This Is Christmas—Luke 2: 1-20
On December 1, 1971, John Lennon released the Christmas song, “Happy Christmas, War Is Over” also known as “And So This Is Christmas.” The title was a bit of a misnomer, though, as the Vietnam War would not end for 3 more years. The lyrics are simple and repetitive with a catchy tune. It asks the question, “So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over, and a new one just begun.” That is followed later with the lyrics, “A very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Let’s hope it’s a good one without any fear.” This song was at the forefront of a handful of songs in the early 1970s calling for peace and an end to the seeming never-ending wars and cold war abroad. It received little acclaim in the United States when it was released, but now you can hear it 4 billion times a day on the Christmas radio stations during the Christmas season.
John Lennon wrote this as an anthem against the war-weary and struggle-weary life of the day. It prevailed upon people to desire and work for a life of peace and community instead of the divisiveness of the counter cultural movements of the 1960s and 1970s. As I heard the song for the 4th time at the mall last weekend, I thought of how it has diluted from edgy protest song to classic Christmas tune. It reminds me of how we have also made such a gentle and pastoral scene out of a truly difficult and struggle-heavy story. The story of Christ’s birth is much more of a struggle than a gentle lullaby.
A tough truth is that often life is about engaging in and overcoming the battles we face. This was no different in Jesus’s day. Rome was an oppressive force that controlled the region with soldiers, taxes, fear, and brutality. And the lower in the class system you were, the worse things became. And if Rome didn’t get you, the locals would. Regional governors or kings and the theocracy of the religious leaders was just as hard on the people as Rome’s empire. Battles and struggles were common and often filled with brutality and harsh retribution. It was for this very reason that crucifixion was so widely used.
But the battles and struggles of life were more specific to the folks in the Christmas story as well. Shepherds were on the lowest margins of society. They were almost always uneducated and considered unskilled. Socially they were on the same rung, and I quote “as tax collectors and dung sweepers.” The angels appearing to the shepherds in the field was a two-fold shock. First, it had been a long time since God had spoken so directly to humanity and seeing angels in the heavens was beyond startling. But also, that the angels appeared to shepherds, of all people, was equally as jarring to the readers.
Mary would have faced significant struggles as well. Based on the customs of the day, she would have been somewhere between 12 and 16 years old. Girls were often betrothed around the age of 12 to 13 and married a few months to a couple of years after. She and Joseph were from a small, rural town often considered to be a “hick town” if you will. In John 1:46, the question is posed, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” But we also read in the story that Mary was not yet married when she conceived Jesus.
We read in Matthew that it took a vision from God for Joseph to understand what the Lord was doing through Mary. Typically, unwed mothers were publicly shamed and sometimes even stoned in Jesus’s day. Joseph, being kind and righteous, was only going to quietly break the engagement, so as not to bring harm or shame to Mary. That’s the last we really hear of Joseph. He goes back to his work as a carpenter in Nazareth, and that’s all we hear. But Joseph and Mary’s beginning was difficult, a series of struggles punctuated by assurances and words of encouragement from God.
Even as we get to the birth of Jesus, life continues to be hard. Mary’s final weeks of pregnancy are spent traveling 90 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem either on foot or donkey. And when they arrive in Bethlehem, there’s no room. They have to stay in a barn…which we call a “stable” to sound nicer. Mary then gives birth in the middle of a barn with no help whatsoever except for Joseph and the animals. Their lives were hard. The story of Christ’s birth from conception to cradle is a story of struggle, pain, social stigmas, the suffering of a marginalized and oppressed people, and a humanity that needed hope. It’s easy to beautify and romanticize it, but the story is one of battle and struggle, and the sheer reliance on God to overcome it all.
But despite the struggle and suffering, this is also a story of hope and holiness. The angels tell the shepherds that for them there is good news of a Savior. The angels sang of peace on earth and the prophecies told of something new, powerful, and based in love instead of force and strength. This story tells us of the struggle that life can pose, but we are reminded of the incredible and beautiful work of Christ. In Jesus, we find the one who came to a flawed and broken world to teach us how to heal, how to love, how to share and bless, how to live in peace with one another. We also find the One who came to create a relationship between us and God where a sense of separation had existed for so many years.
Those themes echo in our hymns and songs at Christmas. We hear lyrics of peace, of love, of hope for all of humankind. But we also hear those same hopes sung in the secular world too—John Lennon sang “Happy Christmas, war is over,” in the midst of a world torn asunder by war, protests, and a constant undercurrent of stress and irritation. And I am sure that in some ways we are also hoping for the truth of “happy Christmas, war is over,” in our own lives.
When we live in a world that seems cold, dark, and filled with fighting and contention, we can once again clothe ourselves with Christ and teach hope to the hopeless. We can make peace where there is strife. We can become and bring joy in spite of suffering, and we can be love in a world that is riddled with unkindness. Some call these things the “magic” of Christmas. But they are simply the ways we live in faith here on earth.
I saw a funny thing online the other day that said the reason “It’s a Wonderful Life” has resonated for 78 years is that when George Bailey says, “Do you know how long it takes a working man to save $5,000,” not one thing has changed about that line in 78 years. It’s just the same today as it was in 1946. Struggles of life are not new. The same old struggles and problems will come home to roost in our homes again and again. What is new and changes humanity over and over is this reminder each Christmas of “Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.”
And so when we sing “So this is Christmas…” may we filled with hope in the knowledge of God with us and eternal hope. May we find the Prince of Peace who brings peace and comfort in our hearts. May we find unending joy in all of life no matter the circumstances. And may the love of God be with us always.
Worship Service Video https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1114330520354138/