Just say what plot it is, like the one where the big city dweller travels to a small town to destroy it or some icon in it, only to fall in love with someone who lives there and the town itself and end up staying there. Of course, that is like 1/4 of them. Maybe your favorite Christmas story it is a personal story of a really special time for you or your family, a special gift or experience.
It reads:
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:1-5, 10-14
You can find all that in Luke chapter 2, and it is a great story, but while Luke tells us the whole, “Who, what, when, where…”, John—in his account—cuts straight to the why. And what he tells us is that in Jesus coming—who he calls the Word—the creator was stepping into his creation. This is kind of a crazy thing to think about. It would be like an author stepping into the story they had written. The Oxford scholar and author, C.S. Lewis, noted that William Shakespeare knew more about Hamlet than anyone—his thoughts, his motivations, his actions, his hopes, his dreams, his struggles—nobody knew more, for he created him. And yet, he could not actually know him. He could not meet him and have a relationship with him.
John tells us that at Christmas, the author of it all was coming into the world he had created to be with those he created.It says he came and made his dwelling among us. The pastor Eugene Peterson said he “moved into our neighborhood.” Became one of us. In this way we know that he knows. He experienced all that we experience—all the good and all the bad. Especially the bad—for he was mocked, ridiculed, falsely accused, arrested, tortured, beaten and even died before rising again.
I’m reminded of it when my family gathers and I think of those who should be there but aren’t—like my uncle, Eric, who lost his battle with cancer at only 54. And I’m reminded of it every time I personally screw up. Something within me says, “This is not the way the world should be. This isn’t the way you should be.”
But the good news of Christmas is that God didn’t leave the world in that desperate situation. To the problems of this world, God sent a solution. Into the darkness he sent a great light, and that light was Jesus. We can look at the darkness in the world and think, “God, why don’t you do something?” The good news of Christmas is that he has. I am glad that Christmas comes at the darkest time of year, just three days after the winter solstice, when the length of daylight is at its lowest, because it is a reminder that even in the darkest of days, God is making a way. He sees the brokenness of the world, has heard our cries and has answered us. He has not forgotten us. He has not forsaken us.
We celebrate not only what God has done, but what God will do. The day is coming when all the darkness will be dispelled: the crooked made straight, the wrong made right. But in the mean time, Christ invites us to bring our pain, to bring him our failures, to bring him our sin. He wants us to show him the wounds where we have been hurt by others. Jesus wants to bring joy where before there was only sorrow, love where hate had abounded, peace where before there was only turmoil, and hope where there was none. Later in John’s gospel, chapter 8, we read that Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Christmas reminds us that Jesus wants us step into the darkness of our world and our lives, and bring light. There are many things we celebrate at Christmas, but this sticks with me, and that my friends, is why it is my favorite Christmas story. What is yours?