“The Christmas Story”
The Body of Christ has certainly taken some creative liberty with the Christmas Story over the centuries. We’ve added extra details for unknown reasons. I’m sure they can be traced to various roots, but there’s not room for all of that here.
Let’s just list several of the details not mentioned in any of the birth narratives:
- Mary rode a donkey to Bethlehem
- Jesus was born on December 25th
- The inn was like a motel
- There was an innkeeper
- The manger was made of wood
- There were three wise men
- The wise men rode on camels
- The wise men visited Jesus as a newborn
None of these erroneous details overshadow the main purpose of the story, of course. The Savior took the form of man to bring salvation to the world! It does demonstrate, however, our proclivity to laziness and altering God’s Word for the sake of convenience, personal taste or to fit our own context.
It is interesting to note that nowhere in the Bible does it encourage the reader to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The Jewish people held festivals that were ordained by God to commemorate important events in the history of their people. Jesus also fulfilled or will fulfill them all. The four festivals in spring commemorate Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and the Holy Spirit’s arrival at Pentecost. The three in the fall foreshadow His Second Coming, Day of Atonement, and millennial reign, although Christians do not agree on the future fulfillment of these fall feasts (study for yourself!)
We can still rejoice over Christ’s arrival and what it meant:
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son,
who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14