The Christmas Story
Family, gifts, and cold temperatures – Christmas has become what some would call chaotic. The commercial Christmas season focuses on traveling and checking the next item off the list. Whether you’re doing last-minute shopping or out with your family, the holiday season can equal stress for those rushing to complete the small details. However, is that what Christmas is about?
Before there were halls to deck, bells to jingle, and Christmas trees to rock around – there was a baby that lay in a manger. The true reason for Christmas is to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. “Christmas is a season of spiritual reflection on the foundations of the Christian faith. It’s also a celebration of the arrival of Jesus. Christmas is a time for Christians to praise God’s love for the world through the birth of His Son: Jesus. The Bible tells of His birth hundreds of years before, fulfilling prophecies from the Old Testament.” (Christianity.com, 2024).
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
The Christmas story tells of the birth of Jesus, the Messiah. The story begins with his mother Mary who was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph, her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. (Christianity.com, para. 7).
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.”(Christianity.com, para. 8).
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
