Dear Friends,
We don't need seminary or years of Bible College. We don't need stacks of religious books. We don't need to ask a Bible scholar. All we need in order to understand the “Theology of Christmas” is found in a little story by an anonymous author...
It was Christmas Eve and the family was preparing to go to church for the annual midnight service. The father of the household declined as usual saying that he would feel like a hypocrite. He told his family that he just could not make sense of the idea that God became a man. He said he would relax by the fire until their return.
Settling down in his easy chair, he began to read his newspaper. It had already begun to snow quite heavily. Suddenly he heard unusual thumps on the living room window. He thought someone was throwing snowballs and he went to the front door to investigate. He discovered that a flock of birds had become disoriented in the storm and were trying to find shelter through the lighted window. He immediately realized that the birds could not fly in the heavy snow and unless they found shelter, they would soon freeze to death.
Thinking about how he could help them, he thought of the barn where the children kept their pony. Returning to the house, he put on his heavy overcoat and snow boots. He made his way to the barn, threw open the wide door, and turned on the light. He tried to shoo them through the open door but they scattered in fear. He thought, “Food will bring them in” and returned to the house for some bread crumbs. He sprinkled a path of crumbs to the barn, but the birds were too confused to follow it. The snow was now sticking to the birds and beginning to weigh them down. He could think of no way to convince the birds to enter the warmth and safety of the old barn. He realized that in spite of his best efforts, the flock was doomed to die in the storm. “They think I am a strange creature,” he thought. “They won't follow me because they don't understand I am trying to save their lives. Oh, if I could only become a bird for a few minutes,” he thought. “Then I could make them understand...”
Just then the church bells began to ring out their glorious tidings of Christmas. As the man listened, he dropped to his knees in the middle of the snow storm and looking up said, “Father, I now understand why You did it.”
Christmas celebrates a point in time when the ancient prophesies were fulfilled and God chose to manifest Himself in a human form. “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matt. 1:23)
God came to earth so that He could be with us in the human form of His Son Jesus Christ. “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.” (Col 1:15) When we look at the Son, we see the Father who cannot be seen. It was the Son, Jesus Christ, who came down to earth to lead us up to Heaven.
Why did God go to all this trouble? Because of His love for you! “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) And, that's all the theology we’ll ever need to know! Amen?
