Today is Christmas day. This year feels different than other years because now more than ever I believe that the historical story of Jesus and the Biblical story of Jesus are two very different stories. I know that all the images I grew up with a blonde-haired white man born in Bethlehem on the 25th day of December aren’t the historical truth. I’ll probably never know the truth, but it is more likely that Jesus was a dark-skinned dark-haired man, and he could have been born at any time of the year.
My big question is: Does it really matter? The story of Jesus’ birth isn’t about historical facts. It is about a spiritual truth. Right now, we are living in a time of the year, when the earth seems to have died. Many trees have lost their leaves. Many of the animals are hibernating and it seems like they are all gone away. There are birds that have migrated, and we don’t see them because they went away too. The days are shorter, and we don’t see the sun for as long. The weather is colder, and it is more difficult to live through the cold. It is hard to keep warm, find food, and be safe. The world around us seems to be dying. And the worst part is that in our modern world, it is even worse, right now, in the Holy Land, there’s a war and people are dying. There’s a humanitarian crisis because people can’t get the basic needs due to that war. All around the world, right now, there are people being murdered. There are people going hungry. There are terrorists planning to kill innocent people. There are hate groups planning atrocities. The world seems like it is dying.
Today, we celebrate that God brought light into this dying world. He gave us hope that Jesus died for all of our sins and that we would be saved if only we believed. That story tells me and the rest of the world that God is real, He is here, and the world isn’t going to die. We aren’t going to die because Jesus died for us. And the light of Christ exists in this world.
The history isn’t as important as the message. Today, it doesn’t matter if a person is Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Atheist, Buddhist, or whatever else. On this day, we can stop and realize that we were created by some force. We all came from the same life force. And we have that life inside of us and the power within us to be able to change the world with light, love, and peace.
Merry Christmas.
My faith saved me. May God’s peace reside in all of our hearts.
