CHRISTMAS: The true meaning

Fear and darkness melt away by the bright light of hope and perhaps there is no greater example of hope than the Christmas story.

In this story the first people God talks to — through angels — are the shepherds tending their flocks. While we might see this as a nostalgic part of the story it is, in fact, a vast social statement because God knew shepherds were the lowest of the low in that society and he utilizes them to show favoritism in support of the common man not only by greeting them but offering an invitation to visit his son. This offer was not extended to the rich and rulers who tend to be the evil people throughout the New Testament.

The shepherds found the child in an animal stall inhabited by a homeless couple and conceived by an unwed young girl whose husband originally married her to hide her shame and planned on divorcing the “damaged goods” before God revealed his plan to this tradesman, assuring him that being Jesus’ stepfather was more than a kind act. Later on, we find this impoverished couple fleeing for their lives as refugees to a foreign country to escape death.

Clearly, this is not only an account of common men and families doing the best they can in dire circumstances but in the larger framework serves as an example of hope and love provided by Jesus, who was murdered by the religious powerful. Through this example God not only begs us to love one another but bids us to live outside the confines of fear.

JON RUGGLES

Wallace