Nativity pageants are a staple of the Christmas season. Moms craft costumes from cotton balls and burlap. Children do their best impressions of shepherds and wise men. Churches brave enough to rent live animals find donkeys and goats to round out the performance. Despite extensive preparations, nativity pageants usually hold at least one disaster. We have all heard stories of angels falling off ladders, goats eating the wise mens’ robes, or Mary dropping the baby doll Jesus. The mishaps are part of the magic. No one expects children to pull off a Broadway performance.
We expect higher quality work for our Christmas Eve services. Church choirs singing in perfect harmony. The sanctuary decorated to the nines. Families dressed up in their fancy outfits. But the first Christmas story has much more in common with a disastrous live nativity pageant than an organized, Christmas Eve worship service. While we might like to sing “Silent Night,” the birth of Jesus would have been anything but quiet.
In the months before Jesus’ birth, Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem for the census. When it was time for Mary to give birth, they found themselves in a crude shelter, bunking with animals. There were no epidurals, c-sections, or sterilization tools. The cave probably smelled and there would have been little light. Mary was far from her own family. She labored for hours (or even days). Our Savior entered the world in a rush of fluid and sound. Mary swaddled her newborn son and laid him in a feeding trough to sleep.
We like to imagine Jesus sleeping “in heavenly peace,” as the song suggests. However, Jesus did not sleep for long. Newborns eat every ninety minutes. They need countless diaper changes, swaddling, and soothing. Mary was visited by angels, but she also had to contend with a suspicious fiancé and social isolation. She could have struggled with post-partum depression or anxiety. Joseph felt the pressure to provide financially for his young family. Jesus and his parents were not spared the realities of daily life. This is the beauty of our Savior. He came to earth and built his dwelling among us. His life was full of both extraordinary and ordinary moments. He performed miracles and walked miles on his own two feet. He feasted with religious leaders and ate wild grain on the road. He was welcomed as a king and executed as a common criminal.
This Christmas season, let us embrace life’s beauty and chaos. The holidays host profound moments—sharing communion or hugging a beloved relative—but we must make space for the difficult things, too. God is present in the burned dinner and burdened finances. All of this is part of Christmas. Wherever we are, God is with us.
