The Sign of Christmas

This Christmas we’ve heard two really good Christmas messages.  One was on-board the ship on Christmas Eve day by an Anglican Rector from Wellington who talked of our need for a Saviour to lead us out of the terrible situation we all find ourselves in.  The second was at a Christmas Day Mass at a little Catholic church in Akaroa (just south of Christchurch NZ) and was also about our need for a Saviour to save us from ourselves and our sin.  Both messages were distinctly Kiwi complete with stories from All Black rugby hero’s to beached whales trying to be rescued from off the beaches in the Bay of Islands.  Both focused our attention squarely on our need for a saviour, which I would reckon is what the Christmas narrative is, at its heart, all about.  The whole account is meant to be a sign to all humanity that God was breaking into human history in the most incredible and undeniably unique way.   The fanciful story of a young Jewish maiden named Mary who had never been with a man was found to be pregnant through a miraculous act of God the Holy Spirit.  Also, the sign of a sky filled with angels all praising God and saying ‘Glory to God in the Highest’ after announcing to a bunch of bewildered shepherds the sign of a saviour born in Bethlehem wrapped in strips of cloth normally used for embalming the dead and lying in a feed trough normally used, well, as a feed trough and not a crib. The sign that this extraordinary virgin birth was not solely for the little nation of Israel but also for the whole world was a unique star in the sky that drew wise men from the east that apparently travelled years in order to come and present their gifts to this little child and worship him as a King.  The sign of all the little Jewish boys in a little insignificant town called Bethlehem being slaughtered by an evil jealous king and all the moms and dads who wept over this outrageous violent act. This unusual nativity story was recorded for us all, not so much that we could celebrate the birth of Jesus by spending time with family and friends exchanging gifts and feasting, but rather to see the signs and read the signs of what God had promised throughout the ages as coming true.  A promise he made to Adam and Eve, a promise he continued to remind his people of throughout the ages through his priests, prophets and kings who kept this promise and its hope alive.  The Christmas story then is less for our entertainment and more about awakening faith in all who hear it, sing of it, and read it as God shows us the signs that he has been roused to activity.  The marvellous activity He began of redeeming the lost and sinful world back to himself through the only begotten pre-existent Son of God who would take on human likeness and be the saviour of the whole world.  This wonderful narrative is meant to be one giant sign that the program to set us all right and save us from our sinful condition actually had a starting moment, just as he promised it would, through a little virgin named Mary betrothed to a carpenter named Joseph.  How could they/we miss these rich and abundant signs that our saviour has come just as God had promised he would?