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December 24, 2023: A Child is Born for Us
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Once upon a time…Oops. Those words are for a fairy tale. You know, a story made up for the purpose of making a point. Whenever I’ve read the words “Once upon a time” in my younger years (haven’t read them for years now), I felt there was the gifted imagination of an author to follow these opening words. There would a follow the story of flying dragons, or a Prince and Princess from a made-up country falling in love and getting married, or even a number (like 7) of little dwarfs who were some of the cutest creatures God had ever created (or not created). Or, even an alien like the one found in the movie E.T., although that story didn’t begin with the words “Once upon a time.”
But do the words “Once upon a time” work for the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. I suppose they could in one sense, absent all the fiction and made-up parts of the story. Jesus’ birth is most certainly a story. A real story in history, with animals, concerned people, a married couple, a Star being born, if you will, a lesser star leading a few Wise Men to the spot where the birth took place, a stable that was a most unusual place for anyone’s birth to occur, and shepherds out in the field stopping by to pay homage to a “newborn King.” This story has all the makings and markings for the words “Once upon a time.” In books and on CD’s, when the story is presented in written or spoken form, it takes on the likes of events from a fairy tale. An incredible story filled with human imagination. Where all creation seems to be involved. Even the heavens, too.
So, in this sense, the words “Once upon a time,” 2000 years ago, there was a child ready to be born to a Virgin who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, a very holy man. Almost, but not quite, as holy as his wife and mother of the child. In their search for a place for the mother to give birth, for the time had arrived, they could not find a comfortable inn or anyone’s home to settle down and bring forth a Savior. So, they found an empty stable. Well, empty of human beings, but not so empty of four-legged creatures. In that little, tiny, teany-weany outdoor space on a cool winter’s night, the Virgin brought forth her firstborn son…. Sounds like a fairy tale, doesn’t it? It has the ingredients for a made-up story. Someone from heaven coming down to us to save us from ourselves. A God-Hero, a Prince of Peace, a Wonder-Counselor, a Good Shepherd.
Sadly, there are those whom this non-made-up story has no internal effect upon. Some see this story as made-up by writers (even Gospel writers) who greatly imagined things that were not real some 20 centuries ago. That they invented this story to give some people throughout the world a little bit of hope, but did so through fictional ideas and thoughts. This, of course, is simply an opinion on their part. Nothing more. Those whose hearts are not touched by hearing or reading this story of a child born in Bethlehem are very likely to preface the story with the words, “Once upon a time.” No different from “Once upon a time there were three little bears, with Mama Bear and Papa Bear…” Fiction is fiction, which some folks enjoy reading because of the gifted imaginations of authors who express words and scenes in ways that capture our own imaginations. One could even say that the gifted imaginations of authors who write fictional stories truly express their own God-given talents. That God is in their words when they build up individuals and communities through their stories. This would leave Stephen King on the outside looking in. His fiction is not “of God.” Highly entertaining for some, but not emanating from above.
For the rest of us, the words “Once upon a time” tend not to preface the story of our Savior’s birth. It’s not that we outright refuse to use these words for the fullness of time coming to us in human form. For those blessed with the gift of faith in Jesus, these beginning words for a fictional story just don’t seem to ring with the real story of our Savior’s birth. It’s like trying to squeeze a square peg into a round hole. We could, if we squeeze hard enough, get the square peg into the round hole. But how comfortable would Mr. Round Hole be when Mr. Square is stuffing and forcing himself into a place he really doesn’t belong? The result is anything but natural. Rather than “Once upon a time in the land of ancient Palestine,” how about we go to the words of St. John in his Gospel; “And the Word was made flesh and made his dwelling among us.” Word, which is the Logos, becoming one of us in human form, takes on a more loving and natural story because we came from the Word, and are going back to the Word at the end of our days.
The “problem,” if you will, with being rid of “Once upon a time” in regard to the story of Jesus’ birth, is how so many of the events that surround the Lord’s birth seem to be “beyond fiction” to the point of reality. You know how people like to say about some event, “I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it myself.” Or, “That story is so out of this world, it has to be true.” Or, “They should make a movie out of that event, it’s so unbelievable.” Well, the story of our Lord’s birth takes on some of this speech. How can a Virgin give birth to a real firstborn Son? How can her husband want to divorce her one day, go to sleep at night, dream of the appearance of an angel telling him to take her into his home, then wake up the next day and do what the angel commanded?” How can God be born in a stable? Is this the sort of King all humanity was waiting for? A homeless King? Is his only home in heaven, and not with us on Earth? How can this God-child grow up and be crucified by weaker humanity? Did a star really lead Three Wise Men to the stable when they saw the star from the East, moving toward, and finally resting over the stable of his birth? This stuff is beyond fiction, if you ask me. I would never use the words “Once upon a time” with the story of Jesus’; birth, because somehow they are greater, higher, and above the words in a story about Three Little Pigs, or Goldy Locks.
But what really does away with the words “Once upon a time” in the telling of Jesus’ birth is how the story of our Savior’s birth as written in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke inform us of God’s intervention into our history. This doesn’t sound like much evidence on the surface. It wouldn’t hold up in a court of law for doing away with the words “Once upon a time.” But what does make God’s intervention on our behalf rock solid, at least for people of faith, is how God does not deceive. God is truth. The liar here is the one carrying the pitchfork, seeking to destroy the faith we have in the “Good news of great joy, for today a Savior is born to us in the city of David, Christ the Lord.” I’d like to say the Devil’s role in history is “Once upon a time” fiction, but this would play right into his hands. The mother of all fallen angels is as real as Jesus’ birth. But thanks be to God, we have the more powerful One who arrives in the nick of time to save us from the weaker one’s burning embers in his fire down below.
The story of Christmas is so unbelievably true that it has to be real. However, as Christians, we don’t rely on this premise for our real faith in Christ. It is true that the events of Jesus’ birth, and why his birth even happens, is centered in the greatest love there is; to eventually lay down his life for his friends. And we are his friends. We are friends of the Lord. It’s hard to picture the Lord’s death a few decades later after looking into a manger and seeing a newborn child. The child’s death is the last thought any sane person would have when looking upon the face of a newborn. But before we arrive on Golgotha to present ourselves as part of the crowd that yells “Crucify him,” we read the many parts of Jesus’ story where he performed countless miracles for the sick, the dying, and in some cases, the dead, raising them back to life. Only one who is filled with the virtue of love can willingly perform some of the greatest acts of love. But the greatest act of love, as mentioned, is the part of his story that bleeds for the life of our world. And bleeds for the resurrection of our bodies. Is this a fairy tale? Is this too good to be true? Do we have a God who loves us this much, with arms outstretched on a tree, expanding from one end of the heavens to the other?
If anyone wishes to use the words “Once upon a time,” and connect them to the story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, then feel free to do so. Just make certain that this story could be the first time in the history of authorship when “Once upon a time” was used for the most real story ever told or written. The birth of our Lord Jesus, although happening once over 2000 years ago, is a true story always in the now. In the present. It is ever alive, like him. Every person who dies in the world comes to know how real this story is at the moment of our death. It makes no difference what their religious belief system happens to be at the time of their going forth. There is only one Lord and Savior, and his name is Jesus the Christ, and all roads to heaven pass through him. Merry Christmas to all, and may we all welcome our Savior into our daily living, for “a Child is born for us.” Amen.