Revisiting the Christmas Story
Sunday, December 15, 2024
(This message was delivered on December 15, 2024, and posted here on December 27, 2024.)
Even though it’s still 10 days until Christmas, I wanted to offer a Christmas message in person with you as well as with everyone joining us online. We know this story. We’ve heard it countless times, and we’ve internalized all the assumptions it makes about Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and the conditions of Jesus’ birth. In perhaps the most glaring example, the Christmas hymn Away in a Manger says:
Away in a manger
No crib for a bed
The little Lord Jesus
Laid down His sweet head
The stars in the bright sky
Looked down where He lay
The little Lord Jesus
Asleep on the hay
The cattle are lowing
The Baby awakes
But little Lord Jesus
No crying He makes
Our own reason and logic tell us that this could not have been and was not the case. I have to admit, while preparing this message, I really wanted to focus on how sterile our image of the nativity is and how poorly Jesus’ birth is often presented to us. However, whichever way the scene is presented, the nativity remains a story of hope, of love, and of the beginning of our call to build the Kin-dom of God on earth.
Tonight, I invite you to join me in reflecting on insights into the nature of God’s grace and the radical love that God extends to the marginalized, which we find in the Christmas story.
Mary: The First to Say “Yes” to God’s Plan
The first thing we should recognize is the central role Mary plays. She was not a passive figure but an active participant in God’s divine plan. When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, he announced something extraordinary—that she would give birth to the Son of God. This announcement would have been overwhelming for anyone, but especially for Mary, who was likely just a teenager.
What makes Mary’s response so powerful is her willingness to say “yes” to God. She didn’t say yes because she was forced or because she lacked the freedom to refuse. In fact, she asks Gabriel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34). She thinks critically about what is being asked of her. In a time and culture where women were often marginalized, silenced, and directed in all aspects of their lives, Mary speaks. Mary embodies the truth that God sees and empowers the oppressed. Mary becomes the first co-creator with the Divine. Equally important, we can’t overlook the courage it took for Mary to carry this child. In a society where women were routinely put to death for sexual transgressions, Mary risked everything by accepting God’s call.
In this, we see that the story of salvation, the story of liberation begins with the consent of a woman. In our own time, when boys and men would dare say to girls and women, “Your body, my choice,” God has already said, “No.” Mary was not forced. The creator of the world, through an angel, asked, and Mary gave consent.
Mary and Joseph: A Family Beyond Convention
The Holy Family—Mary, Joseph, and Jesus—offer a powerful image, particularly for LGBTQIA+ people. Often portrayed as the model nuclear family, they’re anything but. Mary is a teenager, likely no older than 15. She’s unmarried at the time of Jesus’ conception and birth, and she’s telling people that the child in her womb is divine, which, of course, sounded as crazy to the majority of her contemporaries as it would sound if someone said it today. Joseph is possibly double her age, maybe more, and he has children from at least one previous marriage. In the widely read but non-canonical Infancy Gospel of James, Joseph repeatedly refers to Mary as “the child” and delays marrying her both because she’s already pregnant and because she is so much younger than him.
In this unconventional family, we see a reflection of the many diverse ways that families are formed today. LGBTQIA+ people have long known that families are not always defined by biology or by traditional structures. Families, particularly Queer families, are often created in ways that challenge societal norms: through love, through choice, and through commitment rather than conformity to rigid expectations. In Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, we see a family that breaks the mold and is rooted in love and trust rather than in societal approval.
This is good news for all of us. It reminds us that God’s vision for family is expansive, inclusive, and grounded in love. God is not bound by the limitations of human tradition or convention.
Just as God chose to enter the world through an unconventional family, God’s love is present in all families formed in love, regardless of their structure or makeup.
The Shepherds: God’s Love for the Outsiders
Another important group in the nativity story are the shepherds, who were the first to hear the good news of Jesus’ birth. As we’ve discussed before, shepherds were often seen as outcasts, living on the fringes of society. They were migrant workers often working far from home. Yet, they were the first to be invited into the mystery of God’s incarnation.
The shepherds represent all who have ever been excluded or marginalized—those who have been told that they don’t belong. But here, these outsiders are welcomed into the heart of the Christmas miracle. They are the ones who are invited to bear witness to God’s love made manifest. The angels don’t appear to the powerful, but to the shepherds, proclaiming, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10).
This is a powerful reminder that God’s love is for everyone. The birth of Jesus is good news for “all the people,” not just for those who conform to societal expectations or fit into traditional categories. God’s love is radically inclusive, extending to the outcasts, and all those on the margins. God’s love is for anyone who has ever felt that they don’t belong.
God’s Love Defies Expectations and Norms
Another thing we notice about the birth of Jesus is that it defies expectations. The Messiah—the long-awaited Savior—was not born in a palace or to a powerful family. Instead, he was born in a stable to a young, unmarried woman, surrounded by animals, and visited by shepherds, who were themselves outsiders in many ways. The birth of Jesus takes place on the margins and speaks powerfully to the ways in which God subverts human expectations and norms. Jesus’ birth disrupts the traditional power structures and hierarchies of the world. In fact, his birth challenges the idea that God’s favor rests on those who fit societal norms or who hold positions of power. It challenges the lie that the poor are poor because they did something wrong or made themselves poor. Jesus’ birth makes a mockery of the idea that if you simply work harder, you will be able to pull yourself up by your bootstraps.
In the nativity, we see a God who not only embraces the margins but chooses to be born there. We find a God who doesn’t just care for the marginalized; God makes them his family.
The Queerness of the Incarnation: God With Us in All Our Diversity
At the very heart of the Christmas story is the doctrine of the incarnation—the belief that Jesus, who is God, took on human flesh and entered into the fullness of our human experience. The incarnation is a radical affirmation of the diversity of human life and the infinite ways in which we reflect the image of God.
The incarnation challenges binary thinking. In Jesus, the divine and the human are united in a way that transcends simple categories. Jesus is not a divine/human hybrid. He’s not some percentage human and some percentage God. He’s 100% God and 100% human. Classical logic and mathematics tell us that nothing can be 100% of both pairs of duality—in this case, God and human. Similar logic tells us that if you’re born a boy, you will always be male, and if you’re born a girl, you will always be female. Yet, by becoming human and remaining God, Jesus invites us to embrace the complexity and fluidity of identity. Jesus reminds us that we are not limited by rigid definitions of gender, sexuality, or identity. The incarnation affirms the sacredness of all bodies and all identities.
Our identities—whether related to gender, sexuality, or any other aspect of who we are—are not mistakes or deviations from God’s plan. Rather, they are part of the beautiful diversity of God’s creation. Jesus is “Emmanuel”—God with us—not just with some of us, but with all of us.
Mary as a Model of Discipleship for All
Finally, Mary’s story offers us a model of discipleship. Her faithfulness, her courage, and her willingness to embrace God’s call are qualities that we are all invited to emulate. But it is important to recognize that Mary’s discipleship is not about submission to an unjust order; it is about partnering with God in the work of liberation and justice.
Mary teaches us that saying “yes” to God does not mean accepting the status quo. Rather, saying “yes” to God means opening ourselves to the new and radical ways that God is at work in the world. It means challenging systems of oppression, even when the future is uncertain. It means recognizing our own worth and value as beloved children of God.
The Birth of Jesus: God’s Radical Love for All
So, friends, when the time came for Mary to give birth, she found herself far from home, in a stable, surrounded not by family and friends but by animals and strangers. The nativity scene was a moment of deep vulnerability for Mary. There was no midwife, no comfortable bed, no security. And yet, in that humble setting, the Savior of the world was born.
The birth of Jesus reveals a God who chooses to enter the world in the most vulnerable and humble way possible. God does not come as a powerful king or a mighty warrior but as a helpless baby, born to a young woman in a stable. God identifies with the marginalized, the powerless, and the oppressed.
The birth of Jesus is a radical act of solidarity; a demonstration that divine grace is not reserved for the rich or the powerful but is freely given to those whom the world often overlooks.
The Christmas story reminds us that the Kin-dom of God is one where the last are first, and the lowly are lifted up.
It reminds us that we are called to be active co-creators of the Kin-dom of God.
It reminds us that God embraces the margins, chooses the unexpected, and breaks down the boundaries that divide us.
It reminds us that God is present with us in all our diversity and that God affirms the sacredness of our identities.
God sees you. God loves you just as God created you to be. God is with you.
Amen.
(Note - Like with most of my messages, the text above might differ a bit from what I said in the recording.)