Participating in significance — Reflections on Christmas

As I reflect on Christmas this week — from the birth stories of Jesus to our modern celebrations, I’m struck with the significance of this event.

Matthew titles his rendition of the Jesus story, “The Book of the Beginning of King Jesus…” (my translation of Matt. 1:1a).

While he writes about Jesus’ entire life, Matthew suspects this is only the beginning.

Matt feels the weight of the moment, he senses the significance.

Have you ever experienced something like this? A moment when you can feel the tension in the air, when everyone can feel the energy in the room — you notice your heart beating quicker and your stomach knotting.

It’s hard to describe it with words but you just know in your gut things are going to be different from here on out.

The way Matt tells the story of this baby’s birth shows that’s how he feels here.

He connects this story to stories of old (Isaiah 7:14, Micah 5:2, Hosea 2:15, Jeremiah 31:15), stories that were meaningful and emotional to his listeners — not to claim this birth was predicted 700 years prior — but to help them catch the weight of the moment.

He’s signaling significance.

He adds spirits and angels and dreams and stars to say, “pay attention — this is a big deal.”

I imagine his Jewish listeners captivated, nudging one another and exchanging glares as they heard this read aloud. “C’mon, Joe, can you chew a bit quieter so we can hear? This is important!”

Now, here we are. All these years later. And we still pause at this moment.

We pause our normal rhythms to gather, to eat and drink, to give gifts. We decorate our homes, we close our companies, we get on planes and trains (and Zoom) to sit with people we care about. We’ve given this season its own colors and songs and symbols.

Whether we consider what Christmas is “really” about or not, this time is significant; our celebration shows it.

This week is already significant. Let us make it a time of significant peace, friendship, generosity, gratitude, and hope.