I need to be honest with you…

I have problems with the Christmas story.

And I don’t mean the “traditional” story…

which blends bits of Matthew’s version…

and bits of Luke’s…

ignoring their irreconcilable contradictions.

I certainly have problems with that.

But that’s not what I’m talking about.

Rather, I have problems with Luke’s version on its own.

There are numerous historical gaps, inconsistencies, and errors…

of which I’m all too aware as a New Testament scholar and an historian.

For example… 

the census or registration that Luke mentions probably never happened.

Quirinius was not governor of Syria when Herod the Great was king of Judaea.

And Luke’s rationale for Joseph and Mary travelling to Bethlehem doesn’t make sense.

It simply doesn’t fit with the requirements of Roman law.

 

I also have problems with the story scientifically.

As someone who has a background in bio-medical science…

the idea of a virginal conception is ludicrous.

Mind you, it makes sense within the medical understanding of the first century.

Back then… 

babies weren’t understood to be the product of the mother’s egg and father’s sperm.

Rather, a baby grew from the father’s seed…

which was simply impregnated in the mother…

who was, literally, just an incubator.

The whole process akin to planting a seed in the soil.

So, if Jesus was God’s son, then God—

and no human father— 

had to do the implanting.

 

But my problem with the story doesn’t just end there.

I have a problem with angels— 

on all sorts of levels.

I have a metaphysical problem with angels.

They simply don’t make sense!

They don’t fit with my understanding of God.

Why would God need angels to do what God was, or is, quite capable of doing?

And yet, once again, it makes sense in the ancient world—

a world that was familiar with all-powerful kings…

who the average person never saw…

and who they wouldn’t dare approach.

So, they needed intermediaries.

They needed underlings to go through if they wanted something.

But angels just don’t make sense in our enlightened…

scientific…

post-industrialised…

post-modern world.

And so, I have to admit…

I find that part of the Christmas story more than a little embarrassing.

But let’s be honest…

apart from children’s nativity plays—

where they offer small girls a role since there can only be one Mary—

and apart from decorations that we place on our trees…

few of us pay much attention to the angels in the story.

How often do we really notice what the angels say?

How often do we consider what it really means?

 

Well… let’s take another look.

 

The first angel proclaims…

“I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord”.

And this is followed by a vast number of them singing…

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours”.

 

What most of us probably don’t realise…

is that we have here a deliberate combination of images and language.

Let me explain.

In the ancient world, the birth of great kings and leaders—

men like Julius Caesar or Augustus—

were thought to be accompanied by heavenly wonders and signs…

such as comets…

unusual planetary alignments…

and the appearance of divine messengers.

Thus, by including angels in his story, Luke is comparing Jesus to such characters.

This comparison is heightened by the angels’ words.

Take the description of Jesus as “Saviour” and “Lord”.

In our day and age, that language has been hijacked by the fundamentalists—

who speak of individuals as “saved”…

reducing God’s work to a personal, me-and-Jesus sort of thing.

But that’s not what Luke intended or meant.

Rather, the terms, “Saviour” and “Lord” were used almost exclusively for the Roman Emperor—

and especially for Augustus—

because of the peace, security, and prosperity that his reign had inaugurated.

In other words, by comparing Jesus to Augustus…

and by declaring that Jesus is Saviour and Lord, not Augustus…

and that peace on earth comes through Jesus, not Augustus…

Luke is making a provocative political statement.

Luke is claiming that— 

in the birth of Jesus—

God is directly challenging the very structures of society…

the very thing that most people thought guaranteed their freedom and prosperity.

In other words…

the “good news” the angels announce is that God has come—

that God has intervened in human history—

to overturn the structures we take for granted…

and in which we assume our prosperity and security lie.

God has intervened to transform the way that we go about things.

 

But that’s not what we want to hear at Christmas.

If there’s one thing most of us like at Christmas, it’s tradition.

We want our roast turkey and plum pudding.

We want our tinsel and fairy lights.

We want to spend time with our families.

And without those things, it’s not Christmas.

The traditional Christmas is safe and comfortable.

It reinforces our fixation on “family values”.

It’s of the very essence of our way of life. 

And most of us don’t want that to change.

Let’s face it, most of us like the world the way it is.

Sure, we don’t like seeing some people go without…

suffering from easily preventable diseases…

or subjected to injustice.

But, in the end, we’re not really prepared to do anything about it.

Because then, we’d have to change how we live.

We’d have to stop creating greenhouse gases and polluting the atmosphere.

We’d have to stop hoarding our country’s wealth for ourselves.

We’d have to share what we have more equitably…

which means we’d have to get by with less.

We’d have to start paying fair prices for goods made in Third World countries.

Company profits would fall.

The share market would decline.

Our superannuation returns would be decimated.

Our taxes would have to go up.

The price of goods and commodities would skyrocket.

And, if we criticised or even boycotted China for its human rights abuses…

or Indonesia for its treatment of the West Papuans…

then we’d lose exports.

In the end, we don’t really want the world to be a fair place for all.

Nor do we really want peace.

Nor do we want to show goodwill to every person.

Because that would mean we would have to change.

We’d have to stop thinking about “what’s in it for me”.

We’d have to stop trying to protect our own little patch.

And we’d have to start thinking about others.

Including people we don’t like or with whom we disagree…

people who make us uncomfortable…

people who are different.

 

In the end, the real problem with the angels in the Christmas story…

is that, for most of us, what they announce is anything but good news.

The angels’ message is a challenge—

indeed, a threat.

So, we prefer our angels stuck on a tree as decorations.

Silent.

Not singing to remind us…

that, with God’s intervention in human affairs…

we, and our world, can’t stay the same!