For those of you who were unaware, today (specifically tonight) is Christmas Eve. If you actually were unaware of that fact, shame on you. Anyway, I figured today would be my little bit about Christmas considering I'll be busy tomorrow Christmas-ing.
What, first of all, do we know about Christmas, or specifically the Nativity?
In this post, I'm going to take a look at the Christmas Story in a somewhat different light than perhaps you're used to - as a fulfillment of Genesis.
Everything in the New Testament fulfills what happens in the Old. I already mentioned how Mary fulfills the Ark of the Covenant, for example. It's not a stretch, then, to say that the first story of the New Testament fulfills one of the first of the Old.
The Nativity is not "replacing" Genesis...it's fulfilling it. It is taking the story in light of salvation history and purifying it. Where Eve failed, Mary succeeds. Where Adam sinned, Christ redeems.
We can start drawing the first parallels from the opening verses of the Second Story of Creation: "the Lord God formed man out f the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being" (Gen. 2:7). Now let's look at Matthew: "it is through the Holy Spirit this child has been conceived" (Mt. 1:20). Right away we know that Jesus is going to renew creation. He comes not from the earth, as Adam did, but from God.
(A brief note about Eden: As I'm re-reading this part of Genesis, I'm reminded of something I once heard about the "location" of Eden. According to the text, the garden was roughly where the Tigris and Euphrates meet. Armchair geographers look and try to pinpoint the location - which turns out somewhere roughly near Baghdad - but they're missing the point. The Tigris and the Euphrates never meet. They come close, but don't touch. Eden is always "close" but never there)
Next, we learn about two trees in the garden - the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is the latter that will ultimately bring the fall of man, as it is the one God forbids Adam and Eve to eat from (Spoiler: They do it anyway). So, if the story centers around the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, why is the Tree of Life mentioned at all? Perhaps this could go back to my ideas about light and dark - one tree cursed man.....so the other redeems.
The Tree of Life is the source of man's redemption.
Get it yet?
So, we already have the creation of man and the two trees fulfilled, so let's get into the drama: the fall of man.
Adam and Eve are both tricked into eating the fruit. Actually, I hesitate to even say "tricked". "Lied to", certainly, but "tricked" implies it wasn't their fault. They freely chose to eat the fruit. As soon as they did, they realized they were naked.
Shortly thereafter, we see God looking for them in the garden, but they are hiding. "I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself." Adam is afraid.
How fitting, then in Matthew when the Angel tells Joseph "do not be afraid" (Mt. 1:20). Where we had fear and shame in Genesis, we find confidence and triumph in Matthew. Where we had the sinful tree, we now have the Tree of Life. Heaven fulfills Earth.
Next, we have the aftermath of the first sin - God expels Adam and Eve from Eden and curses them to a short life of work and pain. There are a few verses here worth noting:
In order for man to get "bread to eat" (3:19), man must endure "Thorns and thistles" (18) and work will require "sweat of your face" (19). Man will eventually "Return to the ground, from which you were taken" (19). He named his wife "Eve, because she became the mother of all the living" (20). God then laments man's sin, and says that "he must not be allowed to put out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life also, and thus eat of it and live forever" (22). Finally, God "stationed the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword, to guard the way to the tree of life" (24).
This death could not be permanent, though - God's love for humanity was too strong. He sends His own Son to save us and, step by step undo the events of Genesis. Jesus, the New Adam, endures the 'Thorns and thistles" as a crown, and gives every drop of sweat upon the cross.
Mary, the New Eve, becomes the mother of all the living under the New Covenant. Man, now born of heaven rather than earth, can return to heaven, from which he was taken. Man is now allowed (required, even) to take fruit from Jesus, the Tree of Life and "eat of it and live forever".
The Angel that blocked the gate to Eden now has a new task - rather than one of forbidding, it is one of invitation. "The angel of the Lord appeared to (the shepherds) and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people" (Luke 2:9-10).
Where Adam and Eve chose sin, Jesus and Mary chose life. Where the tree condemned man, the Tree redeemed man. Humanity no longer came "from the dirt" but was adopted by God Himself. Mary became the new Mother of all the living, and angels sang to the Glory of God.
So, as you're basking in all the Christmas tomorrow, don't just see it as a rather odd childbirth in a stable two thousand years ago. See the Nativity for what it really is: One of the most pivotal points in human history. The drama of our redemption. The birth of New Life. It isn't just Jesus' birthday we're celebrating: It's ours. Jesus opened the gates to heaven so that we all may enter. Jesus became human to save humanity. Christmas isn't just the birth of an extraordinary baby, it is the birth of new life itself.
This year, don't get lost in the "celebrating". Don't let the readings go through you just because you've heard them so many times. Embrace them as though you had never heard them before. Look at them from a new light.
Don't reduce Christmas to a one-time event twenty centuries ago. Make this your personal Christmas. Open the gates of your heart. Let Life be born in you today. Let Jesus save you. Because even if you were the only human on earth, Jesus would have still done everything He did. See tomorrow for what it is: your salvation.
This is our new creation. "Behold, I make all things new" (Rev. 21:5)
Open your heart and see that Christmas can happen every day - every time we allow Christ to work within us. If we allow Christ into our hearts, we become like the manger: completely unworthy, but carrying the greatest treasure in the universe.
Don't just listen to the Nativity - live it.
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