We are all familiar with the story of Mary and Joseph, traveling through a desolate wasteland in order protect their child from Herod. We also know of angels, animals, a little boy with a bongo drum. The three wise dudes from the east and the reluctant and detached innkeeper. Makes for a great story around a crackling fire near a dead tree decked with lights and ornaments that have ingrained memories (hopefully not too close to the fire). It is a story that will be told in thousands of churches all of the world in the next few days. We all know the story, so well perhaps, that we no longer see the significance. We're all too busy shopping, wondering how we're going to fit everybody on the schedule. Trying to get the last bit of work done so we can earn our holiday. We hear the story once a year, but it falls on deaf ears...we're too consumed with being consumers to notice.
Just about everybody celebrates Christmas, even if they are not Christians or have no belief at all. I remember being awed during our first Christmas in Japan...Christmas trees everywhere, holiday jingles and presents...the Japanese love giving and receiving presents. I never saw so much wrapping paper. Not bad for a country that mostly ascribes to Shintoism and Buddhism. Even atheists celebrate Christmas; I'm sure most of us, at least, can appreciate the humanity of it. A time of giving, taking a break from life. We're all a little nicer, a little more patient...well, accept for the guy who rode on my bumper yesterday. Christmas is an excuse for us to try to be more of the kind of people we'd like to be.
Of course, the escape to Bethlehem didn't actually take place in December and it wasn't just one night. The journey from Egypt to Bethlehem is well over a hundred miles through barren wasteland with no "rest areas" along the way. What does a guy have to do for a bag of overpriced potato chips around here? Anyway, true history, as it normally does, paints a far different picture than the lore we like to go to bed with at night. Dig just a little bit and you'll find that Jesus was not actually an unborn child when he and his parents made the journey. The "wise men" came years after his birth. There was no little drummer boy, no ox and lamb keeping time. No Christmas trees, which, by the way, are kind of a pagan thing. One year, when the kids were little and I was deep into bible study and biblical history, I suggested we not have a tree for that very reason. Didn't go over well. Not one of my better moments.
Christmas can tend to be a very difficult time for a lot of people. I remember spending Christmas in an airplane hanger, waiting to go to the desert during the Gulf War while my wife and son were back home in Ohio. We spent one Christmas in the hospital with Terri, trying to dress the room up as best we could. Last Christmas, Kim was in the middle of chemotherapy...I shaved what little hair she had left off her head on Christmas Eve. It's not all presents, trees and lights. It sure as hell isn't about an obese elf and his little minions. It has a much deeper meaning.
Mary and Joseph were individually visited by angels; God's messengers. They were given unbelievable news and an impossible task. Mary's job...be the vessel for the Son of God. Carry and raise a child...in Hebrew, Yeshua...who will one day give his life so that all of us...everybody, even the guy who tailgated me yesterday...may be saved. We all have the chance for redemption through Christ. It's no wonder that Yeshua means, "to deliver...to rescue." Joseph's task; ignore the Tora and wed the pregnant girl anyway. Take flight to Egypt and then to Nazareth, leave your family, friends and livelihood. Most of all, have faith. It's going to be a long, tough road, but have faith and do what God asks.
Have faith and do what God asks. Are we not all given the same task? Maybe we're not physically traveling through desert, but all of us share in the realities of life, even if some of us have a "great" life. Nobody on this side of the dirt... not Brad Pitt, Elon Musk, Jennifer Lopez, Donald Trump...nobody has a life without pain in some way. Often times, it's pain we've created. We all share in the same burden at some point, maybe a lot of times in our lives. The long walk through the lonely desert...the long, dark night when we can't sleep. "How are we going to pay the bills?" "What will people think of me now?" "How did our marriage get to this point?" "Will I live to see next Christmas?" We may all drive different cars, but we all park in the same garage.
But God, even if you don't believe, provides an entire book of life rafts waiting to be used. You have to be open to the concept, have a "mustard seed" of faith. Matthew 17:20-21 (MSG). We can only tread water for so long. Sooner or later, no matter how strong you are, your body will reach its limits and you will sink. How will you survive? Grasp the outstretched hand of the Son, who does not need a life raft because He Is the life raft. Ask Peter...he can tell you all about it. Matthew 14:30-33 (MSG).
Instead of wishing you "Merry Christmas," allow me to thank you for being my friend, even if we haven't met. If you've taken the time to read this and our other posts this year, thank you. I hope it brings something to you. Most of all, let us take a minute to realize the true meaning of the season...the road is long, the night is dark and lonely, but there is a light guiding all of us. It seems distant and dim at times, I know. I know. But the story of Christmas is the story, the true story of faith, hope and love. Try to remember that when you turn the light out on the 24th.
God Bless You.
Dave Magliano
Tatsu Dojo
Jissenkan Budo
Dojo Cho