Christmas Journeys

Christmas time has always been associated with making journeys. For me, this involved a 450 mile road trip from south west London to Ayrshire to be with the family, taking over 8 hours due to heavy traffic on the M25 London ring road. Motoring organisations estimated that over 4.1 million cars will be on the motorway network in the UK on Christmas Eve as people make last minute shopping trips and go to visit family, making it the busiest day of the year on the network. There are also many people affected by engineering works and other issues relating to bad weather that have caused delays on the railways.

The first Christmas also famously began with a journey as a young man and his expectant wife made their way to Bethlehem to register on the Roman census, a journey that would also take in the birth of the child, whose birth had already been the subject of angelic visions to his parents. Following difficulties in securing suitable accommodation for the birth, the young couple had to use a dirty old stable. During this scene, we are also made of another journey, this time of a group of shepherds who made their way down from the hillside  to see the child following the appearance of angels who advised that God had provided the gift of a Saviour. Although no one could've realised, the events in that dingy stable in the back streets of Bethlehem would be the defining moment in history by which our calendars would be set.

When Jesus was a toddler, he was famously visited by a group of Magi who made the journey from a distant eastern country, thought to be Babylon or Persia, bringing exotic and prophetic gifts that pointed to his future life and death. These distinguished strangers had spoken to King Herod as they sought to find the Christ child and the deceitful Herod also advised them to come back when they find him in order that he could also go and worship. Interestingly, they didn't return to the palace to advise him of where he was based, as it is recorded that they learned in a dream of Herod having murderous intentions to the child. 

The young Jesus had to make a journey with his parents to live as refugees in Egypt, to escape Herod's genocide that was committed in the area, in order that he could try and eliminate the new king that the Magi told him of before going back to Nazareth following the death of Herod. The next journey that Jesus is recorded making was to the Temple with his parents and extended family where he was noted for having discussions with the priests. This would give a clue to the ministry that lay ahead. The adult Jesus spent time working as a carpenter before his ministry led him to make many journeys across Palestine, spreading a message of hope and love. These journeys are recorded as bringing many astonishing occurrences of healing the sick.

Just as his first humble visitors had to come down from their posting on the hillside, Jesus had to take a journey of ascending the hillside outside Jerusalem to be crucified following trumped up criminal charges. Scripture notes that just as his birth was a divine event, there was yet another journey in that Jesus subsequently rose again and ascended to heaven a few weeks later. These events signified Jesus dying for the sins of mankind in order that mankind can come back to God.

In a world that is blighted by the dogmatic and corrosive ideology of ISIS, many have become cynical about religion in general. The comedian, Billy Connolly, proclaimed religion to be over and to take the Reformation, Vatican and Mecca and f**k off. This was trending on social media though it is a rather lazy thesis to lump all religion together. The Christmas story arguably represents the antidote to religious dogma, indeed the Prime Minister, David Cameron, noted that birth of Jesus represented peace, mercy goodwill and, above all, hope.

Accepting the validity of the old story is a matter for each individual. Wherever readers of this blog may find themselves on the faith spectrum, it is undeniable that the Christmas story has made a clarion call directly to the heart of man for around 2000 years with its message of peace and love. The video attached to this blog, a remake of the John Lewis advert, displays the simplicity and beauty of the message of God coming down to mankind. If we want to make a journey that will take us to the real meaning of Christmas, starting with that first century Palestinian refugee, turned carpenter to calendar changer and Christ will be the right place.