From
Wikipedia ….
Miraculous
births are a common element in
historical literature and religious texts. Stories of miracle births often included
miraculous conceptions and features such as intervention by a deity,
supernatural elements, astronomical signs, hardship or in the case of some
mythologies complex plots related to creation.
All births are miraculous. As Christmas approaches, my
thoughts have turned to birth stories, not just to the one birth story we celebrate
on the 25th of this month but rather the place of birth stories in
general in our culture and I suspect in all cultures. Reminiscences are common
themes at family birthday celebrations: “I remember an eclipse happening on the
day you were born.” or “When Uncle Fred saw you for the first time he knew you
would be concert pianist one day because of your long fingers.” or “Aunt Sarah
brought you the weirdest gift – an adult-sized motorcycle helmet. How did she
know that 20 years later you would be riding a motorcycle?” We explain the present
by remembering events from the past. In reality the eclipse had been known about
for some time, Uncle Fred said that to all the new babies he saw, and Aunt
Sarah, well she was always more than a little eccentric!
So how is this birth story we are celebrating on December
25th different from a family celebration? For one thing it happened 2000+ years
ago on an unknown day, in a disputed place, and without pictures or videos. Different
people were there depending on whose version you read: Matthew or Luke – and neither
of these versions were written until 80 years or more after the event
itself. In fact the earliest surviving writings
about Jesus don’t make any mention of his birth. But you have the wise men’s weird
presents [á la Aunt Sarah], the angels’ prediction of greatness [á la Uncle
Fred] and the star in the east [or in the case I cited above, the eclipse]. All
those familiar elements are in that story too.
It was several decades after Jesus’ death before these different
stories were written in the two gospels. The writers sensed that Jesus’ life
had had an impact on the lives of many others and so told a birth story that
placed his birth on a par with that of the Greek and Roman gods, as well as
equaling the birth story of the reigning Roman Emperor of the time, Caesar
Augustus. So this story that we celebrate with gentle carols and candlelight was
both a radical and subversive one when it was first written for the early community
of followers.
But what is its meaning for us today? Is it a sweet and
sentimental tale of angels singing, stars shining on a dark night and a virgin
and her child? Have we lost the radical and subversive edge to the story?
….
I thought this quote nicely supports your masterful little essay, Lynn. Thank you! "The Annunciation -- Mary's conception of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit -- is not merely a pious legend or folk tale. It is an archetypal reality, a mandala of our own transformation profoundly imprinted in every human soul. For each of us, this latent "something" within ourselves (call it our "Christ self" if you wish) will come into being as we become able to meld the flesh-and-blood of our human personhood with the mysterious, ever-engendering spirit, herald of God's own infinite fecundity".
ReplyDeleteThe church has lost the radical edge to this story, by spiritualizing it and putting everything onto God, so that we as followers of the prince of peace don't have to do much thinking about the ways and manners of the empire. God with us is important not only as individuals who struggle but also as an example of how we live on the empire, so to speak.
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