The Forgotten Tragedies of the Christmas Story
By Matthew Kuchem, Public Discourse:
Christ’s advent is an astonishing story of God’s power and light breaking into our darkness, doubt, and suffering.
Scandal. Treason. Mass infanticide. Narrow escape. These are the elements of dark drama. When we celebrate the advent of our Lord, we tend to avoid thinking of such horrors. But they are inextricably part of the Christmas story. They are not minor details that can be brushed aside.
Yet we often neglect these elements of the Christmas story. Our familiarity with the story causes these bleak details to slip between the cracks. They can be distressing and seem to spoil the joy and wonder of Christ’s coming.
But we may discover hope and blessing by contemplating the Christmas story in its entirety. Only when we understand the darkness that overshadows the advent of Christ can we be fully comforted by the light of Christ’s coming.
The Incarnation’s Tremors
The narrative of the Incarnation defies our culture’s all too frequent tendency, even among Christians, to water down Christmas into a merely sweet, happy story. While the season of Advent is one of great hope and joy, Christ’s coming was marked by sorrow, uncertainty, unbelief, and brutality.
We tend to forget that Joseph planned to divorce Mary for adultery, a grave sin with equally grave consequences (stoning) in those days. Imagine Mary’s own distress—despite her unparalleled joy—in knowing the effect of her surprise pregnancy on her relationship with Joseph. She surely knew that the divorce by Joseph would leave her with a life of shame and destitution, even if she escaped worse judgment.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
