The gospel text of Matthew 2:1–12 for the second Sunday in Christmas is one of those texts you just can’t read lightly, lest you miss some really important stuff. One such important detail is that Herod is a new Pharaoh who kills little boys to prevent the Promised Seed from ascending his throne, and that he is “deceived” by the wise men as was Pharaoh by the midwives.

Speaking of the Wise Men, how many were there? We all know “three,” but the text doesn’t actually say that; just the Christmas carol, thinking each man brought one gift. Are you really paying attention to the text?!

Same thing with the “star” the men follow! Most Christians think this is an actual, cosmic star in heaven, no bother that stars are about 1000 times larger than our earth (don’t trust the science here!). But if you read your bible and connect even a few dots, you know this isn’t a cosmic star but the “Shekinah Glory,” the cloud of light by day and fire by night, the portable throne room of Yahweh and Jesus that moves around leading Israel in the wilderness and that picks up Jesus at his ascension. Paul gets a visit from it on the way to Damascus, and Jesus speaks out of it just like Yahweh did to Moses. So in our gospel account the “star” leads the men to an actual house and “sits” over it; therein they find Jesus.

So this invites the question: Why does the text tell us that David picks up “five” stones when he meets Goliath? Why “five”? We all know the answer: he was a Calvinist, one stone for each point. And all it took was one stone, since Goliath was “totally depraved!” But might it have been that David was preparing to get his four brothers (2 Samuel 21.15-22)?

Stille Nacht (Silent Night) and The First Noel were the first two Christmas hymns that stopped the first World War briefly during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in 1914. First the Germans serenaded their enemies across the trenches, and the British soldiers responded with The First Noel. Shortly thereafter white flags went up, soldiers from both sides started crawling out of the trenches and exchanging goodies from home, laughter, stories, drinks and food. Dead comrades were removed and buried without withering machine gun fire. This was only the latest example of Europe’s Christian heritage influencing even the engagement of warfare: for centuries various Christian kingdoms wouldn’t allow warfare during Christmas or Easter and other holidays, and regulated burials and ceasefires and treatment of prisoners.

Secularists, in treating this Christmas truce, reduce it to sentimental rubbish: “The truce was a brief tantalizing flash of individual humanity, in a war of bureaucracies, machines and high explosives.”

No, No, No, No! When did this happen? On Christmas Eve! What were the troops singing? Christmas hymns, not beer-drinking ditties! What brought this temporary truce? The worship of Jesus and the peace that he brought to the world in his incarnation. In fact, worship of Jesus (by two Christian armies) preceded the truce. The worship of Jesus lifted even these hardened soldier’s eyes heavenward to gaze for moment on what the angels heralded so long ago:

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2.14). What a brilliant example of Jesus’ reign on earth affecting the conduct of men! May it do the same for you this coming year!

Driving around town, it is depressing to see how many decorations have NO nativity scene. But reading C.S. Lewis improved my attitude somewhat!

In his book, God in the Dock, Lewis has some very pungent observations about the keeping of “Exmas” and “Chrismas.” After dealing with all the excesses of Exmas and how it really is just empty religion—meaningless cards of birds on branches, or green trees, or men dressed up like two hundreds years before, or houses with snow; empty gifts that they have to match in value to one another, expensive gifts they wouldn’t even buy for themselves, and how the sellers push junk for purchase, and how miserable older citizens walk around in the market places in red robes; and tired from the “rush of the season,” eat and drink too much on the day and are sick for a few days afterwards, and how they honor a god they do not believe in—he finally gets around to a few of the citizens who keep “Chrismas” (the word in the article) on the same day as Exmas.

These citizens do the opposite of most of their countrymen: they rise early with shining faces and go to temples where they partake of a sacred feast. And they set out images of a fair woman with new-born Child on her knees with animals and shepherds adoring the Child. And they retell the sacred story of the birth.

Let us at St. Mark NOT do what the Exmas crowd does, but let us follow in the path of the “Chrismas” worshippers! Though fewer, in our devotion to Christ let us lead the culture with truth, goodness, and beauty, not gluttony or drunkenness or senseless emotional pictures and decorations!

Merry Christmas! Christ is the beginning of Christmas!