Christmas is always an exciting and emotional time of the year. It is also when the Christian message can be passed on to children, recalled and reflected upon by adults. The main point of the Christmas message worth teaching and reflecting on, in my opinion, is the value of a child as expressed in the nativity story.
I want to give voice to the child who was born in Bethlehem, as the Bible tells us, and recount it uniquely in a way that may challenge those who prefer the traditional understanding of Christmas or those who enjoy the external aspects of the holiday season.
To tell the story from the perspective of Jesus, I want to go back to the time before he was even conceived and before he was born. There is the ancestral Kundalini philosophy, in which the baby's soul-to-be-born chooses its parents before conception to learn some important lessons. Also, science available today confirms that the impact of the pre-natal period is essential for babies' physical and emotional development.
The traditional telling of the story of Jesus's birth aims to communicate that it was God's will and that God was in charge of sending angels and making the star shine over the stable. I agree that the story of Jesus' birth is God's story.
However, if it's a story of God's love, it must be seen as a story about the substantial relationships of those involved. I believe in God, the Creator, who gives humans a portion of the responsibility in implementing the design He has for us.
Let's imagine Jesus narrating the story of his coming into this world. His soul, or his spiritual self, decided that he had a purpose to fulfil – the purpose that involved cooperation between God, his parents and himself. He knew that he needed to learn the lessons needed to achieve his purpose of becoming the Saviour whose advent was prophesied and awaited by the Jews.
Here is Jesus' story:
My mother was said to be a virgin, but the term really meant "young woman". Only because of the Greek translation of the Old Testament was the word used to make her into a kind of sky goddess (some even declared her to be a perpetual virgin!). She never wanted to talk about who my biological father was, resulting in the belief of some later on, that she conceived me without a human seed, through the Holy Spirit.
There is a good explanation if anyone wants to research Old Testament prophecies and other sources of this belief; When I chose who to be my mother, I believed she would become someone to raise me in a way that I would learn the lessons necessary to become the true son of God.
I chose the young woman, Mary, to be my mother because she had a beautiful heart. She was religious and known for her quiet grace and devotion to God. Her life was simple and predictable when she became matched with an older man, Joseph.
While waiting to become his wife, her life changed dramatically when she became pregnant with me. It was most unexpected and complicated, considering she had not been with the man she was engaged to. There were severe moral and legal consequences to becoming pregnant out of wedlock.
Even though it was a terrible situation and her heart must have been initially filled with disbelief and fear, she started to feel a sense of purpose when she heard the angel announce that her baby would be the son of God. She thought: "I am just a mortal, but God has chosen me to carry such an extraordinary baby!"
And so she accepted me with faith in God while praying and offering all her thoughts and emotions to God. As time passed, her heart began to overflow with love that transcends human understanding. At the same time, she had to deal with her husband-to-be – Joseph.
I chose Joseph to be in the role of my father even though he was not my biological father. You might wonder why. After all, there was a risk that he would not accept me and would complain about Mary's betrayal of the promise to love him alone as her husband. Her case was considered adultery by the law of that time.
Mary told Joseph about her pregnancy and how God was involved in it. She was uncertain whether Joseph could hear God as she did. Would his response be to protect her? I wondered. I went through a moment of fear when Joseph started to consider quietly dismissing my mother.
Joseph was naturally conflicted - he did not want to cancel the wedding publicly because that would hurt Mary; he loved her and did not want her to be shamed (or worse). He thought it would be helpful to divorce her "quietly". He was frustrated, embarrassed, and in need of God's guidance, so he prayed, asking God what to do.
God intervened, recognizing that Joseph's attitude was an amazing kindness towards my mother. Joseph dreamed and heard the heavenly voice telling him to marry my mother and protect me. Joseph, taking time to make his final decision, taught me about the compassion we all need, even towards those who hurt us.
Joseph is so important to my story – he could have simply quit his relationship with my mother rather than listen to God. He could have allowed the culture's standards to dominate his heart and mind. However, he chose to listen to God's word against all odds. Thanks to him, I could learn one of the most powerful lessons: how to lead my life.
