The Good News for the Christmas Vigil , Dec. 24, 1999
Isaiah 62: 1-5
Psalms 89: 4-5, 16-17, 27, 29
Acts 13: 16-17, 22-25
Matthew 1: 1-25
and The Feast of The Holy Family, Dec. 26, 1999
Genesis 15: 1-6: 21: 1-3
Psalms 105: 1-6, 8-9
Hebrews 11: 8, 11-12, 17-19
Luke 2: 22-40

Imagine a differentChristmas. Imagine the first Christmas Day without the journey to Bethlehem. No census. No stable. No shepherds. No angels singing "Glory to God in the highest." Imagine a Christmas story where the angel appears to Joseph instead of to Mary.

Sound pretty quirky? It's not. That's the way Matthew wrote the story of Jesus' birth.

We are so familiar with Luke's account of the Nativity that Matthew's reads like it's a few snowflakes short of a blizzard. If all we knew was Matthew's narrative, we'd assume that Mary and Joseph lived in Bethlehem. Instead of traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem because of a census, they just stay home. They don't search for an inn because they live in Bethlehem. No shepherds watch their flock by night. No angels appear in the sky. The only angel is the one who announces the conception of Jesus - to Joseph, not to Mary.

The New Testament holds two accounts of the Nativity. They agree on many points: That the parents of Jesus were called Mary and Joseph, that Mary conceived a child by the Holy Spirit, that the angel gave the child the name "Jesus," that Jesus was born in Bethlehem during the reign of Herod the Great, and that he grew up in Nazareth. Beyond that, they record different stories. Luke alone recounts the birth of John the Baptist. Matthew alone tells of the star, the magi, and the holy innocents. These peculiarities indicate that Matthew and Luke did not know each other's work. They wrote the different versions they'd heard. The disparities are fairly minor, but enough to remind us not to assume too much about the birth of Jesus.

Our lectionary offers 12 readings for the various masses of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Your parish may choose which ones it likes. One of the stories you may hear is Matthew's (2:18-25). If so, and if you don't hear about the manger, don't blame your priest or deacon. He's just reading what Matthew wrote.

The next day we'll celebrate the Holy Family. This feast observes the adventures of this unusual family. The full version of Sunday's Gospel (Luke 2:22-40) tells several stories: The purification of the parents, the presentation of Jesus in the temple, the fulfillment of the prophecy to Simeon, the proclamation of Jesus as a sign of contradiction, the praise of the prophetess Anna, and the return of the family to Nazareth. (In Luke, the family started out in Nazareth, and at the story's end return there. In Matthew, they go to Nazareth after the slaughter of the innocents, apparently for the first time.)

Both Gospels feature the theme of obedience. An angel tells Joseph to take Mary as his wife, and he obeys. The law commands a sacrifice in the temple, and the family obeys. Even the prophecies that lace these stories together presume a cosmic obedience. What God spoke to the prophets now is fulfilled.

In this obedience we witness the deliberate plan of God, a driving force which makes of human events an unfolding of the divine will.

The intent of that divine will especially surfaces in the name the angel gives the child: Jesus. The name means Savior, because he will save people from their sins. Throughout the season of advent we have heard prophecies written when Israel needed hope of salvation. Having suffered exile and oppression the people were returning home. The prophets foresaw a day when the earth would spring new life, when the sick would regain their health, when the homeless would find shelter, and the hopeless receive hope.

When Israel returned from exile, the people witnessed these marvelous happenings and pronounced anew their faith in God's plan. That renewal stands behind the name "Jesus." A new kind of salvation has come. Not just a salvation pertaining to the desolate land and dispirited progeny of Abraham, but a salvation pertaining to sin. Jesus comes against the background of Israel's former renewal with a new renewal: a renewal of the human spirit.

As Christmas brightens this winter, our church opens a jubilee year. We commemorate the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus the savior. The intent of this Christmas and this jubilee year is renewal. Christ frees us from sin and invites us to free others as well.

This jubilee will certainly be a year when we witness history. But it can also be a year when we make history. Forgive a debt. Forgive an injury. Take part in salvation. Imagine a different Christmas.

Father Paul Turner is pastor of St. John Francis Regis Parish, Kansas City.