Mystery stories are intriguing aren’t they? They grab our attention with dramatic scenarios that raise more questions than they answer, then we can’t help but be drawn in, saying ‘OK now I need to know how that ends up.’ So you take the book off the shelf and read the back cover, or you watch the movie trailer and tag a friend. You might even watch the first few minutes or flick through to the middle to get a taste of what it’s like. But now your curiosity is aroused. Us humans are wired for drama, suspense, tension and resolution. We just wanna know.
Every year millions of people quasi-participate in the most amazing mystery conceivable and yet (excuse the pun) completely miss the forest for the tree. Christmas wafts over our consciousness like carols in a shopping mall or drowned in lunch-time beers wearing bright coloured party hats. What a tragedy to completely miss the strange story underpinning this season! For those who know this story, the fans who ‘follow the updates and watch the repeats’, their hearts are excited. They are in on a secret plot that for them is unfolding and ongoing. This mystery is no mere escape into fantasy. On the contrary, it’s one where they claim to know the characters personally and consider themselves active participants in the current episodes. That’s pretty out there.
What’s in a Name?
So what’s the name of this alluring mystery? It’s called ‘Emmanuel.’ If you thought I was going to say Christmas, sorry, that’s just the popular modern brand. Underneath all those candy canes, cooked dinners, Michael Buble music and kids toys is an ancient prophecy that set fire to a historical, political and religious upheaval unlike any the world has ever known. Here it is, straight from the ancient text, just as if you were reading a mystery novel:
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him Emmanu-El (Hebrew עִמָּנוּאֵל) - which means ‘God With Us’.”
Perhaps today we are so used to hearing these Christmasy kinds of phrases in shopping centres and cards by now that they just roll over our ears. ButA virgin giving birth? Let the probability of that sink in for a bit. What about one particular human representing God’s presence in the world? Surely this was creative hyperbole. Pretend for a second that you have not read the sequel, that you have no clue who this prophecy could have been alluding to. In the historical context it was all about a feud between two kingdoms of the time. It seems God decided to hide one of his most important futuristic prophecies right in the middle of a completely irrelevant ancient event. And that’s just one; there’s loads more like it interwoven through the Old Testament, with unnerving accuracy and detail (check out Isaiah 53 or Psalm 22). When the lightbulb turns on and you start to see these golden threads connecting together it makes you sit up and think: No-one saw this coming. The Creator had a personal full-body earth-visit planned all along. And he was going to do it in a way that no-one would see coming.
Spoiler alert: the virgin has since been identified as one ‘Mary’ and her son as Jesus of Nazareth. He went about claiming to be Gods son and doing lots of miraculous stuff, you should definitely read about it.
Just so we’re clear, in Christian theology a ‘mystery’ does not mean a blurry, fabricated story or fantastic fairy tale. Rather it is a revealed truth or reality so profound that it is impossible to fully plumb or explore, because it was written by God whose very nature is without limit. It’s pretty out there when you think about it: GOD - the all-knowing, invisible, omnipotent creator of human beings, giraffes, stars and mosquitos - planned all along on becoming a HUMAN BABY with flesh, blood, lips, fingers and hair, just like his own miniature human creatures. Really? Apparently so.
Why on earth?
The climax of the story comes when you ask the question ‘WHY’? Why on earth? I mean, literally - why not just stay up in heaven? I hear it’s pretty sweet up there; plenty of harps and angels and God’s will being perfectly done. Certainly no personal suffering required for any member of the Godhead. Easter and Good Friday answer that question better than I can here. But it is answered wonderfully and profoundly in this first prophetic announcement of the incarnation of God, in the name Emmanuel (or Imānu‘el: literally עם ('im) with, נו (nu) us, and אל ('el) God.)
But what does it really mean?
It means I am a God who is with you. If you thought I was happy to remain distant or remote you are wrong. If you thought I was going to leave you to suffer in this life all by yourself, you are wrong. If you thought I was unknowable or unrelatable to you, think again. My desire from the very beginning was to walk with you in the garden. To be your God and for you to be my People. For there to be no distance between us. I have come to make that possible again, to bridge the gap and do what you could not. And I have come to do this closely among you, not as a stern judge bringing condemnation, but as a Saviour bearing mercy and compassion.
Now that is a mystery worth celebrating. Even spreading the word about, as those first amazed shepherds who heard the same startling news did as soon as they heard it:
So the shepherds hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child. And all who heard it were amazed - Luke 2:16
Happy Christ feast friends! Let’s go be the shepherds.