Christmas is coming and for many of us we'll be hearing again the
story of Jesus' birth at the first Christmas, or watching children
act it out. Some of us may even go back to the source of the story,
the Bible. Of the 66 books in the Bible, the four Gospels (Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John) tell us about Jesus' life, death and
resurrection. But only two of them tell us about Jesus' birth. John
simply tells us of the eternal Word becoming flesh and living among
us, and Mark says nothing about Jesus' birth at all. But of the
other two only Matthew tells us about the visit of the wise men, and
only Luke tells us about the shepherds in the fields. The
Christmas story we retell is a composite story bringing in elements
from Matthew's and Luke's accounts.
However,
the birth of Jesus is also described in the book of Revelation but
this account is radically different from the Gospels. In Revelation 12:1-6 John tells us of a vision he had of a woman
giving birth to a son who “will rule all the nations with an iron
sceptre” - a quote from Psalm 2 which the Early Church saw as
referring to Jesus. So far, so normal. But the woman is described
as being “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a
crown of twelve stars on her head.” Stranger still, instead of
being surrounded by angels, shepherds and adoring magi, next to the
woman stood “an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns
and seven crowns on its heads...so that it might devour her child the
moment he was born.” I'm yet to see a nativity play with this in!!
William Blake, The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun, c. 1805, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
The book of Revelation
is packed full of strange images and complex symbolism which can make
it tough reading It also makes it fertile ground for lots of
different groups to claim they know exactly how to interpret each and
every detail. Always be wary of anyone who is certain they know what
it all means!! For example, the woman obviously represents Mary, who
gave birth to Jesus, but she also represents Israel (the twelve stars
remind us of the twelve tribes of Israel); and Creation (sun and
moon); and Eve whose 'seed' will crush the serpent's head (Genesis 3:15); and from verse 6 onwards, the Church. The dragon is a major
character in Revelation and the symbolism of his appearance is
explored in more detail as the book goes on, but there is a parallel
here with King Herod who wanted to kill the infant Jesus but, like
the dragon, fails (Matthew 2).
So what are we to make
of this third 'nativity'? It reminds us that the birth of Jesus has
a cosmic and eternal significance. It's easy to hear the Christmas
story as being like a fairy tale, but the reality is that it is the
pivotal event in the battle between good and evil (the overall theme
of Revelation). The dragon wants to devour the child at his most
vulnerable because it knows that the child would ultimately defeat
it. Throughout Revelation and the rest of the New Testament we
discover that this defeat happens through the death and resurrection
of Jesus (Colossians 2:15).
This is why the
shepherds, angels and wise men come to worship the child; they
recognised the universe-changing event that had taken place. As you
hear again the Christmas story what will you hear: a fairy tale or
the good news that the defeat of evil is now certain?
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