Christmas stories
Stu McGregor

The inn keeper
The inn keeper was fairly happy with himself for being so kind and charitable. He had woken up in the middle of the night to the sound of a baby crying for the first time in its life. The gentle whimper of existential pronouncement, uncertain about it’s place in this world outside the womb. Cries that tremble with the shock of birth, of having to be self sustaining all of a sudden. Still blind, the world was dark and unknown, yet it was a reality and a world of latency. For the first time this little person, this little man so well described by Tertullian, this curdled lump of flesh, the micro-human suddenly realised he was naked and in need of embrace.

Mother exhausted from the delivery gently holding him, caressing him, cleaning him, drying him, feeding him for the first time, instincts flowing, eyes reflecting exhaustion and wonder as she realises for the first time the desperate needs of this child, for safety, comfort, nourishment, shelter and of course stimulation and entertainment.

The inn keeper came out mid-morning to check on the family, the night had been busy and he had to take pity on this family who had arrived on his doorstep—her waters had broken and it was all happening. They needed somewhere to just go and have the baby. He did what he could, he found some fresh hay and lay it around one of the corners of the stable and tried to keep his livestock away from the scene. They lay some hay and cloth down in the eating trough so they could put the baby down safely when it was born. But the place really stank and was really cold.

And then he came to the door and asked if everyone was decent before he came through. He popped his head around and caught his first peek of the baby. He was cute, though not the cutest baby he’d ever seen. He went over and saw the fresh living thing snuggling and sleeping with its mother. The inn keeper remembered these first few moments with his children…the world stopped, there was no world outside, everything took a different shape, different perspective. He whispered, what have you called him?

“Jesus” they said, “it means God saves!” and they said it like it had already happened.

“really,” said the innkeeper, trying to be polite and not betray his bemusement at such an odd name. Trying to deflect attention away from the name he turned to Joseph and said “you must be a proud father.” “Well,” came the reply, “he’s not my son,”

The Shepherds
“Let me tell you about the miracle happened that night,” said the shepherd with the enormous beard. “But before I do, let me remind you of something. They don’t care about us. We are nobodies. Sure they all know that the greatest king we ever had was king David and that he was first of all a shepherd (and a good one at that)—”and he said it with some degree of historic pride in the same way a Scotsman might brag about his clan. “—but, let me tell you something, we are on the outer of society here. We’re the loners and the neglected. People think that we look after ourselves and do very well at it, but they don’t know the half of it. Out of sight and out of mind. They don’t know what we do all day and just assume that we cope somehow. But we are alone and there is tedium to our job like you wouldn’t believe.

“have you ever sat and watched sheep for even an hour?” it wasn’t a rhetorical question, but there was no answer anyway. “try watching sheep 24/7, 7 days a week.” He said it with a smile, because he knew that that was what people thought being a shepherd was all about and he was just humouring his audience. Being a shepherd was actually really hard work, lot’s of decisions had to made since generally every sheep lost on your watch, you had to pay for. People didn’t realise the difficulty and the interest in the job, and so they just wrote the shepherds off as being free-spirited nobodies. The cliché worked for people because it meant they could keep a safe distance both physically and emotionally from them.

“We were sitting there sharing stories about this and that when this guy just suddenly appears to us. he was just a normal looking guy, like you and me, but he stood there in front of us but he was actually on fire, though the fire didn’t consume him. It gave us such a fright that one of my mates screamed and scampered into the bushes to hide.” He winked at the mate in question who smiled back bashfully—it was actually funny now.

“we were petrified and just sat there with our hands on our knives waiting to see what would happen. And he spoke to us and says this: Don’t be afraid. I want to tell you something that will blow your mind. Today is the day your nation has been waiting for so long. It’s happening. As we speak a child has been born who will ease your troubled lives. Draw you near to God. Open the way for you to discover the completeness of life. It’s here now! Go check it out!”

We sat still, stunned in amazement, but that was nothing compared to what happened next. At first we thought it was a trick of the moonlight, but we started to see more people behind him. Shadows just moving around. And then I saw more and more and more. We started to see thousands and thousands of figures emerging from the darkness and we stood and looked out upon a massive crowd of figures—I can’t call them people because as quick as they appeared they disappeared. They were all on fire but not being burned. And there was an amazing light all around as they started to sing, a million voices,

“Ultimacy to God! Stunned recognition of the God who wrote this universe into the pages of eternal history…he has looked upon his finest creation and is bringing peace to those who humble themselves before his loving embrace!”

and then they started to disappear, one by one, like watching the city lights turning off at sunrise. They faded into the night.” We just sat there in the eerie quiet for a while, the wind was suddenly audible.

“what was the miracle that night?” he fired the question at his audience. “It wasn’t the fact that there were a million angels walking around in front of us.” And at this point he started to choke. “no, the miracle was that they appeared to us. us of all people. Shepherds. The lowly. Not the religious people, not the politicians or the rock starts, but God chose to reveal the good news to us. What does that tell you about God?”

Simeon
They took the little boy to the temple to be dedicated to God’s service. It was raining quite heavily as they walked into the massive courtyard of the temple. They tried to find some shelter there, Mary held Jesus close to her chest and hunched over him so he wouldn’t get wet, but it was hard work since all the sheltered areas were taken up by money changers and stall owners. As they were collecting themselves together, an old man rushed up to them. He pushed his way through the crowd and virtually threw himself at them.

He stopped and stared at the boy with wonder and visible excitement. “This is him!” he said to no-one in particular and he looked around like he had just discovered a secret. He was rubbing his hands.

He had been waiting for this moment all his life. He had been given a vision that he would not die before he saw what was called the consolation of Israel. At the moment he and his people existed in their own land but it was over-run by the Roman Empire. They’d been conquered and while they were by and large, free to carry on as normal, there were a number of changes that had and were taking place. Slowly their society was eroding away as the Romans imported their own values. There was an underlying tension all the time and it was wearing the people out.

They longed for God to free them from the shackles on their existence. They longed for God to console them in their sorrow for being oppressed. They longed for God to rescue them.

And this old man, had been told that he would meet the one who was going to free them from oppression. He was told that he would see the one who would be called saviour. And here he was. “Jesus, which means God saves!” “Can I hold him?” he tentatively enquired.

Mary handed Jesus over to the man who eagerly took him in his arms and smiled at him. And the man spoke some words that Mary would never ever forget.

“This child right here, he’s going to mean freedom for so many, but also be the downfall of so many others. In fact most people will probably find a mixture of freedom and stumbling when they encounter him : but mark my words, everyone who engages with him will be transformed. He’s not going to do the big wham-bam saving act that everyone thinks, instead he will expose people for what they are and it’s going to hurt them to have to be so honest. All people everywhere are going to have to decide whether they take the risk of getting to know him,” and he paused and looked quite seriously at Mary. “you are in for a very rough ride lady. One day it will feel like a dagger has been stuck into your chest because of the pain you will suffer because of him.”

There was a pause and they could hear the rain on the roofs and paving. Then he looked back at Jesus, “you’re bringing a different freedom aren’t you, and lot’s of people aren’t going to like it.”

The inn keeper
Herod sat in his throne : threatened. He didn’t like the idea that there had been born in Bethlehem someone who people were already calling king. He probably felt a bit hard done by in all honesty, he’d worked hard to become king. He’d made all sorts of pacts and deals with the Romans and had worked his way up to the position. When the Romans did make him king it still took three years to stamp out all the insurgents and uprisings around the place.

He didn’t accept that the people had no faith in him as a redeemer. That they didn’t really think he was their king in the sense David was. That they didn’t actually like him since he was prone to suspicion and brutality (he did after all execute many of his own children).

As he sat in his throne, well puppet throne really since it didn’t have that much power just what was given by the romans, as he sat on his throne, his pride caressing his bruised ego, he considered the events of the last few days.

Some men, new age astrologers came from some country in the east because they saw a star rise. They’d looked at their charts and had concluded that someone important had been born and figured they’d go and pay their respects. They said they had seen a star rise and knew that there was a king born—a king with a capital K and they were very excited about this. These guys had travelled six months to find this child to give him gifts.

He digressed for a moment: They didn’t give me any gifts he sulked to himself. He didn’t like the idea of another king being born in Israel. And he sure didn’t like the fact that the religious scholars had told him about a prophecy in the scriptures about how the baby will be born in Bethlehem. None of his kids were born there…so this meant the end of his line. And then what…how would history remember him then?

He looked over the fact that God was doing something here : and can you blame him? Where was God when the Romans conquered them? Well? So does this God really care about saving people? How powerful is this God? I’ll take matters into my own hands and just maintain this better than nothing status quo that he’d worked hard to establish.

He told the men to report to him when they had found the child. His plan was to kill the baby quickly and be done with this threat. But they never came back and that really annoyed him. Much time had been lost while he’d been waiting, if he ever comes across them again…

He got up from his throne and went over to one of the windows to look out. His grandchildren were playing. Cute he thought, and his conscience pricked him about how he had ordered the death of literally hundreds of children under the age of two to try and kill this new baby in the midst of the massacre.

But he rationalised it away. These people need me. I’ve provided security and a future for them. I am a good king because I make the tough decisions. He didn’t dwell on the massacre. His wife had asked him why he was so threatened by a small child? He wanted to ignore her comment, leave it behind and move on, but in the end he carried the threat of Jesus to his grave. It’s a shame really, because it wasn’t his throne that Jesus threatened...