Although I am not a theologian or pastor, I like to offer an annual Christmas reflection. This year, I focus on The Way…and how our need for direction to avoid being lost is at the heart of the Christmas story.
2024 Christmas Reflection
I travel all the time and whenever I am in a new city or new country, there is always a slight feeling of apprehension. Should I use Uber or rent a car or take public transit? Sometimes, I sit in the airport plotting out different transport options before making a move, weighing the pros and cons of each choice.
Sometimes, I will ask for directions and there have been countless times over the years that I have been given bad advice or flat-out incorrect info…like pointing me south when I should have been going north.
Beyond bad directions, we live in a world of echo chambers, marked by easy access to information–but often information that tickles our ears and confirms our inherent biases rather than illuminates reality and shows us the path forward. This “fake news” packaged as truth serves to turn people against one another, undermines trust in institutions, and ultimately leads to malaise and apathy.
How do we know that we are going the right way? The most obvious answer is that we reach our destination, our goal, or our objective. Sometimes it is only through repetition over time that we can know we are going the right way. In other cases, like our lives, we often do not know for certain if we are going the right way…even if we know we are avoiding clear potholes and other perils along the way.
Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father except by Me.”
The early Christian church was called “The Way” and the way denotes a road…a path…a direction. The Way is not a lifestyle or set of rituals, but embodied in a Man who dared to claim, “When you have seen Me, you have seen God.”
The path that brought the magi to the Christ child and the path that led Joseph, Mary, and the child to flee to Egypt from persecution is the same path of Providence that inspires us and reveals truth in a world of confusion. Every one of us has knowledge of God according to Paul’s letter to the Romans.
But how could a lowly child born to impoverished and scandalized parents be the very one who turned the world upside down and established a kingdom unlike any before it that will not end? God was part of the story, but also the author of the story…a divine self-insertion that marked the fundamental turning point of space and time.
Some say that we are all on different paths to the top of the same mountain and all roads lead to the same destination. I’ve never been convinced by such claims, because who has reached the top of the mountain to say this? And how can belief systems in conflict with one another both be right, even when done in good faith? Sure, both may be wrong, but both cannot be right.
When his friend Lazarus died, Jesus wept. He then said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
That is the question. Christianity claims this first-century man from Palestine died and rose from the dead three days later. What a hard claim in our “show me the proof” world. But in a world of one fake news story after another, don’t mark this story as one of them. Don’t conclude that God could not be present in a world marred by evil and suffering when Christianity claims that God not only was present but took on the evil and suffering Himself so that we would have a new way forward. That is the opposite of indifference; that is love.
I lost my father this year and the Christmas season has just not been the same without him. But his final weeks were a powerful testimony to his faith…there was no fear of death, but a steadfast peace that he had found the way, the truth, and the life…that he once was lost, but now was found; was blind, but now could see.
That is the great hope of Christmas. We were lost, but the great Light appeared, not just a new star leading to Bethelem but a Light that illuminates our need for restoration and communion with God and makes such restoration possible, “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in Me may not remain in darkness.” (John 12:46).
From my family to yours, I wish you a very happy Christmas and look forward to returning to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow.
“Amazing grace, How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I am found,
Was blind, but now I see.”
Beautiful column .
I believe , myself , that “going the right way” includes prayer for guidance . Then , naturally and amazingly , the way is clear .
Prayer is for the weak-minded, use your own judgement.
You’d be surprised. Maybe you ought to try it.
@Herbert … +1 .
Well said!
Do u watch Sissi oder 3 wishes for cinderella? i watched both this year. Sissi was toll aber 3 hazelnuts was tacky imho Gruss gott!
Brave post. Hats off. While not a believer in the classic sense I see your path in conveying different ideas in this. Perhaps being a pastor is not so far off in your future.
Merry Christmas, Matthew.
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Romans 10:17
I appreciate your eloquent testimony on being catholic,apostolic and Christian.
Merry Christmas Matthew. I appreciate that you use this platform you’ve built to share your faith. Some readers may give you grief for it, but you are honoring our savior and perhaps the Lord will use your testimony as a tool in calling some people out of darkness and into his glorious light.
+1
I always enjoy your Christmas reflection each year. Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas!
Beautfully put… Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas
>>Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father except by Me.”<<
You, and nearly all modern Christians, fail to appreciate context. Unfortunately, your faith and understanding of Christ is shallow. I distinguish between Christ and Christianity, two very different things. When talking to HIS flock, of course Jesus will say this. You fail to appreciate the mystics of Christianity and other religions, who see beyond mere words and are able to access the eternal spirit – that which Christ speaks about. Don't be a slave to mere words on a page. This Christmas, may you and those who identify as Christians truly see Christ for what he is. For that I pray.
You falsely assume that I have not considered exactly what you are talking about (see this sermon by Rowan Williams for example that I recently listened to wrestling with this very issue).
I don’t share your hermeneutical viewpoint, but I certainly understand why you approach the matter in that way. In fact, part of me wishes you were right…the gnostic gospels–for example–answer many of the questions and apparent contradictions seen after a superficial reading of the scriptural canon.
The problem with the mystics and the gnostics is their timing relative to earlier and more reliable accounts plus some of the ideas and theories that cannot stand up to biblical text unless you consciously decide that error was deliberately inserted. I don’t buy Marcion heresy that the creator God and Supreme Being are different. I don’t buy the Epicurean heresy embraced by so many Xtians today.
So much more to say, but please don’t naively assume I have not considered your point of view or read those like Borg, Spong, and Rohr.
We’ll have to agree to disagree. I enjoy your blog and appreciate your wrestling with faith. The focus on “biblical text” as primary is part and parcel of the problem, in my view. Experience is well beyond text.
May your father’s name be a blessing and a comfort to all.
You and the family will have many experiences in the future that will remind you of the joy of his prescence.
Matthew, thank you for this I needed those words.
Thank you for sharing
Your post above is why I continue to read your blog. Thank you for all of it.