Five Questions of Christmas: Unlocking the Mystery

By Rob Burkhart

The Christmas story is well-known. We know the decorations, the family parties, the carols, the manger scene, even the familiar Scripture passages. But have you ever considered the questions of Christmas?

Five questions spiral throughout the ancient stories surrounding Christ’s birth. These questions open the door to some of life’s great mysteries.

By exploring questions asked by the Magi, Elizabeth, Mary, Zechariah, and the crowd witnessing the naming of John the Baptist, readers explore their own curiosities about purpose, favor, trust, justice, doubt, and promise:

• How can we find truth and meaning?
• Why is the world so unfair sometimes?
• Why do people have to suffer?
• How can we trust the unseen?
• How can we design the future we desire?

Writing in a warm and affectionate tone, author Rob Burkhart unwraps the mystery of the questions of Christmas, revealing a different way to read the Christmas story that allows believers young and old to live its truths throughout the year.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abingdon Press
• Release date: Sep 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781630881306

Rob Burkhart

Rob Burkhart (MDiv, Fuller Theological; PhD, Michigan State University) has been a pastor, educator, and denominational leader in the Assemblies of God denomination for more than thirty years. He is the author of Five Questions of Christmas, To Be Like Jesus, and Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Maximizing Your Sunday School. Rev. Burkhart has also published several study guides and contributed to numerous magazines and publications. He speaks frequently in churches, at retreats, and at educational seminars. He is a father and grandfather and lives in Detroit, Michigan.

Book preview

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Half-title

Five Questions of Christmas

Title Page

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Copyright Page

Five Questions of Christmas

unlocking the mystery

Copyright © 2015 by Robin Burkhart

All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission can be addressed to Permissions, The United Methodist Publishing House, 2222 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., P.O. Box 280988, Nashville, TN, 37228-0988 or e-mailed to [e-mail].

Macro Editor: Lauren Winner

Published in association with Credo Communications.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Burkhart, Rob.

Five questions of Christmas : unwrapping the mystery / Rob Burkhart. —

First [edition].

1 online resource.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by

publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN 978-1-6308-8130-6 (e-pub) — ISBN 978-1-6308-8129-0 (binding: soft

back) 1. Jesus Christ—Nativity. I. Title.

BT315.3

232.92—dc23

2015021023

All scripture quotations unless noted otherwise are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted CEB are taken from the Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by the Common English Bible. All rights reserved. Used by permission. www.CommonEnglishBible.com.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Contents

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Christmas 1990

Prologue: What’s Happened to Christmas?

Chapter 1: How Will I Know?

Zechariah’s Journey from Mistrust to Conviction

Christmas 1997

Chapter 2: How Can This Be?

Mary’s Journey from Tragedy to Resilience

Christmas 1968

Chapter 3: Why Has This Happened to Me?

Elizabeth’s Journey from Unfairness to Gratitude

Christmas 1984

Chapter 4: What Will This Child Become?

The Journey from Control to Creativity

Christmas 2004

Chapter 5: Where Is the Child?

The Magi’s Journey from Disappointment to True Treasure

Christmas 1998

Epilogue: Let Us Go Now to Bethlehem

The Shepherd’s Journey from Oblivion to Faith

Christmas 1954

acknowledgments

Christmas 1990

Christmas 1990

A pile of turkey bones and a solitary dinner roll were the only leftovers from our delicious Christmas dinner. My parents’ old house was full of people and presents and the joyful chaos of a large, loving family.

In the kitchen, my mom and sisters chatted and laughed while washing dishes and putting them away. My brother and brothers-in-law talked and kept an eye on the younger children playing with their new toys while the television no one was watching flickered with images of Scrooge and Marley’s ghost. Outside in the yard, the older kids threw snowballs, tussled, and laughed in the snow.

My father sat at the head of the dining room table, his place at the table, the perfect vantage point for observing his busy brood of children and grandchildren. He leaned back in his chair, shoulders slightly rounded with age, hands wrapped around his coffee mug. I poured my own cup of coffee, sweet and light, and slid into the chair next to Dad. I expected him to tease me about not drinking my coffee black. But he didn’t.

We sat silently for a few minutes. I watched the snow fall on the corn stubble in the field across the road. Dad continued to study the joyous panorama of his family. A look of deep satisfaction stretched across his face. He smiled and said to me, Your mom and me, we did good. We did real good!

Dad raised his cup for another sip of dark coffee. A deep breath faded into a contented sigh, and he smiled again. For just a moment I felt of twinge of fear: would I feel as content looking back over my life? I wasn’t sure.

Prologue

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These memories represent just one Christmas from the dozens I’ve celebrated in my lifetime, but it was one of the sweetest I recall. Three generations of my family gathered to celebrate Christ’s birth, exchange gifts, and share a hearty meal. It wasn’t perfect or fancy, but we were all together. We loved one another deeply and that’s what mattered most.

Sadly, Christmas does not always evoke such pleasant memories. In my own life, some Christmases were hard. There were years when it was too expensive or time consuming to travel, so a telephone call replaced a warm personal visit. Some years an unoccupied dining room chair was a painful reminder of military deployment, a transfer to assisted living, or a recent death. It’s hard to gather around the table when one dearly loved and sorely missed is missing.

For the retail industry, the Friday after Thanksgiving launches

a frenzy of shopping and profit making set to the continual blare of holiday songs. For churches and charitable organizations,

Advent is a season of giving and a final push for solvency before the end of the tax year. For businesses and employees, December brings the hope that corporate success will parlay into personal compensation, holiday bonuses, and salary increases.

Regardless of their motivations, billions of people around the world observe Christmas, give gifts, and celebrate. For most, Christmas has little or nothing to do with Jesus. Somehow this celebration of a Christian holy day has become a worldwide secular holiday. Global media, online communications, and the export of American consumerism deliver a shiny Hollywood version of Christmas with celebrity-sung carols, artificial snow, and twinkling lights. It brought surfing Santas to Sydney, reindeer to Beijing, and jingle bells to Johannesburg. Extravagant holiday displays illuminate shopping malls from Houston to Hong Kong to Helsinki.

Don’t get me wrong; I have nothing against reindeer cookies, Christmas trees, or even Santa. But the singing snowmen, shiny tinsel, and door-buster sales can obscure the real Christmas story.

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (Luke 2:1-7)

This quiet event, sometime around 4 BCE, changed history. Beneath the trappings, Christmas is the story of an unmarried, pregnant teenager, her brokenhearted fiancé, and the birth of her little boy. This baby born in humble surroundings to poor parents grew into an extraordinary and grace-filled man. His wise teachings and remarkable sacrifice transformed cultures and impacted the lives of billions.

Who Jesus was has been a source of controversy since that first Christmas. Contemporary opinions are as different as the people who hold them. People think about him, his mission in the world, and his teachings in vastly different ways. Nor is there any real agreement on his place in history. Some believe he is the most important person to ever live. Others think he has little or no place in our modern world. But the baby born in a manger still generates worldwide attention. Despite our incredible cultural diversity and different celebrations, people feel united during the Christmas season. Families gather, coworkers attend parties, neighbors exchange baked goods. Even nations determined to destroy each other have issued cease-fires to stop their wars at Christmas. The question is, why? The most compelling answers aren’t found in Christmas parties, holiday concerts, or shopping malls but in the hearts and minds of people universally drawn to the story. Somehow we recognize our longings, our dreams, and ourselves in Jesus’ story. We find reasons to hope in a hopeless world and a light in the dark night of despair. Trapped in our current reality, we find the strength to strive for a better and brighter future. This child who refused to be defined by his questionable birth, lowly status, or poverty inspires us to find answers to life’s most troubling questions.

The Gospel writers Luke and Matthew recount five questions in the stories surrounding the birth of Jesus that open the door to life’s great mysteries. I first noticed the five Christmas questions while preparing a Christmas devotional lesson. The questions helped me think about the story and its people very differently. In the years that followed, I’ve reflected on their meaning and significance. It is interesting that the birth of Jesus is surrounded not only with pronouncements and prayers and declarations (though there are those, too) but also with questions.

Questions, after all, invite a response. They are an espe-

cially engaging form of speech welcoming everyone who hears the question to ponder, think, reflect, mull—and risk his or her own answer. Questions draw us in—and the questions surrounding Jesus’ birth draw us into the great Christmas mystery. Each one of these questions is an invitation for us to enter into the story, and make it our own.

Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, asked, How will I know that this is so? (Luke 1:18). As a priest and scholar, Zechariah searched for truth. But when given an unexpected and improbable blessing, his first response was mistrust. We all look for something we can trust as

Reviews for Five Questions of Christmas

[arlenadean · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Title: Five Questions of Christmas Author: Rob Burkhart Publisher: Abingdon Press Reviewed By: Arlena Dean Rating: Five Review:"Five Questions of Christmas" by Rob BurkhartThis was a beautiful well written Christmas Story and this author explores the real questions of Christmas was beautifully done. I loved how he was able to share with holidays with us about his own family and still bringing out those important "questions asked by the Magi, Elizabeth, Mary and Zechariah" as this author "unwraps the mystery of the questions of Christmas." As you read through "Five Questions of Christmas" you will be able to see how well this author answers each of these important questions of Christmas that will definitely a new meaning what just what this holiday is all about that can be treasured all year long.I received a copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.