Christmas #3

Here is the third of the three Bible Studies that took place in December on the theme of Christmas. It is a little late - but still timely! -Linda

Christmas #3 12/17/09

There is a third biblical reference to the birth of the Messiah apart from the nativity accounts of Luke and Matthew. This is the extremely dramatic account found in the book of Revelations 12:1-17. It is a nativity story that takes place on the cosmic level. Cosmic elements are already present in the Lukan and Matthean stories – the star leading the wise men, the angels on high. In the Revelations story however the cosmic is more than an element, it is the main theme.

The central figure is a woman clothed in the sun, the moon at her feet and crowned by the stars. The crown symbolizes her majesty and authority. The stars are often interchangeable with heavenly bodies and with angels in the Scriptures, and hint at great spiritual status. The woman is the heroine of the story. The child, the messiah, is quickly caught up to heaven and so it is the woman who is at the heart of the drama. Who is this woman? She is presented as the mother of the Messiah, but while associated with Mary this figure is not Mary. In this way she is similar to the woman in John’s Gospel – who initiates his first sign at the wedding at Cana and stands at the foot of the cross. She is identified with Mary yet is something more. In John she also represents Woman Wisdom from the Old Testament. The woman in Revelations is a cosmic figure that represents the mother of the Messiah but also something more. She is the new creation, the new earth. She is the transformed human space and the whole cosmos crystallizes around her.

She suffers birth pangs – an image of the messianic transformation of the Earth that will be preceded by travail. Things will get worse before they get better. After the birth she is pursued by the dragon who wants to destroy the child (echoes of Herod). The child is swept up to safety and the woman is left to confront the dragon who is the personification of violence and lies. The dragon cannot touch the Messiah so instead goes after his new creation. The woman does not fight back – she flees to the desert where she is nourished by God.

What kind of place is the desert? It is a space with no human systems or organizations. It is an image of free space in history. The wilderness is where the new creation finds protection from the forces of violence and deceit. In the desert Satan cannot triumph. The new creation remains in the desert. She is nowhere, but she is safe. She is nurtured in the wilderness for 1260 days. This works out to be 3 ½ years. If seven is considered to be the perfect number then this represents perfection broken in two. It is symbolic of a bad time. It is a situation of difficulty and peril and yet also a time of hope.

War breaks out in heaven. It is a war over who controls the world – violence and lies vs. love. Satan is driven out of the heavenly sphere. In Luke 10:18 Jesus says “I watched Satan fall from Heaven like a flash of lightning”. Heaven is no longer a place of violence in the cosmic realm. Satan has been driven out by the Word (the gospel), by the blood of the lamb (the non-violence of the lamb who died without retaliation) and by the self-giving of martyrs (not clinging to life even in the face of death). With the death and resurrection of Jesus, violence has been removed from God. Human order no longer depends upon our fear of the divine. In Jesus, violence is revealed as human, not divine, in origin. And so the battle transfers to the earth and brings chaos in its wake.

Satan, now in the world, tries to attack the woman again. He also attacks her other children – the children of the new creation. Water pours from the dragon’s mouth. This water is a symbol of the building chaos that is trying to destroy the new creation. But the Earth comes to the rescue of the woman. The Earth defends the new creation from chaos and violence. The ultimate image is that the earth will survive. This is later reinforced by the final image of the book of Revelation – a new heaven and a new Earth. Here the new creation finds expression as a city – the New Jerusalem. The image remains feminine but changes from mother to bride. The new creation emerges as the spouse of God who dwells on Earth.

In conclusion – this is a different kind of Christmas story. It is the story of the overcoming of violence – a violence which seeks to reestablish itself time and again. It is a Christmas story for our time – a time of crisis. Like the woman who finds refuge in the desert, we too can find the true meaning of Christmas in the wilderness. In places set apart from the systems of the world – from consumerism, violence and worldly power.

An image of this new creation could be the Christmas tree. Made popular by Prince Albert in Victorian England and having its roots in pagan ritual, it is still a symbol of generative, life-giving creation within our human space. Like the woman of the story it is adorned with lights and stars. It transforms our homes with beauty and light and gives joy.