The Christmas Story Uncut
Read:
Introduction
Part One - The Census
Part Two - The Plan
Part Three - The Journey
Part Four - The Rejection
Part Five - The Angels
Part Six - The Manger
Part Seven - The Shepherds
Part Eight
The Question
When the shepherds followed Joseph inside, they found Mary lying on a pallet and the baby in a manger made of stones, mortared together with mud and straw. The manger looked well used. Esther had lined the inside with thick layers of cloth.
Like most simple and good-hearted men, the shepherds were keenly aware of holiness and easily awed. Here was a woman’s birthing room, a place of mystery and miracle. And here was the child about whom angels sang.
They were uncomfortable and a little afraid. They stood with their feet close together, shoulders curved and heads slightly bowed. Some of them let their hands dangle in front of their groins with one hand grasping the other wrist. There was a lot of shifting from one foot to the other. Two or three knelt.
Elias, who had followed them inside, broke the silence.
“Well, there’s the manger you were so keen on seein. And the little boy.” He looked around the room. “Seems like somethin big’s happenin, but for the life of me, I can’t understand it.”
Esther caught his eye and gave him a look that helped him understand he should be quiet. He rolled his eyes and blew air through his lips, but he obeyed.
It was Mary who began talking. She told the story of the heavenly messenger who announced her coming pregnancy. She told them about her family rejecting her and the embarrassment in their hometown.
Joseph told them about the angel from his dream and about the long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. He said that Elias had saved them in the alley when they thought all hope was lost.
Esther crinkled her nose at Elias affectionately. He expelled more air from his mouth and tried to look irritated, but he had to turn away so she wouldn’t see him smile.
Joseph admitted that neither he nor Mary knew what God had in mind for this little boy. They didn’t know, but they had come to believe that he was supposed to be born in this time, and in this place, and even in this way.
“And one more thing,” Joseph added. “The angels told us both that we should name him Jesus. The rabbi told me that means, ‘God’s salvation.’”
Two more of the shepherds knelt. A third started to kneel, then stood back up. He looked around, hesitant, and then knelt after all.
Mordecai nudged one of the other shepherds and nodded his head toward Mary and Joseph. The young man cleared his throat and told them about the angels singing on the hillside. He told them about their fear and the beauty of the angel song and what happened when they tried to tell the good news to the people in town.
Everyone was amazed, even Elias, who kept shaking his head and saying, “I never heard anything LIKE it. Never anything like it in all my life.”
Then the little one stirred and all their heads turned toward him. Mary lifted him out of the manger. One of the shepherds said, “Can I?” as he reached his hand toward the baby. She nodded, and he held the baby’s chin between his thumb and forefinger, grinned, and quickly pulled his hand away.
He was a little boy. A little newborn baby boy and they all felt the common human impulse to "ooh" and "ah." His eyes opened briefly, then shut. His lips moved, searching for something. Mary found a discreet way to move his head beneath a fold in her robe and guide his little mouth to her breast, where he began his first awkward attempts to nurse.
The others turned away politely and began to talk softly among themselves, Joseph last of all.
With this small amount of privacy given her, Mary became absorbed in nursing her child. She prodded the baby’s mouth with her nipple as he rooted around, lips opening and closing. Ah, ah, ah, and he was there.
She watched him suckle and gave herself over to the warm sensation and her rising joy. She pondered all she had heard from the angels and the shepherds. She thought about the unlikely events that had brought them to this place.
Her brow crinkled a bit and she tilted her head a little to one side. She looked at her tiny son. His eyes were closed, and he was sucking away in a rhythm.
Then she became the first person to ask the question of the ages. This question would someday split the calendar and define history. This question would bring goodness but also dark evil to humankind. This question would be asked a thousand, thousand times for centuries to come.
“Who are you, my little Jesus boy? Who ARE you?”
Merry Christmas!
rlp
7:45:11 AM 
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