Jesus was born a long, long time ago—before you were born, before your parents were born, even before your grandparents were born. So how do we know what happened in Jesus’ life? It’s because people told these stories over and over again.

There’s nothing in the Bible that tells us we have to remember Christmas or celebrate the birth of Jesus. And it’s unlikely that Jesus was born on December 25. So the Christmas celebrations we see today usually don’t have a lot to do with the birth of Jesus. Instead, they are a mixture of traditions and customs and ideas from all over the world. But that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate Christmas.

When we hear the story of Jesus’ birth, there are a bunch of people we are familiar with—like the shepherds, Mary and Joseph and cruel King Herod. But there is one group of visitors who are more mysterious than the rest. They didn’t live or work near where Jesus was born. They were outsiders. They were the wise men.

Lowly an old-fashioned word that means humble, or low in status or importance. It’s used to describe a person or a situation that is not very powerful or rich or proud. Mary described herself as lowly. She didn’t think she was a very important person, yet she was chosen to be the mother of Jesus. What a surprise!

Love is a big word. It means so many things to so many different people. Someone might love their favourite cake, love a book or love their grandparents. All these things are different, but we use the same word love—to describe our good feelings towards them. The Bible says that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). But what does this really mean?

There was fighting among people before Jesus was born and people have been fighting ever since then too. So it seems strange that the angels announced that Jesus’ birth brought peace. Many, many years before, the prophet Isaiah talked about peace too. He called Jesus “the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). So how did Jesus bring peace if He didn’t stop people from fighting?

At Christmas time, many families exchange gifts. Colourfully wrapped presents of all shapes and sizes sit under the Christmas tree or are stuffed into Christmas stockings. Christmas morning is often a time of excitement and joy as families unwrap presents. It’s so much fun to receive gifts, but we need to have the right attitude.

At midnight on New Year’s Eve, fireworks explode across the skies of many cities around the world. At first, the fireworks might seem a little scary. The fireworks explode with a big boom and a crash, and some even whistle on their way up into the sky. But then they burst into beautiful starbursts and sparkles and patterns, and the dark sky is lit up with colour. 

The Christmas story is full of opposites. On one hand, we have the much-awaited arrival of baby Jesus. On the other hand, we have a mean king who wants to hurt Him. We have a miracle pregnancy and birth, followed soon after by the young family having to flee for their lives in the middle of the night. We have Jesus’ birth ignored by the important people in positions of power but celebrated by a group of scruffy shepherds. Sometimes it can be hard to make sense of all these opposites.

Jesus was a king when He was born, but He wasn’t born in a palace. Instead, He was born in a room that was sometimes used to shelter animals in the coldest nights of winter. After He was born, His mother wrapped Him in cloths and laid Him in a feed trough called a manger. It wasn’t fancy or expensive or covered with gold and silver. It was a humble place to be born.