St. Francis at Greccio by Giotto

Matthew begins his treatise with a family tree, demonstrating that Jesus is somehow related to David and then gives his rendition of the Nativity:

And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. 

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.

There is a problem here of course. I mean right from the start there is a philosophical issue; a problem in basic logic so to speak. I mean JESUS is not even supposed to be related by blood to Joseph. Oh well.

7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. 

8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. 

10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 

11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. 

12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. 

14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: 

Luke tells it a different way:

 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

Mark and John do not really care about the early days at all.

But Mathew and Luke are really interested in the beginning of things, Matthew being much more interested in getting the blood lines correct.

And Matthew is interesting also as far as beginnings. Because Jesus, The Christ has to go to Egypt and come out of Egypt. Very important indeed.

To my mind Egypt is the center of our Western Universe. We think of the Greeks, but as Herodotus teaches us, the Greeks never would have reached their Zenith without the Egyptians. I mean if Solon thought it so important to go and learn some things in Egypt, why not the Messiah?

The fourteenth century BC, what a time. In Egypt a type of monotheism was growing. A cult concerning the one true god, the god of the sun was taking hold. It was erased, monuments destroyed, writings burned but a priest from that cult may have led a group of ancient Davidians out of Egypt. Akhenaton was the Pharaoh responsible for highlighting this Aton, god of the sun after being introduced to it by his father. But a priest with a name taken from a long series of pharaohs may have taken Akhenaton's god and transformed him. At least that is what Freud thought.

Now I can go on and on about how December 25th has nothing to do with Jesus, that the two books discussing the Nativity agree on very little, that the other two Gospels do not even care about the Nativity, that Jesus was probably not born in the year 1 (there is no year zero which tells some people that 2010 is the end of a decade and not the beginning of a new decade, oh shut the fuck up you idiot and get on with the story for chrissakes) that our holidays are really a product of capitalists bastards who....oh who cares.

Most of the time when somebody rants and raves about the stupidity of Christmas, immediately an important line from the Bard comes to my mind:

Methinks he protests too much.

Much too much really. The fact is that most of us are suckers for Christmas. And I do not wish to piss off any Jews today either. Muslims? Hindus? Today I do not wish to piss off anybody really..

Christmas is a cultural rite besides being a religious rite. Christmas for most of us is simply remembrances of things past in our own minds.

I was discussing Christmas Story with some friends the other night. Little things about that movie just hit me. Every time I look at the movie that will be played more than Jeff Chandler's school play; I recall something from my past. I mean the wires coming out of the wall sockets; the furnace that does not work; the lack of proper insulation in the old homes; the doors that fail to close on the family homestead and the dogs that just seem to wander through the neighborhood. The Tree. Oh the tree.

I have already discussed the fact that Charles Nelson Riley became a hero to me when he described his Christmases in New York as a child. His dad would fall down drunk and the goddamn tree would fall down at precisely midnight on every Christmas Eve.

Our tree fell every goddamn year several times. My father was such an idiot. You would think that he could have gotten a different tree holder. When I grew up my trees never fell down.  But I digress.

Santa Claus. What can I say about Santa Claus. I woke up on Christmas and under the tree (we would open human presents on the Eve and then open Santa's special present on the morn) was a red fire truck. Really stupid steel thing. You had to hook it up to a hose for it to work. A hose on Christmas in Minneapolis....well, figure it out.

We go to the sane Grandma's that day and I say, hey Grandma, Santa got me a brand new fire truck.

Santa, she says, Santa did not give you that truck, I did.

I am sure that even by the age of five Santa had kind of lost his luster for me. But that heads up from Grandmama kind of sealed the deal as far as Santa was concerned.

(I must take a sec here and underline that I really despise Mika. She has got to be the dumbest airhead on morning television. There are brighter people selling fake jewelry on the money channels. Sorry, she just makes me sick and ruins cable news in the morning--so much for the Christmas Spirit)

But from whence comes that fuzzy feeling deep inside some of us as December winds down each year? There is more there than just department stores and reruns of old movies.

I am an Irish Catholic. Why? I do not go to church and have not gone to church in forty years. I never even visited Ireland. My mother was German/Norwegian.

Oh probably Grandmama. Because of her we all had to go to church every Sunday and Catechism every Saturday.

But that still is not it. That's not the reason for the fuzzy feeling. Watts talks about heaven and hell. The worst of all possible worlds really. I mean hell is eternal pain. Even Sartre demonstrates that if you are put in a wonderful home with two beautiful women (forget seventy-two) you will end up in a hell of a mess.

And heaven. I mean who really wishes to sit in church for eternity singing Bringing in the Sheaves? I mean even Alleluia is going to get to you after the first thousand years or so.  And I imagine the divine organist is not going to be partial to Ride of the Valkyries, let alone something by the Stones.

I think people smile more during Christmas time. I think people greet each other more; and I think people  ignore passers-by on the street less. I think people give the finger less on the street. I think there is a melody in the air:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKzWsreOcfM&feature=related

If Alan Watts is correct, there can be no light without darkness. There can be no happiness without sadness. There can be no up without a down.

That is why it cannot be Christmas all the time. There must be feast days. There must be days of joyous celebration.And there must be days of repentance or sadness or remembrance of those lost. But Christmas comes when the light is failing; when the sun is below the horizon much more than above that same horizon.

Supposedly we celebrate the solstice this time of year because we are now assured that we will not lose the light of the sun forever. But why is Christmas not celebrated on the 22nd of December? I suppose it has something to do with timekeeping two thousand years ago; changes in the calendar over two thousand years and previous traditions.

But this, the darkest part of our year, becomes THE HOLIDAY in America. The Christmas movies, Christmas TV Shows, Christmas decorations, and Christmas Salutations begin at Thanksgiving.

I have friends here. I only just met them in December of last year really. I have laughed with them and cried with them. I have learned of their successes and their failures. I have even shared a drink or two with some of them. A few have lost and then found jobs. A few have been ill and have recovered. A few are still waiting for that new job offer and a few are grasping onto life with new hope. And yet, I have never met them.

Really magical when you think of it; this medium.

I would like to discuss this and at least one message I may have received through the Messiah. That is for the next and final chapter of this series.

OH AND MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS IF IT SUITS YA!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqtAkvVCI-8&feature=related