This Ain’t No Fairytale Opening

1 John 1:1-4

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.

The Christmas movie season is upon us. The general consensus on family favorites usually include The Grinch, Miracle on 34th Street, and The Nativity Story, but I have a fondness for Die Hard. Nakatomi Plaza Christmas Party, 1988. That’ll really get the holiday cheer in the air. “Twas the night before Christmas,” is one of the best set-ups for a story of all time. Most great stories in general have a great set-up. “Once upon a time,” “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” These are classic ways to start stories. In literature, when you write an intro to a story, you hook the reader. You want to get them involved and interested. The Bible treats this principle in an interesting way with its introduction of Jesus. Matthew 1:1-16 chronicles Jesus’ genealogy, specifying names and lineage, 42 different generations represented. Maybe not as concise as, “once upon a time,” but infinitely better than any of the others combined. Why, when writing this kind of story, would you write this kind of introduction? The most important person in existence and this is the way the author decided to introduce them. No catchy hook or pithy statement. But the Bible doesn’t rely on those kind of gimmicks because these are facts. God became a man, He had a genealogy, a history, and He sacrificed Himself on the cross for you and I. This actually happened.