The Christmas Mystery

One doesn’t normally think about Sherlock Holmes stories at Christmas time. But Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Holmes obviously loved a great mystery.  Set at Christmas time The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle involves the theft a rare blue carbuncle (a type of semi-precious stone).
While investigating a scuffle a policeman finds an old hat and a goose. He takes the goose home for Christmas but his wife finds the carbuncle in the bird’s throat. Holmes can’t resist getting involved and sets out to determine how the stolen jewel ended up in a Christmas goose. (If you have extra time and want to read the short story- click here.)
There a few a mysteries in the original Christmas story but perhaps the biggest is this: how did God end up in a human body? This mystery is at the heart of our faith. Jesus was both fully divine and fully human, at the same time. We struggle with this. He either seems all too human or all too divine and remote from our problems. It boggles our brain to understand that he had two natures.
How is it possible? We don’t really know other than the writers of Scripture make it clear that the mystery is real. John tells us that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
The first two chapters of Hebrews deal with the nature of Jesus. It emphasises his divinity and his humanity. He was the perfect one to help bring us reconciliation with God. Hymn writer Charles Wesley expressed it this way:
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
It’s a great mystery that leads to our great salvation. Make time to reflect on this during the holiday season.