There are two stories of Christmas. We usually blend them into one chronological account, but they are very distinct. One appears in the Gospel of Matthew, 1:18-25, 2:1-23, and the other in Luke 2: 6-20.

Matthew tells the story from Joseph’s point of view. The angel appears to him, telling him not to fear to take Mary as his wife, even though she is expecting a Child. He names the child. The wise men appear, and then Joseph is warned to flee to Egypt, and told to return when Herod died.

Luke is Mary’s story - in fact, she alone could have recounted these things to Luke. The story of Zacharias and Elisabeth; Mary’s visit to Elisabeth; the birth of John; the angel appearing to Mary, the birth of Jesus, and the tale of the shepherds all speak of Mary’s part in this event.

There are remarkably consistent differences in the accounts. In the Matthew story the angel always appears in a dream, and he gives commands. “Do not be afraid to take to yourself Mary your wife.” “Call His name Jesus.” “Do not return to Herod” was the command to the wise men. “Arise, take the young child and Mary his mother, and flee into Egypt.” “Return, for they are dead who sought the young Child’s life.” Specific commands, which Joseph and the wise men obeyed.

In the Luke story the angel is actually seen, and carries on conversations with both Zacharias and Mary. An angel choir appears to the shepherds. What is surprising is that no actual commands are given. Zacharias is told that his prayer will be answered, and he will have a son. Mary is told she will be with child of the Holy Spirit, and she willingly accepts it. The shepherds are told the tidings of great joy, but it is they who say, one to another, “Let us now go, even to Bethlehem, and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”

Another amazing difference is the presence of Herod and his people in Matthew. He is shown in his wickedness and deceit, pretending to wish to worship Jesus while plotting to kill Him. He uses his counselors, none of whom are interested in the actual birth of the Christ, though they now know that a star has heralded His birth. Then there is the terrible story of Herod’s murder of the little ones around Bethlehem.

None of this appears in Luke. There is just a glancing reference: “There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea......” What a different tone, therefore, appears in Luke. It is one of peace and rejoicing, of wonder and gratitude, spoken from the heart by Zacharias, by Mary, and by Simeon. By contrast, Matthew tells of Joseph’s sadness and thought of putting Mary away privately, of Herod’s treachery and the sin of infanticide. And Matthew tells also how futile were Herod’s efforts, for the angel of the Lord provided that Joseph brought the infant Lord safely out of his reach.

So what are these two stories telling us about our lives, here, today? They speak of how the Lord is born in our minds and hearts. Let us leave Zacharias and Elisabeth and John out of this sermon. John represents repentance, and his birth precedes the birth of Jesus. But after we have repented of our sins, then the Lord Himself comes to be born in us. That birth is the implanting within us of charity - the ability to love others unselfishly. It is this birth which makes us into angels, which puts the stamp of eternal love in our hearts, which causes us to be “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

When charity begins to become felt in us we respond in two distinct ways. Matthew tells how our understanding reacts to His coming. Luke speaks of how His birth receives a response in the new will which the Lord is creating in us.

Joseph seems to represent the good of truth. He was a carpenter, working with tools of iron on wood to shape it, and his very act pictures the efforts of the human understanding, taking the truths of revelation and working to apply them to a life of goodness.

Joseph at first feared that Mary had been unfaithful to him, and that the child was conceived of a man. When we have done the deeds of repentance, and the Lord begins to create this wonderful, heavenly love inside of us, we too will doubt. How can I, a person who has been selfish up to date, how can I feel these tender, loving thoughts towards others? How can I be moved to do kind deeds with no thought of reward? I must be deceiving myself. This is just human-born selfishness under another guise.

But an angel of the Lord told Joseph that this birth was unique in all of history. The angel represents an insight from within, the presence of the Lord within the truths that we have learned, which gives us assurance that indeed unselfish love can be ours. The Word has promised that it will be so. Don’t doubt it. You can be a truly loving, unselfish, caring person. And when you feel this love inside of you, call it by its proper name. Call it “Jesus,” which means, “Jehovah is the Savior.” Realize that this is salvation come into your heart.

Joseph obeyed the angel. We need to believe that charity can be ours, and unite ourselves to the innocent love for the truth (which is what Mary represents).

Then, when this beautiful charity blossoms in our hearts, new truths come to herald that birth. The wise men had studied the Word, knew that a star would appear when the Christ was born, and took a long journey to find Him. The truths they represent, learned because we are moved to study and reflect on His Word, are the ones that tell us how to live the life of love. They are conscious truths, and they spur us to action.

The wise men gave three gifts to Jesus, and for two thousand years they were the last people on earth to know why these gifts, and no others, were suitable. For there are only three things we can give to the Lord, only three things we can withhold. Myrrh represents obedience; frankincense, love to others; and gold, love to the Lord Himself. We can withhold these from the Lord and He cannot make us give them to Him. When moved by charity, we plan to offer Him the only gifts which we can possibly give - the offerings of a grateful heart to obey, to love His children, and to love Him.

But the Matthew story contains Herod also. Within each of us there is a powerful love of self, and all sorts of false and horrible thoughts are tied to it. Through this love the hells seek to kill our unselfish instincts. They use deceit, they even use the truths of the Word (as Herod did when seeking to know where Christ should be born). For much of our lives we have given a fairly free rein to our selfish impulses. They don’t relinquish their kingship over us without a struggle. The story of Herod speaks of the plots of the hells to destroy our love for others, and of how the Lord protects us. When we obey the commands of His Word our love grows, quietly and secretly, in a safe place where Herod cannot find it.

So we come to the gospel of Luke. Why is Herod not mentioned there? It is in the Lord’s amazing mercy that there are times when selfishness seems to be a distant memory. We know it’s there - “In the days of Herod the King,” Luke says. We know that battles lie ahead, but there are moments when we see the joy of life, and these feelings give us an inner reason to fight for heaven. When you first fall in love, you feel only unselfish love for that person. At times you read the Word, and feel in its pages the certainty of the Lord’s love, and its promise of a heaven, a life of charity, just for you!

Selfishness seems far off. You know it will come back, but right now you know that there is a life beyond selfishness. There truly is a greater love that leaves self behind, and at times, at oh-so-precious times, you are allowed to feel it. The Lord touches our hearts, and the best image of that is Christmas night in the stable in Bethlehem.

In our peaceful states there is Mary, the innocent affection for truth. We often call it idealism. It is a deep-seated conviction about the highest ideals in life. We see deeply into the Word, see the values it teaches, we want a value system that will last for all time. We want the Lord to be our God, the God of our hearts and minds. In our innocent times we just don’t question these things, we long for them. Mary, betrothed, and longing for marriage, represents this innocent love, longing to experience the full heavenly marriage of good and truth, to make ideals work.

Mary went to Bethlehem, for that little town represents new truth, the truth of the internal sense of the Word. To go from Galilee to Bethlehem is to go upward, into the deeper regions of our minds, and experience that love which is the birth of the Lord in us. It is to feel, in the living waters of the Word, that we do love others, and this love is “God with us.”

Yet the inn at Bethlehem had no room for the infant Jesus. Many spiritual truths in our minds have languished, and lost their meaning. Other needs have crowded them out, even falsified them. There are many places in our minds where we know the truth, but that knowledge is full of earthly concerns which take the joy, the wonder out of it.

In His mercy the Lord prepares other places in our minds. The spiritual manger stands for lower truths, simple ideals long held precious. For example, you have truths in your minds about how to care for infants and how to teach little children about the Word and how to care for the needs of the elderly or those who are hurting. You understand these truths. A manger, where horses feed, represents such an understanding.

And you have simple, innocent ideas in your minds also which are, as it were, wrapped around charity. These truths tell you that certain things hurt others, that certain things, said with gentleness, touch their hearts. These truths tell you when to deal gently with others, and when to be firm but loving at the same time. They are simple ideas from the Word, first truths, which keep charity warm in your heart. “....and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger.”

How beautiful is the story of the shepherds. They too represent interior truths, long held, which through the night of our selfish lives have kept us turning towards good values. They kept watch over our spiritual flock, our valuable feelings, even though we have often been selfish and uncaring. These values are called forth, and respond with joy when love is born in our hearts.

The story of Luke is one of a free response to the Lord and His creation of heaven in our minds. It is full of joy. Zacharias prophesied, with a heart full of gratitude. Mary’s soul magnified the Lord and her spirit rejoiced in God her Savior. Simeon gave thanks because he had seen the Lord’s salvation, prepared for all people. The shepherds returned, praising God for all that they had seen.

When you feel heartfelt gratitude in your lives because of a special love the Lord has granted you, - why then, stop, stand still, lift up your heart and rejoice in that moment. And know this: that if you persist in following Him, that special love will become your heaven. It will be a love born of no human father. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you, and that holy love growing in you is indeed born of God.

Two stories of Christmas. Both so beautiful. The Lord gave each to us that we may see with our understandings, and feel in our hearts the wonder of this holy birth. They are secret stories, scarce felt because of the noisy pressures of worldly life, but revealed in all their wonder for the New Church. The spiritual Joseph and wise men are conscious, understood truths which are obeyed, and bring deep joy to the human mind. The spiritual Mary and Bethlehem and the manger and the swaddling cloths and the shepherds represent affections for deep ideals, and for practical ideas. These find inner happiness and peace when He comes to us.

For the greatest event in human history was the birth on earth of God Himself. And the greatest event in anyone’s life is when there is born to you the love from God that will never die. This is truly the spirit of Christmas.

(Референци: Apocalypse Explained 706; Matthew 2)

10137. 'And a drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine' means spiritual truth, the amount needed for a joining together. This is clear from the meaning of 'wine' as truth, dealt with in 1071, 1798, 6377, at this point spiritual truth answering to the spiritual good derived from celestial good, meant by 'fine flour mixed with oil', dealt with immediately above in 10136 (where good is the subject in the Word, so too is truth, and indeed the truth belonging to the same class as the good. This is so because every single thing in heaven and also in the world has connection with good or with truth, and with both if it is to have any real existence, since good without truth is not good and truth without good is not truth, see the places referred to in 9263, 9314. This explains why when a minchah, which consisted of bread, was offered, so was a drink offering, which consisted of wine, in much the same way as in the Holy Supper. So it is that 'a drink offering of wine' is used here to mean the truth that answers to the good meant by a minchah, dealt with immediately above); and from the meaning of 'a quarter of a hin' as the amount needed for a joining together, dealt with immediately above in 10136.

[2] Everyone may see that not merely bread and wine should be understood by a minchah, which consisted of bread, and a drink offering, which consisted of wine, but something that belongs to the Church and to heaven, thus spiritual and celestial things, which are heaven's and the Church's. If this had not been so what would have been the point of putting the bread and wine on the fire on the altar? How could this have been pleasing to Jehovah, or how could it have been, as it says, an odour of rest to Him? How could it have expiated a person? Anyone who thinks reverently about the Word cannot imagine how an action so earthly could be pleasing to Jehovah unless something Divine on a deeper, more internal level was contained in it. The person who believes that the Word is Divine and spiritual throughout ought to believe completely that every detail there has some heavenly arcanum concealed within it. But the reason why no one up to now has known just where such an arcanum lies is that no one has known that an internal sense, which is spiritual and Divine, exists within every detail there. Nor has anyone known that angels are present with each person, perceiving his thoughts and understanding the Word in a spiritual manner when he reads it; that then through them a holy influence from the Lord reaches him; and that therefore through those angels heaven is linked to the person, to whom the Lord is linked by means of the heavens. It is for this reason that the kind of Word just described has been given to mankind, that Word being the sole means by which the Lord can provide for his salvation.

[3] The fact that 'minchah', consisting of bread, means the good of love and that 'drink offering', consisting of wine, means the good of faith, and that this is what the angels see in them, becomes clear from all those places in the Word which make reference to a minchah or a drink offering, such as these verses in Joel,

The minchah has been cut off, and the drink offering, from the house of Jehovah; the priests have been mourning, the ministers of Jehovah. The field has been devastated, the land has been mourning because the grain has been devastated, the new wine has dried up, the oil languishes. The vine has dried up and the fig tree languishes. Wail, O ministers of the altar, because the minchah and the drink offering have been withheld from the house of your God. For the day of Jehovah is near, and comes as destruction from Shaddai. Joel 1:9-15.

This refers to the final period of the Church, when the good of love and truth of faith are not present there any longer, meant by 'the day of Jehovah is near, and comes as destruction from Shaddai'.

[4] From this it is evident that by the minchah and drink offering which have been cut off from the house of Jehovah, the field which has been devastated, the land which mourns, the grain which too has been devastated, the new wine which has dried up, the oil which languishes, and the vine and fig which do so, such things as belong to the Church and to heaven are meant. It is the internal sense however that shows what it is they mean. From that sense it is evident that 'the field' means the Church as regards its reception of truth, see 3766, 4982, 7502, 7571, 9295; 'the land' the Church as regards [its reception of] good, see the places referred to in 9325; 'the grain' all the good that the Church has, 5295, 5410, 5959; 'the new wine' all the truth that the Church has, 3580; 'the oil' the good of love, 4582, 4638, 9780; 'the vine' the spiritual Church's interior good, 5113, 6376, 9277; and 'the fig' its exterior good, 217, 4231, 5113. From all this it is evident that 'the minchah' and 'the drink offering' mean worship springing from the good of love and from the good of faith.

[5] In Malachi,

I will not accept a minchah from your hands. For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, great is the name of Jehovah among the nations; and in every place [there will be] incense, offered to My name, and a pure minchah. Malachi 1:10-11.

It is evident that a minchah should not be understood here either by 'a minchah', nor incense by 'incense', since the subject is the Church among the gentile nations, among whom there was no minchah. For it says, 'From the rising of the sun to its setting, great is the name of Jehovah among the nations; and in every place [there will be] a pure minchah and incense', 'incense' meaning adoration springing from the good of faith, see 9475.

[6] Something similar occurs in David,

My prayers are acceptable, [as] incense before You, the lifting up of my hands, [as] the evening minchah. Psalms 141:2.

'The evening minchah' means the good of love in the external man.

[7] In Isaiah,

You inflamed yourselves among the gods under every green tree. You have also poured out a drink offering to them; you have presented a gift ¹ . You offer the king a gift in oil, and multiply your perfumes; and you debase yourself even to hell. Isaiah 57:5-6, 9.

This refers to worship based on evils and falsities which come from hell. 'The gods' in the internal sense are falsities, for although those who worshipped other gods called them by name, nevertheless falsities arising from evils were what they worshipped. Regarding the gods of the foreigner in the Word, that falsities are meant by them, see 4402(end), 8941. '[Every] green tree' means every perception, recognition, and corroboration of falsity, 2722, 2972, 4552, 7692, 'green' implying a sensory apprehension, 7691. 'Inflaming oneself' means worship that is passionate, for 'the fire' that causes such fervour is love in both senses, 5215, 6832, 7575. 'Pouring out a drink offering' is worship springing from the falsities of evil; 'offering the king a gift in oil' is the worship of Satan springing from evils, 'a gift in oil' being a minchah, and 'multiplying perfumes' is multiplying offerings of incense, by which acts of adoration are meant, 9475. Therefore it also says that he debases himself even to hell.

[8]From these considerations it becomes clear that 'a minchah', which consisted of bread, and 'a drink offering', which consisted of wine, mean things such as belong to the Church and to heaven, namely heavenly food and drink, in the same way as the bread and wine in the Holy Supper do - for the reason given above, that heaven may join itself to a person through the Word, consequently that the Lord may do so through heaven by means of the Word. Since the Divine presence in the Word consists in such things it nourishes the minds not only of people in the world but also of angels and causes heaven and the world to be one.

[9] From this it also becomes clear that all the things without exception which have been stated and commanded in the Word regarding the minchah and drink offering, or bread and wine, contain Divine arcana within them. This is so for example with the requirement that a minchah should consist of fine flour which had oil and also frankincense on it, that it should be altogether salted, and that it should be unleavened or without yeast. Then there is the requirement that there was to be one set of proportions for the mixture when a lamb was sacrificed, another when it was a ram, another when it was a young bull, and yet another in guilt- and sin-sacrifices, while the proportions in other sacrifices were different again. The proportion of wine in the drink offering varied in a similar way. Unless these specific requirements had embodied the arcana of heaven no such things would ever have been commanded in connection with the various forms of worship.

[10] To enable these different requirements to be seen alongside one another, let them be set out here in their own order, as contained in the eucharistic sacrifices and burnt offerings, in Numbers 15:4-12; 28:9-12, 20-21, 28-29; 29:3-4, 9-10, 14-15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 37,

For each lamb there was a minchah consisting of one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil; and the wine for the drink offering was a quarter of a hin.

For each ram there was a minchah consisting of two tenths [of an ephah] of fine flour, and a third of a hin of oil; and a third of a hin of wine for the drink offering.

For each young bull there was a minchah consisting of three tenths [of an ephah] of fine flour mixed with oil, a half of a hin; and half of a hin of wine for the drink offering.

The reason why the proportions of fine flour, oil, and wine for a lamb should be different from those for a ram or for a young bull was that a lamb meant the inmost good of innocence, a ram the middle good of innocence, and a young bull the lowest or external good of innocence. For there are three heavens - the inmost, the middle, and the lowest - and therefore also there are three degrees of the good of innocence. The increase of it from first to last is meant by the increase in the proportions of fine flour, oil, and wine. It should be remembered that the good of innocence is the very soul of heaven, because that good alone is the recipient of the love, charity, and faith which constitute the heavens.

'A lamb' means the inmost good of innocence, see 3994, 10132.

'A ram' means the middle or interior good of innocence, 10042.

'A young bull' means the lowest or external good of innocence, 9391, 9990.

[11] In sacrifices for thanksgiving (confessio) however there was a minchah consisting of unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil, cakes made of fried flour and mixed with oil, and in addition leavened bread cakes, Leviticus 7:11-12; and in guilt- and sin-sacrifices there was a minchah consisting of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour, but without oil or frankincense on top of it, Leviticus 5:11. The reason why no oil or frankincense should be put on top of the minchah composing a sin- or guilt-sacrifice was that 'oil' is a sign of the good of love and 'frankincense' a sign of the truth which goes with that good, and a sin- or a guilt-sacrifice is a sign of purification and expiation from evils and the falsities arising from them, which therefore were not to be mingled with good or the truth springing from it.

[12] In addition to these there were the minchah of Aaron and his sons on the day they were going to be anointed, see Leviticus 6:20-22; the minchah of the firstfruits of the harvest, Leviticus 2:14-15; 23:10, 12-13, 17; the minchah of the Nazirite, Numbers 6:13-21]; the minchah of jealousy, Numbers 5:11-31]; the minchah of one cleansed from leprosy, Leviticus 14:1-32]; and also the minchah baked in an oven, the minchah prepared in a pan, and the minchah cooked in a pot, Leviticus 2:4-7. There was was to be no yeast in a minchah, nor any honey; and the minchah had to be fully salted, Leviticus 2:11, 13. The reason why there should be no yeast in a minchah, nor any honey, was that in the spiritual sense 'yeast' means falsity arising from evil, and 'honey' external delight very much mixed with the delight belonging to love of the world, which also causes fermentation in heavenly forms of good and truths and subsequent disintegration of them. And the reason why they should be fully salted was that 'salt' was a sign of truth desiring good and so joining the two together.

'Yeast' means falsity arising from evil, see 2342, 7906, 8051, 9992.

'Honey' means external delight, thus such delight belonging to love in both senses, 5620.

'Salt' means truth desiring good, 9207.

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