What, who, where, when, why, and how? From a journalistic perspective, Christmas seemed like minor news at the time. But it made history.
Newspapers. / Photo: [link]A. Vision[/link], Unsplash, CC0.
Many around Europe and the world are celebrating Christmas these days. Few celebrations have such a broad impact on personal, family, social and cultural life.
From this news website, we would like to make a contribution with a journalistic approach, following one of the best rules for writing a news story, known as the 6 Ws, because these letters begin the basic questions we must seek to answer in order to approach the truth of an event with rigour and depth.
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The first W is what. In the case of Christmas, it would be difficult for a newspaper of the time – if there had been one – to record something as common as the simple birth of a child in a remote region, in an inhospitable place. When? (second W) we would ask next. A little over two millennia ago, we might answer, although we do not know the date with complete certainty, nor the season—probably in spring. Later, a great sage would say that it happened when it was meant to happen, at the right time.
We would continue with the third W, asking ourselves about the Who. Here comes the interesting part: the child's mother was a young woman named Mary, betrothed to Joseph, two Jews of royal descent, but of whom little would be expected under Roman rule. The birth of the child was accompanied by some unexpected, unglamorous visitors: some shepherds who were tending their sheep in the fields like any other night, until they saw an army of luminous beings in the sky announcing and celebrating the birth of this child.
[destacate]Since the beginning of human history, we had been searching incessantly for a solution to the evil that is generated in us[/destacate]The fifth question (Why?) invites us to delve deeper. According to the Gospels, chroniclers of the time, the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit. An angel announced to Mary, his mother, that his name would be Jesus, because his mission was to save his people from their sins.
Since the beginning of human history, we had been searching incessantly for a solution to the evil we see around us and the evil that is generated in us and towards others. Philosophy, religion, and ethics were useful, but they did not address the root of the real problem.
This child was born with a purpose: to enlighten those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide our steps on the path of peace with God, with nature, with others, and with ourselves.
The last question, How? is not answered from the manger. For although the birth of Jesus is a singular event, it would remain incomplete without the cross. To fulfil that divine purpose of freeing us from evil, sin, death and separation from God, this Jesus, the God who became a child, went to the cross. A death he did not deserve, but one that opened the door to forgiveness and hope for a new life that he himself showed us how to live.
Christmas is thus news that seemed small, but has become the most significant milestone in human history.
Do not let the noise prevent you from hearing the news that God himself made known. Christmas is news: God visits us, so we have hope.
Daniel Hofkamp, journalist, member of the Evangelical Focus team and director of Protestante Digital.
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