The Characters of Christmas: An Interview with Daniel Darling
We hate to admit it, but after years, sometimes even decades, of reading the same Luke 2 story of Christmas, we get a little bored—we lose some of the awe we ought to have when discussing the greatest miracle in history. That’s why Daniel Darling wrote The Characters of Christmas. His desire is to help you take a fresh look at the Christmas story by getting to know the minor characters that played a part in Jesus’ birth.
Daniel is the author of several books including The Dignity Revolution, The Original Jesus, and Teen People of the Bible. He serves as the Vice President for Communication at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention. I recently had the opportunity to correspond with Dan and ask him some questions about his newest book on the Christmas story. Here is the way he answered my questions.
Jared: If a family chose to use The Characters of Christmas for family devotions during the Advent season, are there any tips you'd encourage them to keep in mind?
Daniel: First, I would maybe commit to reading the key passages for each character over and over again and meditating on different aspects. Secondly, I would read a few excerpts from the book every day.
But most of all I would endeavor to read something about the incarnation story every day to set the mood in your family during Christmas. Christmas can be, as you know, a hectic time with gifts and events where kids easily forget about Jesus. It can also be a wonderful opportunity to embed the gospel in the hearts of our kids. We enjoy doing family devotions and we always do advent in our house. We make it fun but we also really try to get our kids thinking about what it means that God came to earth as a baby in Jesus.
Jared: You write in the introduction, "It could be that, like Andy Williams, you think this is the most wonderful time of the year; or, like Merle Haggard, you are just trying to make it through December." How will exploring the characters of Christmas help us keep the joy of Christmas alive? How will exploring these characters speak to those who experience grief during the holidays?
Daniel: We find joy by understanding that Jesus came into a world not unlike ours, a world of sorrow and disappointment and pain. And for those who are struggling this year, there is the reality that God's very entrance into the world he created represents God's identification with our suffering. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus show us God's experience with suffering. And we find hope in knowing that this baby in the manger represents the defeat of the sin, death and suffering that makes the human experience often difficult. So while Christians suffer, we can suffer knowing we carry joy with us and the reality that one day Christ will fully renew our joy.
I'm struck by Simeon's word to Mary, who carried her baby into the temple for Jesus' purification rites. He praised Jesus as the hope of all of the longing of God's people and the fulfillment of the prophet's promises, but he did tell Marry that "a sword will pierce your soul." Mary, by saying yes to God was signing up for a difficult but obedient life. Christmas speaks to those who grieve because the real story of Christmas is not one of sentimentality, but of the gritty reality of a fallen world. And yet Christmas is the hope of the world. It’s the story of Jesus coming to renew and restore his people and renew and restore the world.
Jared: Which character from the Christmas story was the most fun to research and write about?
Daniel: That's a hard question. This was one of the most fun projects I've ever worked on. I thoroughly enjoyed studying, researching and writing about these ordinary people who were swept up in the story of the first Christmas. I do think one of my personal favorites is Joseph, who is often overlooked. I think there have been something like two songs written about him. Joseph always did the obedient, honorable thing at every step of the story, despite personal hardship and cost. He was willing to bear the shame for a baby who would later bear Joseph's shame on the cross.
Jared: Which character surprised you the most? or perhaps challenged your faith the most?
Daniel: I was surprised and challenged by the shepherds. It's interesting to me that the announcement of the long-awaited promise, after four hundred plus years of silence, didn't come to the palace in Rome or even to the spiritual elite in Jerusalem, but to a shepherd's field outside of Bethlehem. It's significant that the angelic announcement came to shepherds. God often refers to himself as a shepherd of his people and Jesus declares himself to be the Good Shepherd later in his ministry. And shepherding is the dominant leadership motif in Scripture. This is the kind of king Jesus would be—the Shepherd King. Secondly, the announcement of the final sacrifice for sins, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world comes to those who tend to lambs possibly used for temple sacrifice. What powerful imagery!
Jared: How do you imagine this book challenging young Christians in their faith? What are the two biggest truths that you'd want a teenager reading The Characters of Christmas to take away from reading this book?
I would first of all challenge teens by helping them understand that the hope for all the world's many ills, the hope for their own personal problems and struggles was wrapped up in baby clothes in a cave outside Bethlehem. Jesus' birth is not just a neat religious story but is the entrance of God into a troubled world, the fulfillment of his divine plan to rescue his people and rescue the world. I would also point them to the ordinary and often forgotten people God chose to be part of that first Christmas: an unwed mother in Mary, ordinary shepherds, outsiders in the Magi, even the elderly man and woman waiting in the temple for what seemed like a far-fetched promise.
I’m so grateful to Daniel Darling for answering my questions about his new book. I’d encourage you to pick it up, slow down, engage your imagination, and enter into the stories of these unsung women and men. The discussion questions and Christmas song suggestions at the end of each chapter make this book perfect for engaging your whole family. Daniel’s heart is that by engaging the many characters of Christmas, you’ll see the most important character—Jesus Christ—with new eyes.