For the first day of Christmas, let’s start at the beginning. The beginning, that is, according to Mark.  Matthew and Luke each share parts of the story surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ.  Mark doesn’t.  He does, however, claim to start at the beginning.  Specifically, his gospel (“good news”) starts like this:  “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God,   as it is written in Isaiah the prophet…” (Mark 1:1) 

From Mark’s perspective, “the beginning of the good news,” came way before the birth of Jesus.  For Mark, the story began with the prophecies of Isaiah.  The Isaiah prophecies formed the basis of my own Advent sermon series at my own church this year. Spending that time in the book of Isaiah highlights the truth that the coming of the Christ (Messiah) was part of a master plan that God revealed hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus.  The “good news,” and therefore, the Christmas story, didn’t begin with the birth of Jesus; it began with the proclamation that God was going to take action and send his Son, the Christ, to reconcile the world to him.  

In the classic TV series, The A-Team, the team leader was often known to exclaim, “I love it when a plan comes together!”  The birth of Jesus on the day that we now celebrate as Christmas, didn’t just happen.  It was all part of a plan; a plan that came together!