“Well, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit had had their dinner, and were looking at the world they’d made, and they saw how messed up it was. They were a bit depressed.
‘What will we do now?’ said the Father. The Spirit thought for a bit and said: ‘Well, we tried clearing out all the bad people – remember the Flood? But it didn’t work, and we lost a lot of people and animals that time.’ The Son said, ‘Yes, and I remember we sent the prophets to tell the people to stop being bad, and that didn’t work either – they got it in the neck! We also tried punishing them to make them pay attention – remember we shipped them all off to Babylon? That went fine for a bit, but too many of them became backsliders pretty soon after getting back.’
The Father said, ‘You make it all feel pretty hopeless, but we can’t let them drown in their misery. After all, we made them in our own image and likeness. I want them to be happy, like us. I’m determined to save them, no matter what the price.’
There was more silence, and then the Son got all fired up. He said: ‘Suppose I joined in with them and became one of them? I’d show them how to live properly. I’d go in disguise of course, not to frighten them off. It would take them a while to guess who I am. I’d lead them back home to here!’
The Father said, ‘Son, don’t get carried away with this idea: it could cost you your life! And if they killed you it would break my heart.’
There was more silence, and then the Spirit coughed, as shy people do, and said: ‘I think the Son is right, and I’ll be with him if he’s willing to do it. You know how infections work with them? Well, this will be like a good infection! It will be an inside job. I know it will take a good while to get around everyone, but I believe we can!’
So they got in touch with Mary and she was great. She just said, ‘Yes, I’ll help any way I can’. So Jesus was born on Christmas Day ‘a long time ago, in Bethlehem’.”
