Chapter Text
It was Christmas Eve at the Museum and all of the people in the Hall of Miniatures were in a rush, getting last minute Christmas shopping done, going to Church, and wondering what the heck Larry was doing in that empty display in the corner of the room. The past few nights he had been over there, behind a screen doing something and try as they might, nobody had managed to get anything out of him but that it was a surprise. Needless to say, this did not stop Jededaiah and Octavius from trying to find out.
“Okay.” Jededaiah whispered to his partner in crime. “We’re going to drive the car straight through the screen and then we’ll be able to find out what Gigantor’s been up to the past couple o’nights.”
“But what if we crash into one of the poles?” Octavius answered, furrowing his brow.
Jededaiah snorted. “We’re not going to crash! We’ll drive right through! Now you ready? Yeehaw!” without waiting for an answer Jededaiah floored it and headed right for the screen. They were about two yards from it when Larry started to come out, right in front of them. “Incoming! Mayday, mayday!” Jededaiah screeched and slamming on the brakes, skidded to a halt just inches from Larry’s leg.
“Hey guys,” Larry said smiling, crouching down to their level. “What are you up to?”
“We were just-“ Octavius began.
“Yeah, we were just cruising and-“
Larry started to laugh. “You weren’t trying to sneak a peek at the surprise I have planned for you guys, were you?” The gig was up.
“Oh come on, Gigantor,” Jededaiah exclaimed slamming his fist down on the dashboard, “can’t you just give us one little teensy, weensy hint?”
“I agree my liege.” Octavius said. “I too am curious.”
“Well, you’ll just have to wait like everybody else,” Larry replied, straightening up. “Now turn around and go somewhere else. It’ll be ready tomorrow night.”
Sighing they did as they were told. “Geesh! I don’t see what the big deal is!”Jededaiah said, starting to drive off.
“Indeed. What is so special about tomorrow night?” Jededaiah slammed on the brakes again.
“You’re kiddin’ me right? Tomorrow’s Christmas, for cryin’ out loud!”
“So you keep saying. But what is this Christmas?”
“It’s Jesus’ birthday of course!”
“Who’s Jesus? Somebody new?”
Jededaiah sighed and slapped a hand over his face. “You mean you’ve never heard o’Jesus? What about God? The Bible?”
Octavius only looked more confused. “We Romans have many gods but-“
“No, no, no! The one, true God!” Octavius only looked more confused. Back-tracking Jededaiah explained. “Before anything else ever existed there was God. While He’s only one God He has three parts, like a three leaf clover, got it?”
Octavius nodded. “I think so.”
“Okay. Now the three parts are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So one day God the Father decided, “What’s with all this empty space?” and in just a week He created everything. Now the first human beings were named Adam and Eve and they had it all but they threw it away because they wanted something God told them not to have and they disobeyed Him so ever since that original “sin” has been transferred from one person to the next and that’s why we die and bad stuff happens and on and on. Alright?”
“Okay.”
“Now since we’re bad we can’t be with God because He’s good and since He loves us so much He couldn’t stand that. So He sent God the Son to be born on Earth as a human. Since our sin was so bad we could never save ourselves.”
Here Octavius interrupted, “But what if we were really good?”
“The thing is, no matter how good we try to be we can never be perfect and will keep messing up. So our sin required a blood payment from someone who was completely innocent. Now Jesus, that’s God the Son, even though He was human was born without sin and even though He was tempted, He never sinned. To make a long story short, He was crucified to pay for our sins.”
“But why? A good man should never be punished!” Octavius said, his hand on his sword.
“Exactly. But God loved us so much that since we couldn’t save ourselves He sent Jesus to save us by being punished for our sins.”
“That’s not fair!”
“I know, but trust me. It gets better. He was dead for three days and then brought back to life, which conquered death. Then He was taken into Heaven and is alive forever. Now all we have to do is believe that He is the only God and that He really died for us. When we do that and ask for Him to save us, He comes to live in our hearts and sends God the Holy Spirit to guide us.”
“Like possession?” Octavius furrowed his brow.
“Kind of, but not really. You see, possession is when an evil spirit comes in and takes over your body. This is more like God coming in and guiding you.”
“Oh. So what does this have to do with Christmas?” Octavius asked.
“Christmas is the day that Jesus was born, so we celebrate it.”
“I see.”
They lapsed into silence. Then Jededaiah spoke up. “So, do you believe it?”
“Believe what?”
“What I just told you.”
“I don’t know.” Octavius answered slowly. “It challenges everything I’ve been raised to believe but I know you and you are not a liar so it must be true. I guess I need to let it sink in.”
“That’s okay!” Jededaiah said. “That’s good actually. You should know that you believe it for sure before you just make assumptions. Tell you what,” he glanced at the clock. It was almost time for them to get back to their displays. “You think on it and tomorrow I’ll get my Bible, which is God’s word in written form, and we’ll talk some more. That sound alright?”
“Okay.” Octavius shrugged, and they both headed back to their designated positions.