Let’s start with
a quiz, just to make sure we are wide awake. This quiz will be a true/false
quiz, and since my computer crashed this past summer, I couldn’t go back and
see if I had given you this quiz. 1) The Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and then
to Joseph. 2) Mary rode a donkey to Bethlehem. 3) Jesus was born as soon as
they arrived in Bethlehem. 4) Jesus was born in a stable. 5) Animals were
present at Jesus’ birth. 6) Angels sang at the announcement to the shepherds. 7)
The shepherds were told to go and worship. 8) Not all the shepherds believed
Jesus was the messiah. 9) Three kings came from the orient. 10) The star the
magi followed rested above the manger, where Jesus lay.
If you answered
false to all these questions, then you answered them all correctly. When I
first saw this quiz, I missed the very first, and only the first statement. The
reason for the quiz was that sometimes, we might allow ourselves to become so
familiar with the accounts of the birth; we forget that what we know isn’t
really what we know. We become so focused on what the holiday is, we forget
what the event meant, and means today.
It was a
tumultuous times in which Jesus came into the world. Residents of the world
were in upheaval. A census had been ordered. It wasn’t like we have today,
where we receive the flier in the mail to fill out and return, or even see a
person come to the door and take our number. Rather than the government doing
the work of tallying the people, the people were required to make the journey
to their hometowns, to the place of their ancestors. Though I’ve never really
understood why this was. It just was.
To make matters
worse, Mary was due quite soon. I don’t know if you have traveled with a very
pregnant wife, or if you had been very pregnant as you’ve needed to take a
trip. I know that it is quite uncomfortable. That is what Carol has told me,
and that was when she was still a couple of months out, walking Sea World and
the San Diego Zoo. For Mary, the journey was 120 miles from Nazareth to
Bethlehem. She and Joseph were at least a week on the road. Perhaps two or
three, depending on how fast she was able to journey.
When they did
finally arrive in Bethlehem, there was no room for them in the inn. So often,
we wonder about that. Was this a curse, or a blessing in disguise? After all,
inns back then were not what they are now. They were a big open building where
those staying would find a piece of floor. So that by staying in the inn,
giving birth would have a couple of problems. First of course is the total lack
of privacy for this moment. Second, can you imagine those weary of traveling,
wanting sleep, being kept up by a woman giving birth? There would have been no
peace there.
So where did the
couple go to for Jesus’ birth? Was it to the stables in the back of the inn?
Not likely. For one, we don’t really know, but if the inn had no room for Mary
and Joseph, then chances are, the stable would have been equally crowded. I
don’t imagine that Jesus was born in a barn. When we travel long distances, we
have our family tent packed. We set it up where and when we are able. It’s been
a few years since we used it. Nevertheless, I also suspect that Joseph also had
a tent packed. I can see him pitching it in a field, finding a feed trough that
wasn’t in use as a make shift crib. Shepherds left them in the fields all the
time for the animals, be they sheep, cows or other livestock.
So there’s Mary,
giving birth. We are not sure of how long they were camping out, if they were
even in a tent. But by the time we see Matthew 2, Jesus has been born, has a
proper bed and the family is living in a proper house. It is here that the Magi
find the new born king, and it is here where we draw our lessons about
Christmas from the Magi. Let’s read the text.
Now I could focus
on the gifts and their nature, how that reveals to us who Jesus is as a king
and as a priest. But instead, we first need to remember that Christmas means
nothing, is worth nothing if we do not see this and look forward to Easter. His
mission was to live with us, die for us, and then redeem us. That is what his
death, burial and resurrection has done. So what do we learn here at this end
about Jesus?
Our first lesson
is that Jesus is a threat. He was a threat to Herod. And He was a threat to the
Temple leaders. Of all who focus on the
unrest of Jerusalem, I’ve not seen anyone look to the Temple. It was not too
far from Herod’s palace. And I imagine that the priests would be anxious
because they knew full well that they were not leading God’s children as they
should be. Surely they saw the slight God gave them by having these foreigners
before them with news that they should have been first to know, not last. With
Herod, I wonder if he was familiar with this type of series of events. Was he
familiar with the reign of David? God appointed him to be king instead of Saul.
Now here is another king, someone who may very well be usurping supplanting the
former king once again.
But then that is
how some react. When they are threatened, they become dangerous. Herod was
both. He told the Magi to make the careful search and report back so that he
too might go and worship the young king. I am not sure what he said directly,
but what he did say was enough for the Magi to apparently buy the plan of
events, until that is, God warns them with a vision. Being foiled didn’t sit
well with Herod. He sets to cast the net to protect his power over the people.
He demands all boys 2 and under to be slaughtered in and around Bethlehem.
Now not only was
Jesus a threat to Herod, though not in the way Herod thought, Jesus was also a
hope. For once, in a long time, the people would have a king that would take
care of them. He would become their source of comfort. No matter how dangerous
the fields look, Jesus said that he would never leave us, never forsake us. He
will see us through the most dangerous of storms. For those in Bethlehem, a storm unspeakable
was about to fall on them.
That is something
we tend to forget as Christians. God never promised us escape from the storms
of life. He promised to see us through. When the boat was tossed to and fro,
Jesus came and calmed the disciples and then he calmed the sea. That is our
life now. You might be going through a rough time financially, or perhaps you
have a relationship that is on the rocks. The news is nothing but dire with
shootings, society falling down into a financial abyss, or perhaps even just a
loneliness that sometimes people are reminded, being that it’s this time of
year. Jesus promised that he would walk with us, to guide us through. We don’t
escape, but our hope is in something deeper than feelings or even facts. Our
hope is on Jesus, our savior. By him, we can call God, papa.
The final lesson
I want to take from here is that when God gives us a mission, He will provide
all that we need. For the family, they had the gold, perfume and spices. All of
which could have been sold to keep the family on the lam for some time. It definitely
saw them to and through Egypt. Now God still does give us all that we need to
carry out the mission today.
No, don’t go
looking for material goods because I am using this analogy. Rather, follow me.
Paul told the Church of Corinth that they had everything they needed to carry
out the mission, which is proclaiming the good news. Today he gives us all that
we need.
It may not be
money. It is, as Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus that the same power God
used to raise Jesus from the dead, that power is now ours. He prayed for that
the church that they might become more aware of what God has gifted them. The
power that raised Jesus from the dead is ours. The same power that Jesus said
could drive a mountain into the sea, yes that is ours. It is this same power
that allows us to draw closer together. It allows us to draw closer to Him. It
changes us to be filled with His grace, His love, and His vision.
For us, for those
who seek God’s face, His favor, I encourage you to take a second look at the
Magi, at all the aspects of Jesus’ birth. Let his love for you and I permeate
and flow through us to those who are lost and hurting. Let us return to the
true purpose of Christmas.
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