Good Christmas weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
During this weekend, all around the world, what we know as “The Christmas story” will be told, read, sung, dramatized and in so many other ways celebrated, hundreds of millions of times! I wonder which part of this 2000-year-old story is your favorite part? In the past 50 years, on this Christmas weekend, Israel would normally be filled to overflowing with thousands of visitors from all around the world, most of them planning a visit to Bethlehem this weekend if possible.
But not this year of 2023.
Israel hotels are empty due to the Hamas war. Tensions are very high in Bethlehem, Jerusalem and most everywhere in Israel. Thousands of people have died in Israel, especially in the ‘Gaza Strip’, since October 7th and many will probably die this weekend. What a dramatic contrast with that first, famous, Biblical, Christmas night!
The record tells us angels appeared in the night sky proclaiming to shepherds in the quiet fields outside Bethlehem: “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today, in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you, He is Christ (Messiah) the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger’. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth PEACE to those on whom His favor rests.” (Luke 2:10-14)
2000 years ago, that little village Bethlehem was, on that miraculous night, anything but peaceful and certainly not a quiet little village. It was noisy, maybe even raucous place! Why? Little Bethlehem was overflowing with visitors, do you remember why? The territory of Israel then was part of the huge Roman Empire and the Ceasar, the most powerful man in the world at the time, had declared a census, at least for the Israel region of the Empire.
Why a census? Simple… Rome needed money and this new census would require additional taxes to be paid by all people living in that part of the empire! An imposed census would mean angry people, gruff soldiers keeping order, frustration and probably lots of shouting and maybe even some fights! It shouldn’t be hard for us to imagine what Joseph and Mary walked into that day as they finally arrived in Bethlehem after several days, perhaps as long as a week, of travel on foot from Nazareth. Have you ever found yourself frightened by a crowd of angry people on the verge of getting out of control?
You’ll remember an important part of the Christmas story is the word ‘NO’! That’s the word Joseph heard at every door where he sought a place for his pregnant wife to sleep in busy, overcrowded Bethlehem. That’s why they ended up with the animals in a stable of all places! (Luke 2:1-7) I think it’s time I ask an important Christmas question: how do we respond, with our emotions, attitudes and actions, when we feel God has disappointed us, God has not met our expectations?
I imagine both Joseph and Mary EXPECTED that the least God would do is provide them a fairly comfortable place to sleep in Bethlehem, considering all they had done to obey God in this outrageous Christmas plan! But “NO”, God did not provide a comfortable place, not even a shared bed in an overcrowded inn. Joseph had to figure out how to make a maternity bed for dear wife Mary in a stable of animals, and let’s be honest, probably animal dung. And young Mary, maybe only 16 years old, needed to deal with her fears as her birth contractions started in a smelly animal stable!
Why, my friends, WHY? Well, the Bible doesn’t exactly tell us why Mary’s miracle Baby was born in a smelly stable in an overcrowded, noisy Bethlehem. Maybe it was so Joseph, Mary and God could have this very special experience alone together, undisturbed by the noisy crowds in Bethlehem that night? Maybe it was so the shepherds could find them. Do you remember when the angels had announced the birth of the Savior in the town of David, they gave only one hint as to how the shepherds could find him: “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12) The manger was a feeding trough for animals, found only in a place where animals would be kept overnight. Animals needing feed and safety overnight would be behind the inns where travelers would stay.
After the sky went dark again that night, when the angels disappeared, how long did it take before these stunned shepherds could think clearly enough to make a plan for responding to that shocking experience. The record says they were terrified by the sight and sound of angels speaking to them in their language and the almost unbelievable message! I can’t blame them, can you? (Luke 2:9)
Yet in their fright the record says: “When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the LORD has told us about.'” (Luke 2:15) I love their confidence that it was true! I love their courage, that regardless of what else they might find or experience in overcrowded Bethlehem, they would not be denied the privilege of discovering what the angels had announced! “So they hurried off and found Mary, Joseph, and the Baby lying in the manger.” (Luke 2:16)
How many shepherds came to the stable that night? What did they say to Joseph and Mary? Did they ask to hold the Baby? How long did they stay? Of course, God gives us none of those details. We only know that: “When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told to them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” (Luke 2:17-20)
I’ve often wondered who the shepherds told about their remarkable experience? Maybe some of the travelers in overcrowded Bethlehem? If so, it appears no one cared, for we have no record that anyone else came to the stable searching for Jesus. I think, for the rest of their lives these shepherds told their amazing story to their kids and grandkids, but also to other shepherds and anyone who understood the lonely life of a shepherd. Think about it… the angels, sent by God from heaven to planet earth, only made their announcement to one, small group of insignificant, nameless people… shepherds, watching their smelly sheep at night out on the Bethlehem plains.
It’s a picture with a powerful message, isn’t it my friends? God cares about every person, in every place, and on this Christmas weekend, God’s greatest desire is that the message the angels announced would be true for every living person in our world... That Jesus Christ would be recognized and honored as the ONLY Savior from our sin; and that God would be greatly glorified in every aspect of our lives; and that we would experience profound, deep PEACE as God’s favor rests upon us!
Now I urge us all to do what Mary did that night after the shepherds left the stable: “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” What does it all mean? How did our world change that night in that stable in Bethlehem? How is your life and mine different because of what the shepherds discovered when they came seeking what the angels had announced to them? Here’s a Christmas worship song to help us ponder that…
Today’s Scripture is Luke 2:8-20.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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