Greetings to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends around the world on this Christmas weekend, 2022.
Finally, our 30-day journey has arrived at Christmas! I hope you’ll be able to make the choices that will fill your weekend with JESUS! Amazingly, all around the world, many churches have chosen to CLOSE on Sunday Christmas Day!! Not because of threat by terrorists or government opposition to Christianity, but from what I understand, mostly ‘convenience’ for those who serve so worship services can happen, and the assumption that most people who might come to Sunday church will prioritize being home with their friends and families opening presents and enjoying food together. May I ask, if you had the chance today to stand in heaven right beside the resurrected Jesus, surrounded by the angels, with perhaps Gabriel standing right over there, how do you think heaven is responding to Christmas Day 2022?
The story of the remarkable events of that first Christmas are only detailed in one place in the Bible. Luke 2:1-20. The Bible is comprised of millions of words, thousands of sentences, hundreds of chapters, 66 books, but less than 20 verses tell us what happened in Bethlehem and out in the shepherd fields that Christmas day! Now ponder that for a moment! Would you agree that this day is among the most significant of all days for our human race? Why? What happened this day that changed the course of our human race, that made eternity in heaven with Jesus a possibility?
I presume you know the Christmas story well. Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem while she was very pregnant, after several days traveling on foot from Nazareth. They found no available place to stay that night. That tells me they knew no one in Bethlehem for hospitality is a very high value in the Jewish community. Or there was simply no available bed in any home anywhere in Bethlehem. The Bible tells us nothing about their attitudes that night, but if you’ve born children or have been around very pregnant women who believe it could be any time, you know the anxiety about a safe and sanitary delivery. For those of you men who are dads, do you remember what you felt, especially when it was time for your firstborn to be born? There was nothing, absolutely nothing Joseph could do.
An animal stable… really? What do you suppose Joseph was murmuring under his breath? What were Mary’s expectations? Was she looking around for the angel Gabriel to visit again and do something about this terrible situation? Did Mary feel betrayed? She had said to Gabriel, “I am the Lord’s servant. Be it unto me as you have said.” (Luke 1:38) From that moment to this, for dear Mary, there had been very few joyful moments for her in the Christmas story. Each and every day for Mary was a test of her faith in God.
We have no record anyone helped Joseph that night. Did he make a bed of straw? Did he at least find some water and cloths to help Mary? This was Mary’s first baby, and she was a young girl, perhaps only 15 or 16 years old or so. No midwife, no nurse, no doctor, not even her own mother at her side holding her hand and coaching her through her contractions… only frightened Joseph.
While Christmas card pictures are pretty, this was not a pretty sight or experience. Smelly animals and we can safely assume, manure and probably flies. Animals and manure always attract flies. Let’s just find a spot in this stable to watch and listen, history is happening here. Maybe I should say HISstory is happening here! God who made everything, including Joseph and Mary, is coming to be born in a normal looking human baby boy, in an animal stable in overcrowded, noisy Bethlehem. WHY? Why here, why now?
Galatians 4:4 says, “When the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” It means in the mind of God… that day, that overcrowded place, that dirty, smelly animal stable was exactly the RIGHT time and place for the Son of God to make His transition from His glorious heaven to messy planet earth. From being surrounded by angels and perfection to being surrounded by dirty, smelly, selfish, sinful humanity. WHY? Because it was the ONLY way God could take on a human body, live a human life and go the cross to pay the sin death penalty for all humanity. Because it was the beginning of Jesus experiencing EVERY human experience, yet He never sinned, so He could be a perfect atonement sacrifice for our sin.
How long had Joseph and Mary been in Bethlehem when her contractions began. An hour, a day or two? We don’t know. Nor do we know how long they had after Jesus breathed His first breath as a human baby, before their quiet stable delivery room was suddenly interrupted by shepherds. The story they told was remarkable… an angel suddenly penetrating the darkness with his brilliant light. Joseph and Mary looked at each other, they understood a visit from an angel. A message that would shock anyone, anywhere: “Do not be afraid! I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. Today, in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: you will find the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10)
These shepherds understood. They raised lambs and they watched carefully each time an ewe was giving birth. Perfect lambs were needed for sacrifices in the Jerusalem Temple, and they were very valuable. As soon as the lamb was birthed, with cloths they’d carefully wipe it clean from the birth process and slowly inspected every part of that lamb, looking for any blemish. If no blemish was found that precious, perfect lamb was wrapped in cloths to protect it from anything that might harm it. If the shepherds were fortunate enough to be in a place where a feeding trough, a manger was available, that newborn lamb was placed there for safety. The shepherds looked at each other. For a newborn child to be wrapped and placed in a manger like a spotless lamb, that would mean the baby was born among the animals rather than a house? What type of family would give birth like that?
But then suddenly, the shepherds reported, a huge crowd of angels hovered over them illuminating the night sky and shattering the quiet of the wide-open fields with their praise and their announcement: “Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, PEACE to those on whom God’s favor rests.” (Luke 2:14) And then suddenly they were gone, leaving us to decide what to do. The shepherds likely said to Joseph and Mary. “We’ve come, as quickly as we could. We’ve come to see for ourselves…who are you? Why are you here in Bethlehem and why have you placed your baby in this manger, wrapped in cloths as we do with our precious, spotless lambs? What will you name him and who do you think this child will become?’ Can you imagine the conversations, my friends, the quiet moments of simply crouching around the manger to stare at the baby?
We have no record of what Joseph and Mary told those shepherds, we only have this statement of what the shepherds did next: “When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told 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)
I invite us to stay here, in this stable or out there in the fields with the shepherds, as long as you can this weekend, my friends. Don’t let the busyness and the noise of our world this Christmas 2022 in any way diminish the wonder, the spiritual mystery of Christmas as it really happened. Don’t miss all that it really means. And above all, don’t miss the chance God has given you this weekend to worship HIM… over and over and over. Alone, with your family, in a large church, out in a field looking up at the night sky, or holding a newborn baby… experience God’s Christmas this weekend my friends, and here’s a song to help you:
Today’s Scripture is Luke 2:1-20.
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 262.441.8785
“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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