So This Is What Happened On Christmas

So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

John 1:14 

 

Have you ever contemplated what REALLY happened on Christmas?  A baby was born in a barn, put in a feed trough, and shepherds came to visit... We know that story from Luke's Gospel.  But what REALLY happened?

 

Think about this: When that baby was conceived, Jesus left Heaven!  Did you get that? Jesus walked away from Heaven!  Not only that, but Jesus CHOSE to become one of us . And if THAT weren't enough, Jesus CHOSE to live among us!  Jesus left ALL the glory of Heaven, because Abba knew that we need Him!

 

Let me be brutally honest...If we were living in Heaven (the ONLY Perfect Place anywhere), what would your response be to the people of earth?  We may have "holy thoughts" and believe we would do exactly as Jesus did, but my response would most likely be something along the line of "Y'all are on your own."  

 

Aren't you glad Jesus is the one who made the decision?

 
 

'Tis The Season To Be What?

Then Jesus said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”

Luke 12:15

 

I remember waiting anxiously for the Sears and JC Penney Christmas Catalogs to arrive.  When the postal carrier brought them, I would spend hours looking through the pages showing all the wonderful things available to me for Christmas and I began making my list(s).

 

Then came the words that deflated my list(s) to a couple of line items: "You have a limit of 3 items, and your Dad and I will pick from those three items."  My dreams of a room filled with brightly wrapped gifts just for me faded into a scene that my young mind imagined, a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree in a dark room with dust bunnies under it instead of gifts.  Or worse, to my mind, a Christmas of pajamas and underwear.

 

As I grew older, I have watched year after year the push to BUY, BUY, BUY truckloads of presents.  And I have been disgusted by the incessant display of greed and excess.  I understand more and more what my parents tried to instill in my mind.  And I appreciate it more and more!

 

How many people do you see on Black Friday pushing, shoving and even fighting to get buggies FULL of goodies which will be obsolete within a month after Christmas (when the "New Improved" versions will be advertised)?  Is it truly worth it?

 

When Jesus was born, how was HIS birth celebrated?  With a visit from some shepherds!  Yes, The Wise Men came, but they came THREE YEARS LATER!  Yes, they brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh...but that's the last time we hear of their gifts.  Why?  Because the TRUE gift of Christmas...is Christ!

Consider

Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:2

As we share the Christmas Season with our loved ones, I would ask that you take a moment to consider those for whom the Christmas Season is a painful time.  How could it possibly be a painful time?  Perhaps due to the death of a family member; perhaps because of being new to the area and no friends have been made as yet; perhaps because there are no funds to provide even the basic essentials for their family.

You see, God has blessed each of us and we are to be good stewards of what God has provided.  Consider sharing a bit of your Christmas with someone who isn't so fortunate.  Consider inviting someone who has no family to share with your family.  Consider encouraging and sharing love with those who have family who have died. Consider remind others that the arrival of Christ brings hope, and then share your hope with someone who may be hopeless.  Befriend the person who may not have any friends as yet.

Every person's story is different and every person is in need of something, and it is God's instruction to us to share with others, and in so doing, needs are met.

We are instructed to share each other's burdens.  Therefore, SHARE YOUR CARE!!!
 

All I Want For Christmas is...

Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”

Luke 12:15 

 

We are all familiar of the event known as "Black Friday" where stores open early to allow the public to fight over items at extremely low prices.  We've heard of people getting trampled to death, getting into fist fights, and even mugged in the parking lot.  Let's face it, we like having stuff.  LOTS of stuff.  Even if we don't need it or use it, we still want it!

 

I know several people will understand when I say one of my favorite times of year when I was younger was the day when someone on our street got a new appliance.  Why?  Because we got the box!  That box and our imaginations made for an AWESOME week!

 

I have now reached the age where the thing I look forward to for Christmas are the t-shirts, socks, and underwear.  Because they are practical and I use them almost every day.  

 

As we enter into the Christmas Season, let's remember that the KING of KINGS was born into this world in a feed trough in a barn with nothing to His name except His name.  While some spend their entire lives trying to get more and more, Jesus was content with what He had.  

 

Being content with the things that matter is always better than having lots of stuff and still craving more! 

Merry Christmas

“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among people with whom he is pleased!”

Luke 2:14 

 

Merry Christmas!

What Do You Mean?

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in the time of King Herod, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying, “Where is the one who is born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

Matthew 2:1-2

 

We have a way of thinking that can lead us astray if we aren't careful.  For example, the phrase translated as "wise men" is actually the word "magi" who were royal astrologers, alchemists, magicians, and well versed in philosophy.  

Then there is the traditional thought that there were only 3 Wise Men.  Scripture doesn't say that.  It simply states "Wise Men from the east came to Jerusalem."  And if they were royal Magi, then an entire entourage would have accompanied them, so their caravan would have been pretty substantial.

Finally, they came to Jerusalem to ask King Herod, "Where is the one who is born king of the Jews?" which means they were familiar with the Jewish prophets and Scriptures.  But their purpose for coming is made very clear: "For we saw his star when it rose and HAVE COME TO WORSHIP HIM."  

Remember why we celebrate Christmas.

What Gift Did YOU Give?

They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished

Luke 2:16-18 

While reading today's passage, and having had to deal with some of the traffic on Harbison Boulevard, I had a bit of a re-epiphany.  Re-epiphany is an epiphany that you had before and has smacked you in the noggin' one more time.

Do you know what gifts Jesus got for Christmas?  Shepherds!  That's right, people who smelled like sheep.  You may say, "But Padre, the Bible says the Wisemen came and brought Him gold, frankincense and myrrh."  True, but that occurred about two + years later.  On the first Christmas, Jesus got a visit by a bunch of sheep scented men.  And they were SO impressed that THEY had been chosen to see this child Jesus, that they ran through the streets telling everyone they saw about Him.

Then we look under our Christmas Trees at the stacks and stacks of gifts.  We spend weeks and even months sweating, fighting, and getting frustrated on the safari to gather the gifts for Christmas.  And on Christmas morning, we shred through the wrapping paper in seconds, boxes are torn apart in a few more seconds like a shark feeding frenzy, and then we sweat the bills that will arrive in January.

We may say we remember the True meaning of Christmas, but do we?

It CAN Be Christmas!

“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

~Luke 2:14

 

I don't often copy and paste someone else's work for these devotional, but this one stuck in my mind and I simply felt compelled to share it:

 

On a crisp, clear morning 100 years ago, thousands of British, Belgian and French soldiers put down their rifles, stepped out of their trenches and spent Christmas mingling with their German enemies along the Western front. In the hundred years since, the event has been seen as a kind of miracle, a rare moment of peace just a few months into a war that would eventually claim over 15 million lives. But what actually happened on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day of 1914 — and did they really play soccer on the battlefield?

Pope Benedict XV, who took office that September, had originally called for a Christmas truce, an idea that was officially rejected. Yet it seems the sheer misery of daily life in the cold, wet, dull trenches was enough to motivate troops to initiate the truce on their own — which means that it’s hard to pin down exactly what happened. A huge range of differing oral accounts, diary entries and letters home from those who took part make it virtually impossible to speak of a “typical” Christmas truce as it took place across the Western front. To this day historians continue to disagree over the specifics: no one knows where it began or how it spread, or if, by some curious festive magic, it broke out simultaneously across the trenches. Nevertheless, some two-thirds of troops — about 100,000 people — are believed to have participated in the legendary truce.

Most accounts suggest the truce began with carol singing from the trenches on Christmas Eve, “a beautiful moonlit night, frost on the ground, white almost everywhere”, as Pvt. Albert Moren of the Second Queens Regiment recalled, in a document later rounded up by the New York Times. Graham Williams of the Fifth London Rifle Brigade described it in even greater detail:

“First the Germans would sing one of their carols and then we would sing one of ours, until when we started up ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ the Germans immediately joined in singing the same hymn to the Latin words Adeste Fideles. And I thought, well, this is really a most extraordinary thing ­– two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war.”

The next morning, in some places, German soldiers emerged from their trenches, calling out “Merry Christmas” in English. Allied soldiers came out warily to greet them. In others, Germans held up signs reading “You no shoot, we no shoot.” Over the course of the day, troops exchanged gifts of cigarettes, food, buttons and hats. The Christmas truce also allowed both sides to finally bury their dead comrades, whose bodies had lain for weeks on “no man’s land,” the ground between opposing trenches.
 

 So you see, Christmas is more than just a day off from work to rip open packages that will be forgotten in a few days.  Christmas is the opportunity to make changes to our hearts and lives.  Take time to let this sink in.  Do you need to make changes? 

Then Came The Wise Men

After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

~Matthew 2:9-11

 

Jesus was born in Bethlehem. And Matthew tells us that there came Wise men from the East.  I have always found it interesting that Scripture doesn't tell us specifically that there were THREE Wise Men, just that Wise Men came from the East.  They were astronomers, among other things, and were apparently of some royal or high status due to the the gifts they brought.

 

Now, picture this, these Wise Men, out of courtesy to the local ruler, stopped by Herod's Palace to exchange pleasantries and "Oh, by the way, where can we find the child who is the King of the Jews?".  Imagine you are Herod, current King of the Jews by the permission of the Romans, being told that a NEW King of the Jews has been born.  Herod, was NOT a very nice man.  He killed off any competition for his throne and power, even his own sons!  And now these three Princes from another land are asking for directions to see the new king.

 

Herod, being the devious psychopath that he was, told these Wise Men to go to Bethlehem (where the Scriptures had foretold Jesus would be born), and find this new king.  Herod asked them to come back and tell him where they found this new child-king so he (Herod) could go an "worship" Him as well.  Herod's a sneaky one!

 

But the Wise Men follow the star to the place where Jesus was and they brought expensive and precious gifts.  Now...Let's take a look at these gifts, shall we?

 

     * Gold - monetary. Uncommon to be had by common folk like a carpenter and his wife.  Gold  represented Kingship (Kings, after all, had most of their ornamental vestments made of gold).  So we can say the Wise Men were recognizing the Kingship of Christ. 

     * Frankincense - a very aromatic Incense used by Priests when conducting their holy duties.  It was used by the priests when they made sacrifices and it was used to fill the Holy of Holies with sweet aroma for God to breathe.  

 

     * Myrrh - the oil of the Commiphora family of trees.  The oil was difficult to obtain because the trees were armed with thorns which were strong like nails and sharp as porcupine quills.  But the oil was SO precious that it was used for Anointing that which is Holy.  When a King was anointed Myrrh Oil was used. Priests used Myrrh Oil to anoint the Holy Seat of God.

 

So these Wise Men were not only wealthy Princes who came to pay homage to the King of Kings, they were also shrewd enough to see through Herod's politics and they went home without telling Herod where they found Jesus.  

 

Let me ask you...what do you bring to offer to the King of Kings? 

Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.

Luke 2:16-20 

 

Remember the stunned shepherds?  They made their way into Jerusalem and found the child that the angel told them would be there.  In case you were wondering, "Manger" is another word for "feed trough."  It's where the hay was put so the animals could eat.  This is the lowly start of our Messiah.  Think about this, had Jesus been born in a palace with a silver spoon and all the trappings of immense wealth, people would have followed Him hoping for a hand out.  But because Jesus was born in such low circumstances, people followed His message instead of His money.

 

When the Shepherds had seen the promised Messiah child, they went back to the fields to their flocks and they told whoever would listen about what they had seen.  They shared the Good News AS THEY WERE GOING!  Reminiscent of the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19: "Therefore, as you are going, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."

 

And guess what?  The shepherds returned to their flocks.  Apparently, their flocks had not moved and no predators came to steal any of the sheep! 

Don't Be Afraid!

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

~Luke 2:8-12 

As we prepare our hearts for Christmas, I thought I would be "Orthodox" and use this week to discuss the Christmas story, but be Unorthodox in looking at it from outside the box, so to speak, and in no particular order.  So grab some coffee and let's begin.

Imagine you are a shepherd.  Your job is to care for the sheep.  The owner of the flock has charged you with their care.  This means you will live with the sheep, take them to food and water, you will protect them, because if you lose even one, YOU will have to pay and pay dearly.  So you live with the sheep.  You bathe with the sheep.  You eat when they eat.  When they sleep, you must be alert (because the predators become brave in the dark).  Being a shepherd is not exactly what one would call a "glamorous" profession.  After all, shepherds would not be the ones you would invite to dinner or to a company party because, let's face it, they smell like sheep.

Now remember you are a shepherd and the sheep have bedded down for the night.  It's your team's turn to keep watch.  About midway through your watch, when the night is at its most quiet and you feel yourself fading into that twilight phase between awake and asleep.  Then suddenly there's a bright light right in front of you.  Then you realize that there's a human looking shape that's glowing so brightly.  Having never seen anything like this before, you aren't sure how to react.  This is when Freeze, Fight or Flight kicks in, except you realize that you are SO terrified that you cannot move.

In the middle of your mind reaching explosion phase and your heart is just about to stop, you hear a soothing voice tell you: "Don't be afraid.  I have come to give you some GOOD news."

Now.....fast forward a couple of thousand years.....I am in Basic Training in a foxhole keeping watch by night.  Our Drill Sergeants have already taken the opportunity to sneak in and take the weapons from several of the sleeping sentries.  I am determined I'm not going to be among them, so I do everything I can to stay away while my buddy gets a few hours sleep.  Then I hear it!  The distinctive silence of the absence of the crickets' chirping, this was followed a few seconds later by the clear crack of a twig being stepped on.  I can almost hear my heart pounding in my ears as I call out the challenge.  Then I see a bright light coming at me.....   One of the Drill Sergeants, realizing he'd been heard, came charging with his massive flashlight shining in my face.  I had just enough time to yell to my buddy and get three shots off (blank rounds) before I heard the Drill Sergeant laughing and telling me "It's okay Private, you did good."  He told me that the terrified look on my face was far too funny.  I looked to my buddy, but only saw an empty space where he had been.  My buddy had run off into the woods!    

Can you even imagine how mortified the shepherds were when this radiant being just appears and tells them "Don't be afraid"?  When you are upset, how do you feel when someone (well meaning though they may be) says "Just calm down"?  Is it going to calm you down?  

Then the angel tells the shepherds that he has some GOOD news for them.  Okay.....fear is calming....something good is coming.  THEN the angel tells them that the prophecy of the Savior has been fulfilled and gives them directions on where to find Him.  

So let me ask you...when God tells you, "Don't worry. Don't be afraid. I've got you."  What is the reaction we have?  Freeze, Flight, Fright.......or Faith?