Christmas is a really fun time of year. It is also a very stressful time of year. I dont know that day and month that Jesus was born in reality but it too was a stressful time. The emperor, Augustus, had decreed that a census be taken. These days, when a census was to be taken, people show up at your door and ask questions. Augustus decided to have the people come to the census takers. I dont know how accurate this census was. I think I would have opted to stay home and catch the game on TV. A lot of people did actually show up and when Joseph arrived in town to do his duty as a Roman/Jew, there was no place to stay. Joseph probably wouldnt have minded camping out somewhere and roughing it for a day or two but he had a very pregnant wife with him. When a very pregnant woman says to her husband, “Joey, honey, find us a place to stay. Im feeling very tired, ” she means for her husband to interpret one more little word to that request...NOW. Poor old Joseph didnt have Expedia to log in to and book a room. He had to trudge from building to building until the realization came to him that there were no rooms left in the Hilton, the Sheraton and even the Motel 6 was packed. Bethlehem was packed and there wasnt room for more. Joseph was finally reduced to just laying it all out there and telling the innkeeper, “Listen, I have got to find someplace to stay. Isnt there something you can do?” So Joseph and Mary settled into the stable. It was probably not as noisy as the rooms in the inn and it definitely had a different aroma. It had to be kind of comical as they made the stable their home away from home. “Hey, Mary! Its not so bad, right?” Jesus was born into the busiest time of the year in a town bursting at the seams. No one in Bethlehem stopped what they were doing to mark the occasion. No one stood up and shouted, “Christ the Lord is born today!” So I celebrate his birth in the busiest time of the year, a holiday named after him, a holiday thriving with activity and celebration. Santa, elves, Christmas trees, lights, presents, stockings, all sorts of things say it is Christmas. But it is very easy to allow the busy season to completely go by and never once proclaim that Jesus Christ was born. All of the myths and fiction and the pressure to visit every single family member and to take part in every form of merriment we can find to easily push aside the reason for the season. What Jesus did for us is real. It isnt like the story of Rudolph or Frosty or even good ole George Bailey. It is real. Jesus left the splendor of heaven and was born to a teenage mother that was taking refuge in a stable. Yesterday, our pastor challenged us to downsize Christmas. He didnt say to minimize its value. In fact, cutting away some of the cheap ornaments and tinsel will only make Jesus part in this Christmas season greater. The Christmas season should last all year long. Thats great, in theory, but humans are remarkably incapable of remembering what is important. We need reminders. We need our focus readjusted. Christmas isnt about putting more lights on the house than anyone else in the neighborhood. If you want to do that, theres nothing wrong with that as long as Jesus is the reason for it. There is a message to Christmas. It is a proclamation of hope. There is a gift we can all give that costs us nothing. It is to share this message of hope. Merry Christmas. Christ the Lord is born! Luke 2:10 ...but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 12:06:05 +0000