With Christmas approaching I wanted to talk about things surrounding that holy night. There are Christians who think it is wrong to celebrate Christmas. There are several reasons given. One is that we are never told to remember Jesus' birth in the Bible, only His death. Another is that it is celebrated at the wrong time of year.
Well, I want to cover both of those today. While there is not a command given to remember His birth. I think that the fact that so much detail is written about the birth in Scripture, tells me that we ARE to remember. Are we not given the Bible to read, meditate on and study so that we can tell others? I am not sure we can fully cover telling people about Jesus dying without telling HOW He came. After all, if there wasn't a miraculous virgin birth, the dying on the cross as the sacrificial lamb would be pointless. God had the writers tell the story with many small details included. It's the details that make it important. I will look at some of the seen and unseen details later.
Since we don't know the exact day that Jesus was born, I don't think it matters when it is celebrated. It's only important that we celebrate that Jesus came willingly to earth in a humble manner. He came in human flesh to experience all we experience. He came as a baby, needing care and instruction. He had earthly parents whom He was subject to (Luke 2:51). He increased in wisdom and stature (Luke 2:52). He got hungry and thirsty and angry (Mark 11:12, John 19:28, Mark 3:5). He cried (John 11:35). He was tempted as we are but never sinned (Hebrews 2:18, 4:15). He came to suffer and die and rise again to usher in salvation and the mystery of the church age. There would have been no cross without that cradle! Jesus could have come in any way but God's plan, that was prophesied, was that He would come as a baby born to a virgin. I think that we should celebrate Christmas as long as we keep Jesus in the forefront of the season! He came to give the greatest gift ever given...Salvation, a way to be reconciled back to God even though we sin.
Now let's look at some of the unseen details. Mary was told that she would miraculously conceive and give birth to the Son of God. She as far as we know, did not know that He would some day walk on water as the song questions. She knew He was the Messiah but did not know the ins and outs and whens of the sequence of events as she raised Him. She still worried over Him as seen in the story when He went missing after the Passover feast and was found 3 days later in the temple. I love the show The Chosen. It gives such a human vantage point to draw from. One of my favorite episodes and scenes in the show is when Mary is telling the disciples around the campfire about having to wipe Jesus off after the birth. She goes on to tell how she and Joseph thought to themselves "this is the Son of God?" They obviously are in wonderment thinking that Jesus would have come out shiny and new and without any mess because of who He was. Now, we have no Scripture reporting that Mary and Joseph thought these things but I personally can see why they might have. The fact that Jesus came as a baby meant that He would know every aspect of what we humans go through.
Recently, someone shared on Facebook a well written poem or story about how Mary knew she would be with child and it would be the Son of God but that Mary's mother did not know. Her mom did not have an angel come to her as far as we know from Scripture. Only Mary and Joseph got the privilege of an angel coming and telling them. Was Mary's mom supportive or did she think she was telling crazy stories? Did she suspect that Mary did not keep herself pure? How would you have handled it? As a parent, our instinct is to protect and encourage and correct but Mary's story was truly unbelievable. Did her mom face ridicule and judgement right along with Mary? Probably! That's the way people are. They stand in judgement of the parents when a child messes up. Just something to ponder. We will not know this side of heaven but this gives us another aspect of what Mary went through. By the way, Joseph probably also faced ridicule and gossip.
Now, what about the inn keeper? Nope, there is no talk about an inn keeper in the Bible. Guess what! There is talk about how there was no room for them in the inn. An inn is a hotel, a public dwelling place. Therefore, it stands to reason that there was someone in charge of receiving payment from people to stay there. Someone like an inn keeper! That's a no brainer people! Did God foresee that preachers would some day preach about how we should not be like the inn keeper and make room for Jesus? I don't know but it sure makes for good sermons! Can you imagine how that inn keeper may have felt someday down the road about not allowing the Son of God into his inn? I wonder if the man ever knew that Jesus, the Messiah, was put out into the stable? Can you imagine the guilt? Hmm. How often do we fail to make room? How often do we fail to see what God is trying to show us or work out around us?
This is starting to get a little long so I will wrap it up. One Holy Night that forever changed the world! A night that 33 years or so later led to a cross that brought redemption and salvation to mankind! Yep, I will celebrate!
