THE MAGI’S RESPONSE

“After [the Magi] had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the Child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts…” (Matthew 2:9-11 NIV)

They bowed down and worshipped Him. The Magi chose not to resist, not to ignore, but to worship. In fact, they had been choosing to worship Jesus ever since they saw that star in the east and started their trek towards Jerusalem and then the short distance on to Bethlehem. They’d been worshipping Him by giving Him their time, by giving Him their energy and, finally, by giving Him their wealth. That’s what worship is – giving your all, your life, to Jesus as you put your wallet, your calendar and your mind at His disposal.

These Magi knew the King of the Jews had been born. They sensed He was the divine Shepard-Ruler. They had a decision to make. Resist or ignore Jesus, or worship Him? Resist or ignore Jesus, or let Him be the Captain of their fates and the Master of their souls, and discover lasting strength security, and peace, on into eternity and death?

They worshipped Him.

And they found joy -- heart-swelling, deep down, spring-in-your-step joy… The Magi finish the first Christmas heading home, back to normality, with a new meaning and a new feeling – with joy that lasts, and that will never end. 

-- Carl Laferton in “Rescuing Christmas: The Search for Joy that Lasts”

#6019

THE SHEPERDS’ RESPONSE

“Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!’ So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.’ And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.” (Luke 2:8-20 NKJV)

The greatest brightness of the whole birth narrative comes in the shepherds' response. You see, had the shepherds only heard the message and gone back to sheep tending, we would think they were foolish. Had they found a baby and then gone home with a satisfied knowledge, we might consider them extremely fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time. Yet, what they did was greater. They proceeded to tell everyone around them, everywhere they could go, what they had heard and seen; and then they praised and glorified God for it all. The shepherds took on the role of the angels themselves, new messengers of salvation and good news; and in doing so, they extended the light of God's loving Word far beyond where it might have gone otherwise that night. The light of this news, this new day, was carried far and wide; and all who heard it were amazed and still are.

As we hear the shepherds' story, we find our task as the followers of Christ this Christmas. That is, we are called to bear the light of the news of the coming of Christ to this world, to carry the brightness of this gospel… The extent of this light is only limited by our self-limitation and unwillingness to share the message, or lack of faith in believing that the message is that profound, that world-changing… Who do you know who needs the light of Christ's love offered to him or her? 

-- Randy Cross in “Born to Save: An Advent Study Based on the Revised Common Lectionary” 

#6018

NO ROOM IN THE INN

Five little words in the Gospel of Luke say it all: "No Room in the Inn."

There is a certain pathos in those words. "No room for You here." That was the beginning of the Master's life. That was the very first thing the world said to Jesus Christ, and that experience would plague Him the remainder of His days on this earth, and, indeed, even to this present moment. "No room! We're just too crowded! Sorry, we're full up! No vacancy! Try again some other time. No room for You here right now. So, if you'll please excuse me, I've got a million and one things to see about. It's too bad, but there's just no room!"…

Harry Emerson Fosdick once put it like this: "The crucial difficulty of Christ's life which denied Him the service He longed to render, closed to Him the hearts He longed to change and brought Him at last to Calvary...was something so simple, so familiar, so little recognized as a tragic evil -- so universal among us all, that one almost hesitates to name it -- inhospitality. No Room!"

Let's be honest now. Isn't that our problem? Yours and mine? We get so busy, so tired, so preoccupied with the incessant demands on our crowded lives that we shut out the very birth of the Master we so long to know…

Won't you let Him in this Christmas? Won't you offer Him your warmest hospitality? Won't you welcome Him into your life this year with open arms? Won't you receive Him into your life as never before? Won't you make room for Him? 

-- Rev. Dr. James W. Moore 

#5758

GOD’S WIDE EMBRACE

“God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus,
He came to love, heal, and forgive;
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.”  (Bill and Gloria Gaither)

God, in Christ, embraces all the events and all the people who ever will pass before Him in the march of time. In that broad panorama, individual Christians may often feel so insignificant that they wonder to themselves whether or not even the most powerful microscope could find them! At those moments we need to rediscover the truth that God entered human history in the person of Jesus Christ in order to tie the poor threads of our scrap of time back into eternity. God's wide embrace includes you and me, for it was the lost of this world that God sent Jesus so that we and our moment of history's stage might be redeemed. You are locked into the embrace of God, an embrace that will never fail. In Jesus Christ, God said, "I love you. You are Mine." 

-- Paul K. Peterson in “Redeeming Love”

#5748

SUCH GOOD NEWS

“And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.’”  (Luke 2:10-11 ESV)

Christmas holds the key to unlocking the deepest mysteries of our lives: Who we are, where did we come from, is there meaning to our lives, and where are we going? Granted, we focus at this time on the birth of Jesus, on the exchange of gifts, and the place of joy and triumph even when days are dark and foreboding. But the enormous truth of Christmas rests in the revelation of God’s self to humankind. At last we can talk about God in terms we understand, human terms. Because of Jesus, we can make sense of our lives and understand more fully who we are and where we are going…

When Jesus appears as revealer of this transcendent God, God becomes near, loving, and approachable. Now we know that God understand us and that we can begin to understand God. The birth of Jesus allows an experience of God with us and within us. While Moses was told not to look on the face of God (Exodus 33), Jesus said that we see God when we see Jesus (John 14). The great mystery of God unfolds in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Now we know who we are – God’s beloved children (John 1:12-13); to whom we belong – our faithful Redeemer; and where we are going in our journey of life – to a place prepared for us. (John 14:1-4) Thus the Christmas story is such good news. 

-- Excerpted from “A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God” by Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck

#5501