People have all kinds of reactions when it comes to the Christmas story; some people love it and look forward to it with anticipation, others can’t have enough of it and prolong the celebration as much as they can, other couldn’t care less about it, and yet some others feel offended by it.

Even some Christians get very upset with Christmas, with what Christmas has become and they resent the consumerism, and the superficiality of everything that it has become... it's a holiday but it can provoke all these kinds of reactions. And what I want to tell you is that this is not something new. The passage we'll look at today gives us a very similar picture of the different responses we have to Christmas and the glorious truths that may help shape our thinking around it.