Sunday December 25 – Bethlehem

Every Christmas I would spend it with my mom and her parents and sister. It meant a nice meal and stockings and presents. It also meant an entire day spent with the grands. I never saw my dad on Christmas day. I would spend Christmas Eve with him at a midnight service at his little church. We would eat before that, and exchange presents. I would call him later in the day on Christmas. With his family all in Colorado, I remember feeling sad for my dad. He was alone on Christmas.

I mentioned that to him once when I was in high school. I told him how I felt sorry for him being alone on Christmas. He mentioned that he always had someplace to eat lunch, as a family from his church would invite him over for lunch. He told me about how they reached out to him and invited a few folks from his church who were in similar situations to my dad, so he didn’t feel like some third wheel. Plus, he did get to spend time with his sons all day on Christmas Eve and that was essentially his Christmas. He also had long phone conversations with his mom and brother.

He then reminded me again of a lesson that many people in my life would be sure to mention. Christmas was more than that stuff. He took significant time to rest, reflect, sip some good coffee, and consider what God had truly done for him and for the world at Christmas. He would spend time in the afternoon preparing a Christmas dinner with the Salvation Army, a group he was affiliated with his entire adult life (I had been stationed with dad outside the Boys Market ringing the bell by the red kettle). He said because God was with him and was more on his mind on Christmas than on any other day, he never felt less alone. And he chided me lightly for feeling pity for him on what he called his “best soul day” of the year. He said that there are a lot of people crowded by family and at the bottom of a pile of wrapping paper who never once think about God on Christmas. All things considered, he would rather be in solitude in the presence of God.

That thought comforted me and still does. Take some time today and let the Lord guide your thoughts and sit in God’s presence, getting rest and strengthening your appreciation for what God did for you.

Born In Bethlehem: The Messiah would be called God’s Son.

Psalm 2:7 I will declare the Lord’s decree. He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.”

When one reads the second Psalm, the covenant God made with David provides the background. God describes the relationship to the Davidic kings in terms of sonship. This designation would have provided and imbued these kings with a special power and privilege as well as a deep responsibility to mediate justice to God’s people and to lead and model God’s righteousness in the way of true, biblical faith.

In that covenant made with David was a provision that David’s line would last eternally. A son of David would reign forever. Psalm 2 is a reminder of this and also points us to the Messiah to come. The Messiah would be both a son of David and the Son of God. In fact, several times Jesus is called Son of David and Jesus never objects to that title. But Jesus does not refer to David as “father” or Abraham or Moses or Elijah or Isaiah as “father.” He refers to God as His Father and that claim gets Jesus into hot water with eh religious leader. Claiming to be God’s Son is claiming divinity.

And yet, those claims are true. Jesus was God’s Son who was born in Bethlehem. As you consider Christmas, while you look at that Christmas nativity set on your table, consider the One who is not represented by a figurine but was certainly there at the manger. God the Father was there when Jesus the Son of God was born. We reflect on angels singing praises. We think about a star that led magi. God sent messages to Mary, Joseph, Zechariah, the magi, the shepherds about the birth of the Son of God. God was very present. Reflect on that beautiful promise that the Father sent the Son, born for us, given to us, to save us from our sins.

Think back through these nearly thirty prophecies fulfilled in the story surrounding Jesus’s birth. Christmas is so much more than just our trees, stockings, gatherings and songs. Advent prepares our hearts to the future hope to come with the second coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. This beautiful story recalibrates our hearts to the promised life to come in Him.

And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Mark 1:11

Heavenly Father, thank you for this journey that began in the Garden of Eden, progressed through Haran, the promised land, Egypt, Judea, Jerusalem, Babylon and then Bethlehem. Thank you for Your Son Jesus, our hope, our peace, and our light. Your gracious love was the greatest gift to us, personified in Jesus Christ. Thank you for this day in which we remember, we celebrate, and we reflect upon what Jesus did and who Jesus is. Keep our eyes and our hearts looking ahead to His second advent. In Jesus’s Name I pray, Amen.