“The Real Christmas Story”

My friend Calvin Miller did devotions and commentary for The Celebrate Jesus Millennium Commemorative Edition Bible.  He autographed my copy with these words, “Bobby- How marvelous that God has made us friends.” Dr. Miller has gone to be with the Lord, and I miss him.  Brother Ed Vines of Forest Hill in Linden gave me a cane with a carving of a bearded man at the top.  I told Ed that I named it Calvin because it looks like Calvin Miller.  When I walk with the cane, it reminds me that I studied under this Baptist Giant and symbolically he walks with me when I use the cane.  Dr. Miller told me that I needed to write.  I remember telling him I struggle to write.  He told me I was good writer and to write.

I love stories and Christmas is a great time for sharing stories such as this one.

On a clear night’s sky, the shepherds were watching over their flocks.  Joseph and Mary were lying comfortably next to Jesus on a bed of straw in the peaceful town of Bethlehem, a suburb of the big city of Jerusalem.  The animals peacefully strolled around, and the world was full of joy... and... that is Christmas stuff.

 

The real Christmas story is:  On a very hectic and troubled night, a miracle happened.  The Messiah entered a world of terrible political unrest.  People hated and did not trust politicians who were quite corrupt.  There were moves to throw them out of Jerusalem.  Overspending by big government created huge taxes.  The average wage earner could not keep a decent standard of living.  Religious institutions were getting more and more involved with politics instead of meeting spiritual needs of people.  Divorce was a common problem, almost at the fifty percent mark.  Abortion was common with babies often seen floating through open sewer lines.  The court system was corrupt; criminals were constantly going free on technicalities.  Nations were constantly redrawing their boundaries; there was a nervous peace around the world.  The educated were denying miracles and the supernatural.  They believed science and technology were the best hopes for mankind and the future.  The disparity between the rich and poor was getting greater and greater all the time.  Even the healthy religious people were losing hope in the Messiah.  For hundreds of years, they had been told that the Messiah would come.  In all this God makes His appearance in human flesh.  The Angel of Lord told the shepherds that the Messiah had come.  They would find him as a baby lying in a manger.

 

For some, merriment, cheer, jing jing jingling and fa la la la la are light years away as they struggle with heaviness in their lives.   Straining under the load of sickness, or keenly felt grief because of death, or trying to escape the fog of depression or the trap of financial deficiency, or the pressure of a chew-you-up-and-spit-you-out kind church members.  Hope comes when God’s people share the Good News, which the Angel conveyed to the shepherds.

Day 355 of Dr. Miller’s devotion begins: “God likes to do some things better than others.  We see him in the punishment business so often; we feel that is what he gets his kicks from.  Punishment is not God’s core business.  God is in the business of saving people.  He showed that when he sent a little baby to Bethlehem and said he would save his people from their sins.”

God is the God of little things, little places, and little children.  Can you imagine the surprise when Herod heard that God picked a little city called Bethlehem, a one camel town to be the place for the birth of a King?

To top that, Herod got the information from people we know today as Iranian or Iraqi.  Most of us are offended when we did not receive an invitation to a Christmas gala.  Imagine Herod’s surprise when he didn’t get the birth announcement for a great king.  Great works of God rarely start in big places.  They start in small places.

A small event in Nazareth came when the world was engulfed in turmoil.

As disturbing and troubling events unfold this Christmas, look for God working in little things.  Christmas is about gifts, but the Gift of eternal life found in Jesus, the King from a one camel town.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."   When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.  When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: "`But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.' "

(Matthew 2:1-6 KJV)