Researchers have found
that Christmas is one of the most stressful times of the year.
- Cake to make – check
- Cards to write and send - check
- Parties to attend – check.
- Tree and decorations to put up – check
- Shopping to finish – check...
But the first Christmas
was possibly the most stressful of all. Matthew’s account of the nativity
records
- an embarrassing personal predicament
- a family crisis
- a risky journey
- danger from a paranoid serial killer
- bitter tears
- unwanted foreigners
- homelessness
- great uncertainty
I would love to have been there that night in the packed Bethlehem Arms. (Or was it the Bar Mitzvah?)
No doubt there were animated discussions in there about the much-loved politicians
who had arranged this ridiculous international census. Maybe they were playing
darts in the corner (with a picture of Herod or Caesar stuck to the bull’s eye). Perhaps there was a bit of live lyre music in the corner. How unlucky would you
be if you were one of the shepherds on the late shift that cold, clear night
instead of in that warm tavern?
If you had poked your head
through the door, only to find it was a bit crowded for your liking, you would
have heard the same sounds as you hear in any inn, anywhere on earth.
Strange, isn’t it, that as
people enjoyed a nice night out in the pub, putting the world to rights, nobody
guessed that the single greatest event in world history - the thing that would divide
time between BC and AD and really would
put the world to rights - was taking place in the little old shed outside.
But God had made his plans
early for Christmas that year.
- Send beloved Son to save the world – check
- Show Herod what a real king looks like – check
- Fulfil centuries of prophecy – check
- Prove that even in the greatest stressing can come the greatest blessing – check
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