Christmas Eve

The Birth of Jesus

2 ^1-5 About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.

^6-7 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

An Event for Everyone

^8-12 There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”

^13-14 At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises:

Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

^15-18 As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. “Let’s get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us.” They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.

^19-20 Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they’d been told!

Luke 2 The Message (MSG)

Christmas Eve:

It’s Christmas Eve; we all travel to Bethlehem. On Christmas Eve, we join Mary and Joseph as they study the face of their new son.  As the final candle on our Advent Wreath--the Christ candle--is lit, we relive this story together.

It is a story you know it by heart—how the whole town was clogged with travelers, none of whom was there by choice.  The emperor wanted them all counted and taxed and he could have cared less where they slept.  That was their problem, not his.

Joseph and Mary got a stall instead of a room, which was not as bad as we sometimes make it out to be, but still, not an ideal situation.  With luck, they also got a pitchfork and a wheelbarrow.  We know they got a feed trough, because that was where they laid their treasure, and that is when the picture was taken—right then, while the star was still overhead and the angels were still singing in the rafters.

But twenty minutes later, what?  The hole in the heavens had closed up and the only music came from the bar at the inn.  One of the cows stepped on a chicken and the resulting racket made the baby cry.  As she leaned over to pick him up, Mary started crying too. When Joseph tried to comfort her she told him she wanted her mother.

They both hurt all over and there was nothing to eat and it was cold as the dickens, but you know what?  God was still there, right in the middle of the picture.  Peace was there, and joy, and love—not only in the best of times but also and especially in the worst of times—because during those times there could be no mistake about who was responsible.

It was God-With-Us.  Not the God-Up-There somewhere who answers our prayers by lifting us out of our lives, but the God who comes to us in the midst of them—however far from home we are, however, less than ideal our circumstances, however much or little our lives reflect the Christmas cards we send.  That is where God is born, just there, in any cradle we will offer him, on any pile of straw we will pat together with our hands.

Any of us who have prayed to be transported into God’s presence this Christmas will get our wish—only not, perhaps, in the way we had thought. None of heaven’s escalators are going up tonight.  Everybody up there is coming down tonight, right here, right into our own Bethlehem, bringing us the God who has decided to make his home in our arms.

You are cordially invited to a special Christmas Day blog post tomorrow!

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