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December 24, 2008
“Adjusting the Scene”
Luke 2: 1-20
Christmas Eve, 2008
This Evening as you prepare to take the Lord’s supper and as you prepare to participate in your Christmas festivities I would invite you to think on the Nativity scenes you have seen lately. I will be able to describe the typical Nativity set or scene to you rather well because my wife has her collection of Nativities displayed in our home.
First, I would like you to think about the Setting. Sometimes the nativity figures are displayed in a 3 sided structure that appears to be a stable or a barn. Sometimes it appears to be a little church.
The real nativity took place in Bethlehem and as far as we know it was in a cave that was used as a stable.
Joseph and Mary did not live in Bethlehem. They had come there for a rather unpleasant purpose. The Roman Emperor had required that all people return to the towns their families had come from to register for a census. This census probably was to place people on the tax rolls. In other words, Joseph had to go over 70 miles on foot to Bethlehem to sign up to pay taxes to the Roman Empire. I’m sure he was just as thrilled about it as we are to be put on more tax rolls.
Joseph took Mary along because he wanted to protect her from people who misunderstood what was happening in her life. She was about to have a baby. She and Joseph had not been married very long. Most everybody in their village would have known that Mary became pregnant before her marriage to Joseph. In fact, Luke says she was still engaged to Joseph.
Joseph seems to have been afraid that she would get no help in childbirth if he was not with her, so he took her along.
When they arrived in Bethlehem there was no room in the inn, so they stayed in the cave out back where the animals were housed. Since the inn was full of people, the cave probably had a lot of animals in it. Much more than you have in any of your nativity sets at home. This stable was crowded. And odiferous.
While they were in that crowded smelly cave, the Son of God was born to Mary. They wrapped him up and put him in the feeding trough. There they were; Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus, and lots of animals.
Your nativity set probably has an angel hovering somewhere. There is no mention in the bible of angels being seen in the cave. Shepherds saw and heard Angels out on the hill nearby, but not in the cave.
Your nativity set probably has wisemen, the Magi. They came later, but not on the day or night of his birth.
Your nativity set has Shepherds. Alright, there were shepherds there in the cave. They had been invited by the angels. But I wonder how Joseph and Mary felt about their being there. The last thing new parents usually want just after the birth of a child is a room full of strangers. Even a roomful of family members can be a bit overwhelming immediately after the birth of a child.
So there they were, Mary Joseph and the baby Jesus, in a cave full of animals and strangers.
What a strange nativity scene. But scenes don’t convey the words that were spoken. The shepherds talked about the things the angels had sung and said about this baby. And Joseph and Mary could confirm what the Shepherds said. Mary and Joseph had also been talked to by angels about Jesus.
The real first Christmas was not quite the way we like to envision it. Joseph and Mary probably felt that all the powers of the universe were conspiring to make this the most miserable event in the history of the world.
But the Baby was still the Son of God. He was impossible to recognize without some inside information from God through angels. But he was still the Son of God. And he continued to be unrecognized by most people all through his life. He was so unrecognized by the Priests and Pharisees in Jerusalem that they had the Romans Kill him.
But in his birth, in his life, in his death, in his resurrection, and in his ascension he was the Son of God. And when he returns he will be the Son of God.
God’s greatest blessings aren’t always easily recognized. Think about that as God continues to bless you in your life. Think about that as God brings new people and events into your life.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at December 24, 2008 02:43 PM