Written by Dawn Rutan
The down side of working in accounting is that the busiest time for me comes during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. I’ve often thought that we either need to move the holidays or change some deadlines. It didn’t help when the IRS decided to require wage reporting by January 31 instead of February 28 now! Anyway, I got to thinking about some of the inconveniences of the first Christmas.
Did Mary & Joseph grumble about having to go to Bethlehem to register to be taxed? “Those greedy government officials! Why’d they have to do this now and cause so much trouble?! Couldn’t they have come up with a better system that wouldn’t have everyone fighting over places to stay? Now we’re stuck in a dirty stable trying to deliver a baby with no supplies and no help!”
Did the shepherds complain about their disrupted night? “Who’s going to stay and round up all the sheep that ran off when those angels appeared? Did they have to be so alarming? How far are we going to have to go to find this baby they mentioned?”
Did the wise men fuss about their long journey? “Why did we have to travel so far to find this king? If we’d known it was going to take so long to get here, we’d have found a more comfortable mode of transportation than camels! I wonder why that guy Herod has no idea what’s going on in his kingdom? There’s something fishy about him.”
Though they may all have had doubts, there were also reassurances along the way—the word of angels, the prophecies of Scripture, the star to follow. Whether they knew it or not, God was arranging all the details of this unique event. He had planned it long before Jesus’ birth and revealed pieces of the plan to many prophets throughout the years. Luke 2:19 and 51 both say that Mary “treasured up all these things” and thought deeply about them. I suspect that throughout her life she searched the Scriptures and continued to make connections between the prophecies and the life of her son.
I’m sure Mary was disturbed to hear from Simeon, “a sword will pierce through your own soul also” (Luke 2:34 ESV). Her baby was still tiny, but already a shadow had appeared. And before too long they’d have to go to Egypt to avoid Herod’s wrath. Their celebration of a new life was probably nothing like they’d anticipated. As difficult as the circumstances were around Jesus’ birth, they were nothing compared to His death.
No matter what challenges we face during the holidays and at year-end, and how tempting it can be to grumble, the birth of Jesus helps put things in perspective. God chose to send His Son into a dirty, sinful world, under terrible conditions, just because He loved us too much to let us go. He could have said “Forget it; this whole Creation just isn’t worth it.” But He came, He lived, He died, and He rose again because of His love. And because He did, one day we will be freed from all the struggles, sin, sickness, and death that is part of this fallen world. Jesus is no longer the Baby in the manger, nor the body in the tomb. He lives so that we too may have eternal life. That’s something worth celebrating!
© 2016 Dawn Rutan. The views stated may or may not reflect the beliefs of the pastor or leadership of Dulin’s Grove Church.
