Here is a special Christmas edition of the Advent series Jesus. This post is from Christmas Eve 2019 entitled, “Silent Night.” The reason for the season is that Jesus was born to reconcile; that is His ultimate purpose, He reconciles us to each other and to God. Jesus is the Mediator between humans and God and without Him all hope is gone. This is one of my personal favorites post wise, so for those who have been along on the ride for awhile O hope this still speaks to you, and for those who are new to Guided by Grace, I pray this offers new insight and reflection on what Christmas means to you. Here we go.
‘’Twas the night before Christmas…
There are a lot of things that remind me of Christmas and lets me know it’s right around the corner: The decorations, the Christmas movies we see on television year after year— my personal favorites are anything dealing with the Grinch, Home Alone, Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, and Olive the Other Reindeer— the cookies, the crisp chill in the air and the possibility of snow, the festivities, the sweaters, and how horrible the Cowboys are in December. (Who would’ve thought they’d let me down… AGAIN.) But what reminds me of Christmas the most is the song “Silent Night” by the Temptations. Whenever I hear that song (sung correctly) I always get chills. It causes me to reflect on what Christmas means to me. Christmas causes me to look at the birth of Jesus and see how much I need Him. He was born for me. He was born for you. And that’s bittersweet. Bitter because God had to sacrifice Himself and sweet because He loves me that much to do so.
But the song also helps me to realize how dark the Christmas story actually is. We tend to rob the Christmas story of its messiness. We clean up how sad the story of the birth of Jesus is because we believe the tradition that Jesus has to be clean, when His coming to earth shows He’s willing to become unclean for me to be clean. There’s a difference in being unclean and sinful. There are themes of rejection around the Christmas story; we know there was no room in the “inn,” therefore, the family of Jesus was rejected. But even before that: If Joseph is from Bethlehem, why is he all the way up in Nazareth? Only someone who’s been rejected moves that far from home in biblical times. Mary’s circumstance was not sinful; she was betrothed. God cannot cause us to sin. But she does find herself in a shameful situation. A betrothal is the equivalent of being married, but the issue is that the baby isn’t Joseph’s. That’s where cultural shame kicks in. This ties Joseph into that shame and he wants to secretly divorce, or reject her. We have a story that is noticeably controversial. And it gets worse. Many English Bibles erroneously translate Luke 2:7 by saying there was no room in the inn. The word is actually guest room. Joseph takes Mary to a relative’s house and there is no room for them there. To top it off, they tell them to go to either the first floor of the house or the cave out back where they keep the animals and in a culture that values hospitality, you’d make room for a pregnant woman and you definitely wouldn’t send her downstairs with the animals. Rejection. Shame. Inhospitableness. That’s what Jesus was born into.
Matthew focuses on King Herod while Luke focuses on the Roman government and because Matthew focuses on Herod, Matthew’s audience would have known more intimate details about him. like where Herod lived. One of his palaces— the Herodium— was located in Bethlehem. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. This new king Herod was so afraid of was born right under his nose. The King of the Universe simplified who He is, wrapped Himself in flesh and was born in a cave in Bethlehem. This is what I love about Christmas: There was a palace already in Bethlehem; Jesus, being King, it was rightfully His but He didn’t use it. The Herodium was so large and extravagant that Herod had waterfalls and trees planted inside of it. It was lit up in lights, there were decorations all over the palace, loud music, and parties that lasted days and sometimes months. But Jesus was born in a dark, damp, cold cave. Jesus wasn’t born in the palace because it’s too loud. In order for me to recognize Jesus the night has to be silent. I have to be still and examine the reason for the birth in the first place. Jesus was born into the situation He came to save us from—- when we are rejected He brings us in, when we battle shame He extends grace, when we’ve become victims of stinginess and injustice, He is generous. This baby was born in a dark location and an even darker situation, simply because He is the light.
He couldn’t have been born in the palace because someone may have confused His light with the other lights all around them. Don’t confuse the light of God with the lights on your Christmas tree. Don’t allow the music and the get together to drown out His voice in your life. Jesus is in the place where you’d least expect the King to be. Are we willing to endure the silent night to experience His voice? This Christmas, we should examine ourselves: What do we battle with the most? Is it guilt, shame, have you been let down, have people given up on you or forgotten you? Whatever dark situation you are dealing with, Jesus was born into it to deliver you from it. That’s the meaning of Christmas to me; the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. I have hope in Jesus that things will get better.
I hope you and yours have a blessed and Merry Christmas.
Until next time, continue to stay guided by grace,
Tra
Guided by Grace 