Do you remember how hard it was, as a child, to wait for Christmas? Our parents told us to be good, as if being good as children was possible. Hopes
and fears raced through our minds as time slowed to a crawl.
Children Waiting
When the king came looking for the couple, he was full of questions? "Why are you hiding? What did you do? Why?"
The couple had excuses. The man blamed the woman. The woman blamed the beast. The beast blamed the king.
The king showed his willingness to forgive, and made some mysterious promises about the future. But life changed that day for the caretakers. They lost their home and life as they had known it. Even though they never saw the beast again, they saw shadows of him everywhere. In a fit of envy, their first son killed his younger brother and then left home trying to
shake the memory of what he had done.
Everything was different now while nothing really changed. Desires to have gave way to the fear of losing. Every new beginning ended up being the
same old story. Pain and loss were always close by. The hope for some thing better turned life into an endless wait. Time flew in the best of times and crawled through the worst.
Through all of the family's trouble, the king remained strangely absent, and present. Eventually he appeared to an old childless couple and
told them he was going to give them a son. He promised that through their family he would offer peace and happiness to the whole world.
The king kept his word. In their old age, the couple became father and mother not only of a son, but of a family that would give birth to another son. This son, according to the king, would be his son, born of a virgin, in the town of Bethlehem. He would be called, "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty
God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." This son would be the solution for every problem, and the answer to every question. He would bring peace on earth and good will to all.
The children of the family, however, found that waiting for the birth of this new baby was hard. And trying to be good was impossible. Even though the king gave them a homeland at the crossroads of the world, and even though he introduced them to their neighbors as a miracle family, their inability to wait for "the gift" tested his patience, until the king stopped talking.
Let's Pause and Reflect:
Do you agree that the king's story is our story, that one of the things it shows is how hard it is for his children to wait, and how impossible it is for
them to be really good?
Sometimes the best thing about Christmas is the anticipation. When the day actually comes, it passes all too quickly … often leaving warm
memories mingled with unrealized hopes and let down.
The real Christmas story follows a similar pattern…
Finally Here!
After 400 long years, the silence was broken by unkind rumors and the cry of a baby. Local shepherds and wise men from the East took turns worshiping the child whose birthplace was predicted by a prophet, announced by angels, and marked by a mysterious star in the sky.
But the day passed quickly, followed by a threat on the the child's life, a quick trip out of the country, and then a return to obscurity.
Thirty years later, the son of promise turned water to wine at a wedding party and then traveled from town to town doing good and giving hope to the poorest and most troubled of people. Crowds of excited people followed him until religious leaders became envious of His influence. Instead of using His power to overthrow His enemies, the teacher said He
had come to die.
In a stunning turn of events, family leaders spread false rumors about the teacher. They accused him of trying to overthrow the government and called for his death. On a holiday that celebrated their national freedom, an angry mob unknowingly subjected the king they had been waiting for to
a public execution.
No words could express what was happening in the heart of the king's mother as she collapsed in the arms of another son. But as she gasped
and groaned, she heard once again the voice of an old prophet who had said at her child's temple dedication, "This child will be rejected by many in
Israel, and it will be their undoing. But he will be the greatest joy to many others. Thus, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul."
Let's Pause and Reflect:
Would you agree that the emotions that often change so dramatically between Christmas morning… and evening… are a picture of our own journey of faith?
The joy of the received gift of God is followed by emotional let down and trouble…
Trouble comes with the promise that the best is yet to come…
A passing day has been replaced with the anticipation of unending joy…
Who hasn't been frustrated trying to find the perfect Christmas gift?
So why bother? Probably for any number of reasons… none of which is more important than giving out of a heart that is once again being
warmed by the true meaning of the Christmas story.
The Gifts of the King
For 3 days the king's family and friends were afraid and confused. Then on the first day of a new week, several of them found his grave empty. Within a few hours one of the women reported seeing him alive and well in the garden where he had been buried.
For the next 40 days the king appeared, and then reappeared, so repeatedly and convincingly that the same friends who had run for their lives at his arrest showed a willingness to die for their report that he was alive.
Now, the whole story could be told. To share his immortality and happiness, the king of creation had used his infinite power and eternal love to buy the perfect gift for anyone who would trust him. At his own expense, the price of which was understood only by himself, he bought us gifts infinitely and eternally greater than all of the gold, frankincense, and myrrh given to him at his birth.
Then in a final meeting, on a hill overlooking the city that had rejected him, the king told his friends to wait until he sent them an invisible companion who would remain with them until his return. In his temporary absence, this unseen presence would give them everything they needed to tell everyone who would listen where to find the gifts the king had bought and hidden…
The king's secret was that the most perfect of all gifts was waiting for the asking at the foot of a barren tree, so ugly, and so empty, no one would
naturally think to look there… unless they were told.
Then he left them with one more final act of inexpressible wonder…
The Gospel writer John later retold the king's story saying, "In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was God… and the Word was made flesh and lived among us… and we saw his glory full of grace and truth… and of his fullness we have all received… for the law came through Moses… but grace and truth came through Jesus, the Messiah King"
(John 1:1-17)* by Mart DeHann
GRACE AND TRUTH....what a gift!!!!!!
FATHER, we thank you for caring so much for us that you sent your son for our sakes. Be with all of us this day as we honor and celebrate you.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!
*1 In the beginning there was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.3 All things were made by him, and nothing was made without him.4 In him there was life, and that life was the light of all people. 5 The Light shines in the darkness,and the darkness has not overpowered it. 6 There was a man named John who was sent by God.7 He came to tell people the truth about the Light so that through him all people could hear about the Light and believe.8 John was not the Light, but he came to tell people the truth about the Light.9 The true Light that gives light to all was coming into the world! 10 The Word was in the world, and the world was made by him, but the world did not know him.11 He came to the world that was his own, but his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who did accept him and believe in him he gave the right to become children of God.13 They did not become me his children in any human way—by any human parents or human desire. They were born of God. 14 The Word became a human and lived among us. We saw his glory—the glory that belongs to the only Son of the Father—and he was full of grace and truth.15 John tells the truthabout him and cries out, saying, "This is the One I told you about: 'The One who comes after me is greater than I am, because he was living before me.' "16 Because he was full of grace and truth, from him we all received one gift after another.17 The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. But God the only Son is very close to the Father, and he has shown us what God is like.
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