Last night I went to a church function and had a wonderful dinner. After dinner, I joined a band onstage and sang carols to the crowd. The lights in the sanctuary were dimmed and the trees behind me sparkled, the lights glowing softly and reflecting off the walls. It was a wonderful time, filled with laughter and warmth. I left and went to a house where the Christmas tree dominates the dining room and the stockings are indeed "hung with care". During this Christmas season, most of our homes will be filled with the aroma of baked yummies and the sound of our favorite Christmas tunes playing in the living room. Many of us will force our kids to sit still while their photos are taken in clothes they never actually wear and then send out Christmas cards to people we never actually see. We will head out to parties and drink egg nog. We will go to the fire station and take down a name from the tree so that we can buy a toy for a tot. On the Sunday prior to Christmas, people who haven't been to church since Easter will crowd into churches all across America and sing about the birth of Jesus Christ. In many of these churches, the pastor will open up his Bible and turn to Luke where he will read the Christmas story full of Heavenly Choirs and worshiping shepherds. Afterwards, the masses will file out with smiling faces and look forward to opening up their presents in a few short days.
But there is another event which accompanied the arrival of our Savior upon that dusty backwater region of Israel. And while you will find Christmas card after Christmas card displaying beautiful angels and adorable nativity scenes, you will never see a card telling this tale nor hear a carol sung in a church. It is the tale of mad King Herod, driven insane with paranoia and insecurity, ordering the slaughter of every male infant beneath the age of two. It is the tale of a legion of Roman soldiers, professional killers all, descending upon a sleepy little burg unaware of the horror coming its way. Instead of angelic hosts singing in the moonlit sky, it is the sound of terrified parents and screaming babies as they are wrenched from their mothers arms and murdered in the dusty streets. Instead of Christmas lights, it is the flash of torches reflecting in swords as they strike every male child beneath the age of two in Bethlehem. It was a horrific and unspeakable act...And one that hearkened the arrival of God on the earth. You see, God had entered the enemies territory...God had begun the rescue.( Matt. 2:16-18 )
You see, the greatest rescue attempt the universe had ever seen was met with desperate resistance from the enemy who desired nothing so much as to kill and murder all those that the king loves so dearly. The Little town of Bethlehem did not sleep peacefully on that night.
This season, there are many families among us sleeping restlessly themselves...They are suffering from the pain of a spouse turning their back on the promises they made, friends and loved ones struggling with the fear and confusion which cancer has delivered into their lives, the horrible toll which the chemo has extracted from them parents who must watch their children suffer through no fault of their own, who must now mourn all that they had thought their child would become as they face the uncertain reality of what the future now holds for them instead. All around us are people who see the lights and festive yard ornaments promising "Peace" and feel like strangers in their own lives. They want to scream "What Peace?!"......
But the arrival of God into the lives of men on that night so many years ago did not bring peace. It brought HOPE! Hope for all those who so desperately need it. Hope for the confused. Hope for the hurting. Hope that they have a future. Hope that, despite their present circumstances, God will provide. Because what that night, long ago in that stable proved to them is that they are not forgotten, they are not alone.
I was once told by a wise man that the two most powerful forces in the universe are hope and forgiveness....Because of Christmas, we have access to both.
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