Clearing-the-Fog

That’s an odd question, isn’t it?  No holiday is more recognized and observed worldwide than Christmas. How would it be possible to miss Christmas when everywhere we turn there are Christmas trees, Christmas decorations, Christmas music, TV ads for gifts, special recipes, and food, all designed to point to Christmas? Unfortunately, it is easy to miss Christmas for the same reasons many missed the first Christmas over 2000 years ago.

Obviously, the innkeeper missed Christmas because he was too busy to take-in a pregnant woman and her soon-to-be born baby. The census under Caesar Augustus was good for business at his inn.  He didn’t have time for Mary and Joseph.  He was too busy.

The same can be true of us as well.  Rushing here, rushing there – presents to buy and wrap, decorations to hang, parties to attend, family and friends to visit. Before we know it, we’re too busy and there is no room in the inn of our life.  Busyness can cause us to miss Christmas.

Obviously, the priests, Pharisees, and Sadducees missed that first Christmas. They were too familiar with the prophecies concerning the coming Messiah so that when the Wise Men came and announced they saw a heavenly sign signifying the birth of a newborn king of the Jews, the religious leaders missed it.  They were so familiar, they wouldn’t even go and check out what the Wise Men were talking about. Amazingly, Bethlehem was only 5 miles from Jerusalem, and these religious leaders, who had researched, and discussed, and debated all the details concerning the coming of the Messiah, didn’t have enough interest to go and see for themselves the fulfillment of prophecy. It was all too familiar.  Been there, done that, have the tee-shirt.

How many times have we heard the Christmas story?  How many times have we heard the phrase “Jesus is the reason for the season?”  And yet we become so familiar with the story that it no longer causes amazement and wonder to our hearts.  Familiarity can cause us to miss Christmas.

Then there was King Herod.  He allowed fear to rob him of that first Christmas.  Herod was a first-class paranoid.  He was threatened by any and everyone who might threaten his throne.  He continually ordered the murder of anyone he thought might try to depose him from the throne – his wife, his mother, his brother-in-law, and his sons.  Out of fear he wanted the Wise Men to locate the newborn king of the Jews and bring him word – not so that he could go and worship him – that was a lie.  He wanted to kill him.  Later he would have all the male children in Bethlehem two years old and under killed.  Fear drove him to miss the true significance of that first Christmas.

Why are people so set on eliminating nativity scenes, school Christmas parties and programs, and saying “Merry Christmas?”  It’s done out of fear.  People are afraid of the baby Jesus because ultimately, He is Lord, and they are ultimately accountable to Him.  He will one day judge them for their unbelief.  They want to be their own god, in control of their own life.  Therefore, they want nothing to do with Jesus Christ.  Fear will cause them to miss out on Christmas. 

Don’t miss out on Christmas this year.  Take time to pause and worship the newborn King who brings peace and joy into our world and into our hearts.  Replace the busyness and familiarity and fear with wonder and awe at the amazing fact that God came to this earth in the flesh and lived among us.  That’s the part of Christmas you certainly don’t want to miss.

So, Merry Christmas from my house to yours!