Merry Christmas

Now that we are officially entering the 2 days of celebration for the Christmas holiday, I thought it would be appropriate to look at the Christmas story once again. But this time I want you to look at it in a different way.

The past 2 days at Christian Wee Learn, we looked at the story of 2 young cousins. John and Jesus were born just months apart from each other, and their parents did not know what would become of their lives years later. They knew that these 2 babies were special and were born with a purpose, but they did not know that it would one day lead to brutal deaths for each one. But prior to those tragic days, their lives were filled with many great moments of teaching, preaching, and miracles (for Jesus).

When looking at the story about their births in Matthew and Luke, it seems like so many things could have gone wrong at any given moment. For instance, the angels came to many different people delivering messages to set these plans into motion. Because of the faith of these people, these babies were born and brought up for a specific purpose. And yet problems still arose. Herod tried to kill young children, hoping that Jesus would meet His death as a young baby. But once again, Joseph's trust in God's direction led the family to Egypt, saving Jesus' life for the time being. The story about these 2 children ends with their early childhood and does not pick up again until we find John in the wilderness preparing the way for Jesus, his cousin. From there we get the Gospels, the story of Jesus' life and His sacrifice for us, the ultimate gift in life.

But what would have happened if things had fallen apart in this story? What if Jesus had never been born? Would Christmas be what we know it as today? Or would this Christmas season just be another part of the year for everyone? We can never know the answers to these questions. What could have happened is never known, only what happens. But knowing that the odds were stacked against Jesus and John as kids should add a little more emphasis on the Christmas story. We would not be opening gifts with families and eating nice Christmas dinners if this story had been drastically different.

So in the midst of the chaos of travel, gifts, and food, take a minute to reflect once more on the Christmas story. Read through the first few chapters of Matthew and Luke. Thank God for His gift of Jesus, in the form of a baby, and for the sacrifice He made for us. Do not let this Christmas season pass without focusing on the One who gave it to us in the first place, Jesus.

Matt