It was no silent night, that is what I am going to talk about. You see, if you read Revelations 12, it talks about a Spiritual war between the Angels and the "Christmas Dragon" as I have recently heard it referred to as. That is the Spiritual picture of Christmas day. A huge fight, Satan--the Dragon--literally threw stars down from the heavens. What happens after that, kind of confused me. Satan is thrown from heaven. But as I began to think about it, I realized something. You see, the Spiritual world does not perceive time as: Past frozen, Present only to pass, and the future to come, it must be anticipated. Christmas happened for them, at the same moment in time (as we perceive it) when Satan was thrown out, the same time as now. They wanted so badly to stop what they knew was happening. But God stepped in, He cast Satan out. Now you may be saying that physically it was a silent night. Not exactly.
Let's back up a few months ago.
An Angel of God comes to Mary and says: "Hey, you are favored in God's sight. So you are going to give birth to the Son of God." (Paraphrase)
Can you imagine her reaction to that? How she felt? We actually get to read it:
"Whoa, wait, what?? I am going to be pregnant?? How? I have never done something like that with any man." (Paraphrase)
So the Angel reassures her:
"No, don't worry about that. That is part of why you were chosen. This conception is of the Holy Spirit." (Paraphrase)
So she decides to trust God on this. And this, is where the silence ends. I mean, people found out.
"Did you hear?? Mary is pregnant!"
"What? Are you serious! Ugh! What a prostitute, you know what I think! I think she should be stoned. I mean, she is betrothed already to Joseph."
I bet that is the kind of slander that she felt and heard. And that was the law! If someone had been caught in Adultery by law they had to be stoned. (In fact, a woman caught was once brought before Jesus, and the Pharisees questioned Him here.)
But according to the law, she could only be stoned if she was accused by either her father, or husband/fiance. And her being betrothed, the only person who by law, could accuse her, was Joseph. And that puts him in a hard position.
"What do I do? I mean, I love her. But she betrayed me! I cannot believe she did this to me! I could have her stoned. No, no, that is not the right thing. I will not stone her. Okay, here is what I'll do! I will divorce her quietly, I won't make a big deal about it. After that, I guess she will take care of herself."
Then Joseph goes to sleep, and an Angel appears to him, and tells him that what Mary said about her conception was true! It was from God.
Mary was probably feeling extremely stressed about it all. Everyone there was gossiping, slandering, giving her looks. Probably refusing to service her at the market, or marking up prices for her. And not to mention! Since he will not stone her, nor divorce her, so he now is losing business!! So, she decides to visit Elizabeth to relax. After awhile, there is a census across the land, each man must take his family to his home town. Now Mary and Joseph have to travel several miles to Bethlehem. And she is several months into the ordeal. Who knows what they had to go through on the way there!
But alas! They get there, and this town probably doesn't know their story. They look around for a place to stay, and they come upon the last inn, and they ask the guy for a room.
He turns them away. But as he is about to shut the door, either he notices, or more likely, his wife notices that Mary is pregnant. So he says; "Hey, this is probably not much, but, I have a place. Where, well, animals stay. If you would like, I guess you could stay there. It might be warmer in there for the night."
Then Mary gives birth, the battle, the Shepherds come, and they cannot believe that they of all people were shown where the Savior was!!
After that, a few more things go on. But that is the event we celebrate! We don't celebrate the same Christmas that is so commercialized that it holds no message, or the one that makes a fictional character the god we worship.
WE CELEBRATE JESUS CHRIST BEING BORN SO THAT HE COULD DIE TO SAVE US FROM OURS SINS. His name was, and is, Immanuel, meaning: GOD WITH US.
And He truly is with us. He is Immanuel.
Mary and Joseph are two great examples of how Christians should live. They followed God when nothing made sense. And Joseph was faced with a huge task. Not only to take care of the mother of Christ, but to take care of the Messiah Himself!
Could you do that? Would God ask you to take care of His Son?
...Well... He did. He said that if we follow Him, He will dwell in us. And He asked us to take care of Him in another sense. To tell about Him, to share the Gospel, to live a life that would shine the love of Christ. Are you taking care of Christ? I truly hope so, I am not where I need to be. But I intend upon trying my absolute best.
Thanks for reading,
John Mark,
Let's back up a few months ago.
An Angel of God comes to Mary and says: "Hey, you are favored in God's sight. So you are going to give birth to the Son of God." (Paraphrase)
Can you imagine her reaction to that? How she felt? We actually get to read it:
"Whoa, wait, what?? I am going to be pregnant?? How? I have never done something like that with any man." (Paraphrase)
So the Angel reassures her:
"No, don't worry about that. That is part of why you were chosen. This conception is of the Holy Spirit." (Paraphrase)
So she decides to trust God on this. And this, is where the silence ends. I mean, people found out.
"Did you hear?? Mary is pregnant!"
"What? Are you serious! Ugh! What a prostitute, you know what I think! I think she should be stoned. I mean, she is betrothed already to Joseph."
I bet that is the kind of slander that she felt and heard. And that was the law! If someone had been caught in Adultery by law they had to be stoned. (In fact, a woman caught was once brought before Jesus, and the Pharisees questioned Him here.)
But according to the law, she could only be stoned if she was accused by either her father, or husband/fiance. And her being betrothed, the only person who by law, could accuse her, was Joseph. And that puts him in a hard position.
"What do I do? I mean, I love her. But she betrayed me! I cannot believe she did this to me! I could have her stoned. No, no, that is not the right thing. I will not stone her. Okay, here is what I'll do! I will divorce her quietly, I won't make a big deal about it. After that, I guess she will take care of herself."
Then Joseph goes to sleep, and an Angel appears to him, and tells him that what Mary said about her conception was true! It was from God.
Mary was probably feeling extremely stressed about it all. Everyone there was gossiping, slandering, giving her looks. Probably refusing to service her at the market, or marking up prices for her. And not to mention! Since he will not stone her, nor divorce her, so he now is losing business!! So, she decides to visit Elizabeth to relax. After awhile, there is a census across the land, each man must take his family to his home town. Now Mary and Joseph have to travel several miles to Bethlehem. And she is several months into the ordeal. Who knows what they had to go through on the way there!
But alas! They get there, and this town probably doesn't know their story. They look around for a place to stay, and they come upon the last inn, and they ask the guy for a room.
He turns them away. But as he is about to shut the door, either he notices, or more likely, his wife notices that Mary is pregnant. So he says; "Hey, this is probably not much, but, I have a place. Where, well, animals stay. If you would like, I guess you could stay there. It might be warmer in there for the night."
Then Mary gives birth, the battle, the Shepherds come, and they cannot believe that they of all people were shown where the Savior was!!
After that, a few more things go on. But that is the event we celebrate! We don't celebrate the same Christmas that is so commercialized that it holds no message, or the one that makes a fictional character the god we worship.
WE CELEBRATE JESUS CHRIST BEING BORN SO THAT HE COULD DIE TO SAVE US FROM OURS SINS. His name was, and is, Immanuel, meaning: GOD WITH US.
And He truly is with us. He is Immanuel.
Mary and Joseph are two great examples of how Christians should live. They followed God when nothing made sense. And Joseph was faced with a huge task. Not only to take care of the mother of Christ, but to take care of the Messiah Himself!
Could you do that? Would God ask you to take care of His Son?
...Well... He did. He said that if we follow Him, He will dwell in us. And He asked us to take care of Him in another sense. To tell about Him, to share the Gospel, to live a life that would shine the love of Christ. Are you taking care of Christ? I truly hope so, I am not where I need to be. But I intend upon trying my absolute best.
Thanks for reading,
John Mark,
yes... and the innkeeper, he did what he could... but i wonder what he could/would have done if he knew it was the Messiah that was going to be born! still... it was better than nothing.
ReplyDeleteMary and Joseph were the first to accept the Messiah! and they did it with all their heart!