Christmas Eve
Mary a poor women with a hard working husband Joseph traveled long and far to return to their homeland for the census required by Herod. Herod was a powerful man, a king paranoid to loose his power and up till the magi’s prediction of the coming messiah he had killed most of his family and advisors he felt were a danger to his seat of power. Matthew 2:1-12. Mary mother of the savior would have no room to stay in, nothing but a pile of hay to give birth in, certainly not a place one would think of today. The child that would grow into the man who would one day take away the sins of all the world of past, present, and future. The child, a foretold king would experience life for all it was, both good and bad. The Christ child would hold the fate of eternal souls in his hands. The silent night that would be broken after 400 years of silence with no sign or sights from God the Heavenly Father. A baby would break the silence and forever change the world as we know it. No night of past or future would ever be as important as the one taking place that very night. While many complain that Christ wasn’t born in winter, that December 25th isn’t the true date of birth for the Savior, I question and say does it matter? December 25th is the date every year we throw a birthday party for the child, the perfect lamb that would allow the divinely blood to be spilt to extend the bridge to God.
A birthday we celebrate gets lost in the capitalism, the worldly pressures to make the perfect Christmas. We spend so much time focused on the gifts, the shopping, the decorations, the parties, so many things that get in the way of the one thing we fail to recall, the true meaning of Christmas. A baby born that would “save us all from Satan’s power.” There is so much controversy over the Christmas holiday, but have no mistake, it’s a birthday party, a celebration to remember the only reason we have to be joyful. Without the baby boy we sing songs about there would be no reason to be happy, to have joy, to have the most important thing of all hope.
It’s said you can survive 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food, but only seconds without hope. Hope is the most powerful thing on the planet. We love because we have hope. Hope is what makes love possible. We are not doomed to spend all eternity in Hell because of that hope, the hope we have is because God loved his children so much He would come forth and sacrifice his earthly self. How humbling to know that God would choose a life of poverty, of hardships, just to make it possible for us to relate to the Father. We cannot say we stand-alone because no one understands us when Jesus lived a full life just… almost like any of us. On that night in Bethlahem we sing praises of our salvation. We sing songs that praise the coming of the King, a King not of this world, but of the world beyond our sight and understanding.
Christmas Christ’s Mass or (Mass = Receiving of Eucharist) (Christ = Messiah) Once you look at the full term it’s the Messiah’s Eucharist. When looking at the first visitors Christ had on his birth, the Sheppard’s who were tending the cities sacrificial lambs, would lay eyes on the last to be sacrificed. We should find joy in this time of year because if we scrape away the worldly issues, the shopping, the gifts, the parties, the stresses, we are left with the one true meaning, Christ the Messiah, born to cleans the bonds of sin, to wipe the slate clean, and truly allowing us to have a relationship with our Heavenly creator.
Luke 2:7 7 “and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.” On this Christmas let go of the distractions and get back to the true meaning of CHRISTmas. It’s a birthday and we should treat it as such. Enjoy the party with friends and family, and let go of all the silly nonsense that just gets in the way of the truth.
The Arrow Preacher 