Dear Friends,
Harrogate’s Christmas Market has finished already! Now the pace towards Christmas quickens. Shops will be remaining open during Thursday evening. Reminders are circulating through advertisements in newspapers about places selling Christmas trees. In supermarkets we are being greeted with Christmas decorations and loudspeakers blast out Christmas carols. It seems that we are being urged to be like everyone else and join the “Christmas rush”. Hold your horses though! We joined the Christmas rush a long time ago.
A great deal of rushing was happening two thousand years ago. People were dashing all over the place because a Roman Emperor wanted to have some facts and figures about the population in his great Empire. Augustus decreed there should be a census from which nobody was exempt. Palestine was a small domain in terms of Roman territory so the best way to count people ( and assess them for taxation ) was by making them return to their home town. Mary and Joseph had no option and travelled to Bethlehem from the Galilean town of Nazareth which entailed a journey of about 80 or 90 miles depending on the route they chose. Such was their rush to make the journey that they had no time to send a message ahead about accommodation.
After learning of Jesus’ birth in a stable, the next stage in the story tells us how shepherds hurried along to see the baby. They had been out on a nearby hillside with their flock when an angelic visitation revealed news of such joy that the shepherds did not wait for the convenience of daylight but chose to trip and stumble through the night air until at last they came to the stable. Once inside, and having seen the baby, they poured out their story to Mary before returning to the hillside before anyone realised they had illicitly left their flock. It was all over so quickly!
Why should those shepherds have wanted to put their jobs at risk by going to Bethlehem in such haste? The answer is to be found in something the angel said, “This very day in David’s town your Saviour was born – Christ the Lord!” They heard that an ancient prophecy was fulfilled – God had sent a Saviour who would who would save people from their sins. This Saviour could wipe the slate clean.
What is our modern Christmas rush all about? Lots of people are packing into shops in search of a bargain. And a bargain is where you buy very cheaply something that’s worth a lot more. That’s what the shepherds were after, a bargain. If you think about the weight and cost of sin, if you and I had to pay the full whack according to the scale of divine justice, then as traders say, it would cost you and arm and a leg. But Jesus tells us that if we have just a tiny amount of faith, even as small as a grain of mustard, we will find forgiveness. Forgiveness that gives peace of mind and heart together with the promise of eternal life.
At the first Christmas Jesus came to us and we are reminded of that event every Christmas. After all the rushing around, still today we can enjoy being in his company and feeling our hearts lifted. Take time off from being busy, calm your mind, lift the latch on the stable door and enter into our Saviour’s presence. Have a wonderful Christmas!
Your Minister and friend,
John.