Sometimes, there are amazing coincidences, aren't there. Here is it, Christmas Eve morning, and our reading starts in Micah 5. Remember the story that took place some months after the birth of Jesus? These strange men, Magi from the east, Persian wise men, came wandering into Jerusalem and asking where the one who was "born king of the Jews" could be found. Jerusalem was in an uproar and Herod was enraged, so he sent the chief priests and scribes to search the scrolls and figure things out.
They came back with the answer, from Micah 5:2.
Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; One will come from you to be ruler over Israel for Me.
Bethlehem was not much of a town. It's only claim to fame was that David had watched over shepherds on its hills a thousand years earlier. But in the days of Jesus' birth, it was a quiet village. Shepherds still roamed the hillsides. No one expected much from the place.
But according to the Word of God, there was one more blessing left to come out of Bethlehem. Conceived in the Galilee region, by the Holy Spirit in a virgin named Mary, and brought to Bethlehem for the census ordered by the Roman government, God ordained that this baby would be born in Bethlehem, just like his ancestor David. After his birth, Joseph and Mary stayed in Bethlehem for some months, until after the Magi's visit and their flight to Egypt.
But the important truth is that this little baby who the Magi sought, whom Herod feared, the baby in Bethlehem, he was no ordinary baby. He was the king! God promised here in Micah that one would arise would rule the world.
As we celebrate Christmas, we must remember that this is not a baby we are honoring, but a king. A Lord. Promised. Desired. Anticipated. Now finally revealed in a manger in Bethlehem.
Father, thank you for you Son, your gift to all of us this Christmas.
No comments:
Post a Comment