A 2009 Christmas Message
I realize more and more that it was not only joy and peace that Jesus brought to our world. More than that, it was God making a statement that He stood on the side of the dispossessed. Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus ended up in a cave (or something like it), because there was no room at the inn. Mary, who was about to give birth to Jesus, was forced to walk (or ride a donkey) for miles to another city — forced to do so by a foreign dictator who wanted to make a census to further tax the Jewish people.
And then there was the suspicion that she and Joseph experienced in regard to accusations of an illegitimate birth. The only human beings who came were shepherds; the lowest class of riffraff in the culture of that time. Additionally, God did send the angels to celebrate and encourage Mary and Joseph.
In human terms, Jesus’ birth was not only simple, but it also dignified the poorest people that God could have chosen. Thirty years later Jesus told a would–be follower that He (Jesus) had no place to lay His head. So, from beginning to end, God sided with the poor and dispossessed rather than those living in Herod’s palace.
If you can see beneath the surface, this “Christmas Story” has an even more encouraging Christmas message this year where many of you reading are concerned with your future due to the state of our economy that has possibly effected your financial future. However, this Christmas Season means that God is with you more deeply than ever, even in your times of trial, when you may have fewer possessions than before, may even have no place to lay your heads, and for some of you may have lost your reputations.
Jesus not only knew about these trials that you may be facing, but He lived through them with His family, long before He was crucified.
He will be your companion always, no matter what, as long as you stay close to Him!
With Christmas peace, joy and hope for a blessed New Year, (Jeremiah 29:11)
Pastor Matthew and Christa Manning