The cost of following Jesus

The Christmas story tells us of the worship, love and adoration shown to the baby Jesus by the shepherds and later the wise men, but what is our response? 

My mind immediately goes to Christina Rossetti’s carol In the bleak midwinter: 

What can I give Him, 

Poor as I am? 

If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb, 

If I were a wise man I would do my part, 

Yet what I can I give Him, 

Give my heart. 

Or more recently Chris Tomlin’s beautiful modern carol Adore: 

Wise men bring their treasures,

Shepherds bow low, 

Angel voices sing of peace on earth, 

What have I to offer To heaven’s king? 

I’ll bring my life, my love, my all. 

We’ve known from childhood that there is nothing we can give to Jesus that is of greater worth than ourselves, our hearts, our lives. It’s a sobering thought that even all the treasure in the world counts for nothing compared to our lives. That is the greatest treasure because that’s why Jesus came - to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19: 10). That was his commission and that was me until Jesus pursued and won me with his love. I was lost. 

The reality though is that to give Jesus our love, our life, our heart is incredibly costly to us because it means giving up everything – my time, my emotions, my money, my possessions, my thoughts, my words, my preferences, my opinions, my choices – everything has to be laid on the altar and for sinful people like you and me that is hard – very hard. 

Jesus gave it all up for us – glory, majesty, power and he calls us to the same path – following in his footsteps or discipleship. Jesus said, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me'. Like everything of the Christian faith that is hard, it is also worth it. 

It’s fairly easy to put our hands in our pockets with our tithes and offerings, do works of service (and I am not knocking these) but a life of yieldedness to Jesus means giving up a lot more than money and time. It’s all in. 

But the result is the greatest love affair of all time. It means walking in love with Almighty God, knowing his abundant life poured into our lives as we yield and give way to him. It’s the adventure of a lifetime. Mary, Jesus’s mother walked this path; the highest privilege and the greatest pain but when we get to see her in eternity, I am sure she will say something along the lines of 'It was worth it but don’t worry about me, worship my Son, give him your all, – he is worth everything'.

The cost of Christmas

 The birth of Jesus was a shocking event.

Mary, a beautiful virgin betrothed to Joseph, was found to be pregnant before they married. This would have been a major scandal in small town Nazareth. It is hard to realise today just how shameful and disgraceful it was in that culture to be an unmarried mother. 

However the criticism would not just have been reserved for Mary but also for her parents. People would have thought her parents had not brought her up correctly nor had they watched over her. I expect Mum and Dad were hugely disappointed in their daughter. They would have hoped she knew better. Her parents would have greeted with great suspicion the story that she was still a virgin and that this baby was conceived by the Holy Ghost. It was certainly not something to share with the neighbours. That would have added ridicule to condemnation. 

Joseph was also no doubt sceptical about tales of an immaculate conception. In fact he was mindful to divorce Mary quietly to avoid further public humiliation for her until the intervention of the angel. Having confirmed that this baby was indeed conceived by God, Joseph being righteous, married her. This would not have stopped the wagging tongues though. It would just have pulled Joseph into the public disgrace as everyone would have assumed the baby was his. 

Four people would now have been criticised and suffered public humiliation even though no one had done anything wrong. In fact they had been selected for the highest honour of all - being parents and grandparents to the Son of God. Who would believe that? 

I wonder if as Mary and Joseph discussed the upcoming birth they deliberated if they would have to go to Bethlehem. After all that is where the Scriptures said the Messiah would be born. It doesn’t appear so because it took the intervention of an ungodly Roman Emperor to get them to the right place at the right time. They left for the weeklong journey to Bethlehem when Mary was almost full term, not recommended in any culture, let alone one with modest health care facilities. 

I am sure Mary and Joseph were optimistic that God would provide somewhere suitable for the baby to be born. If nothing else, they must have both had extended family in Bethlehem. Perhaps there was no room anywhere because news of the pregnancy outside marriage had gone before them? We can only imagine the disappointment turning to despair when all they were offered was a stable. 

So Mary gave birth to her precious first born, the Son of God, in a stable with the animals. Under any circumstances that is shocking. 

I think it is all too easy to romanticise and sanitise the Christmas story as we lustily sing our favourite Christmas carols. However it is good to remember how much it cost the key players to fulfil their destiny so that God could become Man and live amongst us. 

Today there are many, many Christians suffering for their faith all over the world. For many becoming a Christian can mean being ostracised by their family or even society, losing jobs or access to good education. Just like Mary all those years ago, too many Christians today are treated shockingly. Let’s remember and pray for them as we celebrate again the wonderful Christmas story.

The trials and joys of Mary's parents

The Bible tells us nothing about Mary’s parents, not even their names and yet they must have played a huge part in Mary’s pregnancy and the upbringing of Jesus. We have much to ponder in this Christmas season from what the Bible does tell us but over these last few days I have wondered about these unsung, unknown, and yet valued-by-God heroes. 

In the Jewish culture of that day, to find that your daughter was pregnant outside of marriage was the most awful shock and disgrace as well as a terrible disappointment that your beautiful, Godly daughter had behaved in such an ungodly and shameful way. Imagine Mary protesting that she was still a virgin, that an angel had visited her and this child was going to be the Son of God. I’m sure that initially this would have been met with disbelief and it certainly would have not been much consolation.

Mary’s parents would have been going through in their minds all the ramifications of this news and would have been worried about her reputation let alone their own. After all they could not have brought up Mary very well if she became pregnant outside marriage. 

When people found out, including the extended family, their friends and neighbours and then, worst of all, the religious leaders, their responses would not be very positive. I wondered if the family thought this news would mean they would all be excommunicated from the synagogue. 

They must have felt huge relief that Joseph was prepared to do the right thing and instead of divorcing Mary, was willing to marry her but nevertheless there was still much to contend with.

Now Joseph’s reputation would also be called into question, as people would presume the baby was his. Why else would he marry Mary? 

Once the initial shock had worn off, everyone would have needed a bit of space to re-group and plan the way forward. Perhaps that is why Mary went to her cousin Elizabeth’s to help her with her unexpected but joyful pregnancy. For three months everyone would have had the space to work out how to navigate what would be shocking news in small town Nazareth. 

On top of all this, Joseph and a very pregnant Mary had to travel to Bethlehem for the census. Even with every modern convenience, no one likes to travel when a baby is imminently due. Suppose the baby arrived en route. 

Mary’s parents would have been worried sick but when the news arrived back that the baby had been safely born, I wonder if they then travelled to Bethlehem to see their new grandson. It would be some years before Mary and Joseph returned to live in Nazareth. That in itself could have been a blessing in disguise. The town gossips would have found far more juicy morsels to chew on by the time the small boy and his parents arrived back in Nazareth. 

Unfortunately I am sure the stigma of being the child almost born out of wedlock would have lasted for all Jesus’ life. You can hear the sniff of contempt that would always go with the catty remark.

Mary’s parents I am sure, loved their grandson and watched with great delight as he grew up into a Godly young man. There must always have been something different about Jesus and I wonder if they, like their daughter, treasured up every moment and pondered them in their hearts. 

We can take comfort that for every key player in the Christian life, for every one on the platform or working hard to bring God’s Kingdom wherever God has sent them, there is a host behind them, known to God who are playing a key role in the background. These are the ones providing support, encouragement, love, prayers and just being there but without whom the prominent key people would never succeed in their God given call. 

These heroes are known to God, valued and loved and for whom there will be a great reward one day. 

The inspiration of Simeon and Anna

When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord Luke 2: 22 

Jesus had been born in Bethlehem as prophesied and eight days later Mary and Joseph went the five miles to the temple in Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice in keeping with the Law of Moses. 

In the temple they met a pair of elderly, devout people who had been waiting patiently for the Messiah. Simeon was a devout man waiting for ‘the consolation of Israel’ - the Messiah and he had been promised that he would see him before he died. He rejoiced that this day had come and very accurately prophesied to Mary that ‘This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.’  I wonder if Mary remembered that as she watched the horror of her own beloved son being beaten and crucified. 

Mary and Joseph marvelled at what was said but more was to come. The very elderly Anna, a lady whose life was devoted to prayer and fasting also came up ‘at that moment’ and told anyone who would listen that this child was the Messiah (the redemption of Jerusalem). 

I love the patient faithfulness of these two elderly people, devoted to the Lord. They had not given up as the years passed by. They had not settled down to a passive, inactive, elderly lifestyle. They were as fervent in their faith as ever. The Bible is full of the very elderly being significantly used by God; Abraham, Moses, Gideon’s parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth. So often the elderly laid the foundation for the next generation to build on. 

Simeon and Anna are a source of inspiration for us. They had been waiting for years to see the fulfilment of their dreams, not just for themselves but for their nation. They hadn’t given up nor had they doubted and they were not disappointed. Their hope was placed firmly in God. 

Perhaps today you have been waiting for years to see the fulfilment of your dreams – the salvation of a loved one, a healing, a miracle or for revival and a great outpouring of God’s love and miracle working power in your church, community or nation. 

At the start of a new year, may we, like Simeon and Anna, not give up but with fresh faith believe again that God is working on our behalf, that he has heard and is answering our prayers.

‘And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not’ 

Galatians 6: 9 KJV

Glory to God in the highest

I have frequently written about how Mary might have felt when Jesus was born in a stable and her precious baby was placed in the only cradle available, a manger, a feeding trough for the animals. However this unusual circumstance became a sign for the first group of visitors.  

You might imagine that the religious leaders or the synagogue rulers of Bethlehem would be first to visit the baby Messiah but no. God chose shepherds as the first visitors; uneducated, straight from the fields, probably dirty and smelly working men. But God loves shepherds – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David and now his Son who would become the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5: 4). Jesus spoke of himself:

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10: 1

I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep. John 10: 14 – 15 

So it is not surprising that the shepherds were the first to hear the news and what a way they heard the announcement. This is surely one of the great events of history. Here we have shepherds possibly looking after the temple sheep (more symbolism) and suddenly into the darkness an angel appears with the words, ‘Fear not.’ The Bible is full of angels telling people to ‘Fear not.’ Obviously a glorified angel is a terrifying sight. These men would have been used to fighting off wild animals, rescuing silly sheep from their own predicaments, even dealing with sheep rustlers but an angel appearing – and they are terrified.

The angel then made the royal proclamation. Today, a baby has been born, a Saviour, the Messiah. The shepherds were given the sign. This baby would be found wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. However there was more.

A royal birth requires the royal choir of heaven to rejoice over the Son of God entering the world of men. Suddenly – I love God’s suddenlys. Suddenly heaven was torn open and the heavenly choir stepped forth. What a sight that must have been! A choir of angels singing glory to God. How amazing! You can imagine the shepherds either lying terrified face down on the earth or standing with their mouths hanging open.

When the angels had gone back into heaven, the shepherds decided to investigate.  You can hardly imagine them settling down round the fire again. They ‘hurried off’ and found everything as it has been described to them. What Mary and Joseph thought of this group of uneducated, uncouth men turning up to coo over the baby we do not know but whilst the shepherds went out and evangelised the whole area with the good news of the birth of the Messiah, Mary treasured up these things and pondered them in her heart (Luke 2: 19). She didn’t need to tell the world that her baby was the Messiah, the shepherds did that. 

Jesus wasn’t born in a palace in splendour to come and spread beneficence to his lowly subjects. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1: 14). Literally it means the Word tabernacled amongst us – just as God had done with the Israelites in the desert ‘dwelling’ in the midst of the encampment. 

Jesus didn’t come to hob nob with the rich, the famous, the religious. He came and dwelt with ordinary people – shepherds and fishermen, tax collectors and sinners. And he will come and dwell with each one of us – if we will only ask him. Then we will be those ‘on whom his favour rests’ and we will know his peace – ‘the peace that passes all understanding’.

Come and see what God has done

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

As we re-acquaint ourselves with the Christmas story through carol services, singing those beautiful songs and reading the Scriptures, we can become almost a little blasé at the familiarity of the story.  We have lived with this story and the Scriptures every year of our lives. We can feel we have understood the significance of the prophecies and the events of the Christmas season but it is good to pull back and wonder afresh at how it all felt for those at the heart of the story.

We are told that Mary ‘treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart’Luke 2: 19.  I bet she did. So much had happened to her. She had gone from insignificant young lady about to be married to Joseph the carpenter to mother of the Son of God. She had been through labour and delivery in a stable not a palace or even a clean room. The first visitors were shepherds, the lowest of the low with tales of angels singing ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests Luke 2: 14.

Joseph too must have wondered what had happened to him; the disappointment of Mary’s pregnancy followed by an angel visitation and at the end he had been charged with protecting and raising the Son of God.  I am sure there were times when both he and Mary felt hopelessly inadequate for the task.

As Mary looked at her baby and gazed into the face of God I am pretty certain she wasn’t remembering ‘For to us a child is born. To us a Son is given.’ But maybe she was.  Maybe as the years went by and they raised their extraordinary son Joseph was impacted by the Messianic prophecies as he worshipped in the synagogue.

However for us familiarity can dull the edge of the wonder of Christmas. That God became man and dwelt with us. Emmanuel. God with us.  I love some of the more recent Christmas songs. One of my favourite is Noel by Chris Tomlin.  It has the line ‘Noel. Noel. Come and see what God has done.’It gives me the shivers.  God has done the miraculous. He has become a man to dwell with us, his sinful creation so in need of a Saviour.

Matt Redman has written in his song ‘ Joy to the world. Joy to the world. The Lord has come, The Lord has come to us.’ It’s a miracle. 

With hindsight, we do get the significance of the events of Christmas.  The prophecies, the virgin birth in Bethlehem in poverty, the arrival of the shepherds and the visit of the Magi. My prayer is that this Christmas we will get fresh revelation of just what an incredible things God has done in bringing Emmanuel – God with us.  

The cost of Christmas

The birth of Jesus was a shocking event.  

Mary, a beautiful virgin betrothed to Joseph, was found to be pregnant before they married. This would have been a major scandal in small town Nazareth.  It is hard to realise today just how shameful and disgraceful it was in that culture to be an unmarried mother.  

However the criticism would not just have been reserved for Mary but also for her parents. People would have thought her parents had not brought her up correctly nor had they watched over her.  I expect Mum and Dad were hugely disappointed in their daughter.  They would have hoped she knew better.  Her parents would have greeted with great suspicion the story that she was still a virgin and that this baby was conceived by the Holy Ghost. It was certainly not something to share with the neighbours. That would have added ridicule to condemnation. 

Joseph was also no doubt sceptical about tales of an immaculate conception. In fact he was mindful to divorce Mary quietly to avoid further public humiliation for her until the intervention of the angel.  Having confirmed that this baby was indeed conceived by God, Joseph being righteous, married her.  This would not have stopped the wagging tongues though. It would just have pulled Joseph into the public disgrace as everyone would have assumed the baby was his.

Four people would now have been criticised and suffered public humiliation even though no one had done anything wrong. In fact they had been selected for the highest honour of all - being parents and grandparents to the Son of God.  Who would believe that?

I wonder if as Mary and Joseph discussed the upcoming birth they deliberated if they would have to go to Bethlehem. After all that is where the Scriptures said the Messiah would be born. It doesn’t appear so because it took the intervention of an ungodly Roman Emperor to get them to the right place at the right time. They left for the weeklong journey to Bethlehem when Mary was almost full term, not recommended in any culture let alone one with modest health care facilities.

I am sure Mary and Joseph were optimistic that God would provide somewhere suitable for the baby to be born.  If nothing else, they must have both had extended family in Bethlehem.  Perhaps there was no room anywhere because news of the pregnancy outside marriage had gone before them?  We can only imagine the disappointment turning to despair when all they were offered was a stable. 

So Mary gave birth to her precious first born, the Son of God, in a stable with the animals.  Under any circumstances that is shocking.  

I think it is all too easy to romanticise and sanitise the Christmas story as we lustily sing our favourite Christmas carols.  However it is good to remember how much it cost the key players to fulfil their destiny so that God could become Man and live amongst us.

Today there are many, many Christians suffering for their faith all over the world. For many becoming a Christian can mean being ostracised by their family or even society, losing jobs or access to good education.  Just like Mary all those years ago, too many Christians today are treated shockingly. Let’s remember and pray for them as we celebrate again the wonderful Christmas story.

Post Christmas ponder

It is very easy now that Christmas Day has passed to put away the Christmas story for another year, to wind down the carols and to focus on the social aspects of this season. After all by next Sunday we shall be thinking about the New Year and what 2018 will bring.

However before we consign Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus, shepherds and wise men to the spiritual attic of our lives, it is good to take a moment to reflect again on these key players in the greatest birth that the world has even seen. The whole event was upside down.

Royal births are a major occasion and Jesus’ birth should have been the most royal of royal events. Yet nothing could have been more removed from this birth of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This was not a birth to royal parents in a palace with every convenience that 1^st century Judea could provide. This was a birth in a stable of all places to two very ordinary but Godly people, carefully chosen by God to fulfil this most precious assignment – to parent the Son of God.

I often wonder what Mary thought when she realised she was going to have to give birth in a stable. She had had to deal with all the social ostracising that her pregnancy had caused, all the gossip and rejection that she and Joseph must have had to bear in small town Nazareth. Now it seemed that God wasn’t even going to provide a small clean room to give birth to his son. Poor Joseph too must have been distressed that he couldn’t provide a suitable place for this royal birth.

As I’ve said before it is so easy with the benefit of hindsight to see the significance of these events but when you are living them, Mary and Joseph had a tough time.  Then the first visitors were not the good and great, the significant and famous as it should have been – it was shepherds – unclean in every way - shepherds. These were probably the shepherds who looked after and provided the sheep and lambs needed for the temple sacrifices. More deep significance that those at the bottom of the social ladder, those providing the sacrifices for the temple, were the first to see Jesus the perfect sacrifice, the lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

I wonder how many mangers in how many stables and outhouses the shepherds checked before they found Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. They would have entered awkward and gauche to see the baby but bringing the story of angels coming to their hillside telling them that a Saviour had been born – the Messiah. They were so excited about what had happened that they told everyone about it. I expect Mary and Joseph received a lot more visitors after that. But the Bible makes clear Mary treasured all these things in her heart and pondered them.

Before we pack away Christmas for another year it is worth taking a moment to also ponder the amazing fact that Jesus came in the most unlikely of circumstances with the most improbable of people as the key players to come and save us, the most underserving of people. Do we treasure up in our hearts the wonder of our salvation by the King of Glory? 

A life of devotion

We are all very familiar with the stories of the two sisters, Martha and Mary. Martha was almost certainly the older and she was the one who served – who got the job done. Mary just sat around at Jesus’ feet.

If asked which one you identify with, most of us would say Martha. We know Jesus said, ‘few things are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’ (Luke 10: 42) but somehow sitting at Jesus’ feet when there’s work to be done doesn’t seem like the ‘better’ thing.

However Mary lived the life of devotion that followed the first and greatest commandment Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12: 30). It was given by Moses to the Israelites (Deuteronomy 6: 4- 5) and is part of the bedrock of the Jewish faith, the Shema, spoken by pious Jews morning and evening and it starts synagogue services.

Mary loved the Lord extravagantly and her greatest act of devotion is recorded in John 12: 1 – 8. A dinner was given at Lazarus’ house – Martha and Mary’s brother – in Jesus’ honour. Martha was serving as usual and Lazarus was reclining with all the guests.

Mary then did something incredibly brave. She walked into a room full of men eating their dinner and instead of quietly serving, the appropriate thing for a woman, she brought an expensive jar of pure nard and poured it on Jesus’ feet. The women would have been shocked and the men embarrassed. It was so inappropriate.

Some have surmised that this perfume may have been Mary’s inheritance. Money was hard to keep safe so inheritances came in the form of land or objects. Mary was blowing the very thing that would keep her in her old age in one extravagant act of devotion.

The apostle John noted that the fragrance filled the whole house – her act of abandoned love touched everywhere.

However even more shockingly Mary undid her hair and wiped Jesus feet with it. If people were embarrassed before, now they would not know where to look. Respectable women did not unbind their hair in public and only lowly servants dealt with dirty feet. Mary was not mindful of her reputation or her social standing, she just wanted to pour out her love to Jesus.

Some present ‘rebuked her harshly’ (Mark 14: 5) and she invoked criticism especially from Judas Iscariot who piously would have liked to give the proceeds of the sale of the nard to the poor. In reality he wanted to get his own hands on the money (John 12: 6). In this account in Mark 14, Judas was so offended by her waste that he went to the chief priests to betray Jesus. It was if it was the final straw.

Jesus however commended Mary for her beautiful act of worship. You can imagine all those reclining at the table who hadn’t known where to look before now sagely nodding their heads in agreement.  Jesus then said, ‘Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.’ How true - today we all know about Martha and Mary and her life of adoration.

Devotion though is a hard path to walk. Mary was criticised by her own family for sitting at Jesus’ feet instead of helping. The believers criticised her for extravagantly wasting an expensive jar of perfume.

Mary chose the ‘better way.’ Works for the Lord are important but they flow out of the greater thing. The priority is to Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

People will almost certainly criticise us for extravagant acts of worship – for living a lifestyle devoted to God – but it is the ‘better way’.

Glory to God in the highest - the shepherd's story

I often wonder what Mary thought about Jesus being born in a stable. Was she a bit disappointed? She was giving birth to the Son of God, the Messiah, surely God could have arranged a room at the inn? The baby Jesus was then placed in the only cradle available, the manger, a feeding trough for the animals. However this unusual circumstance was going to become a sign for the first group of visitors. 

You might imagine that the religious leaders or the synagogue rulers of Bethlehem would be first to visit the baby Messiah but no. God chose shepherds as the first visitors; uneducated, straight from the fields, probably dirty and smelly, working men. But God loves shepherds – Moses, David and now his Son who would become the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5: 4). Jesus spoke of himself:

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10: 1

I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep. John 10: 14 – 15

So it is not surprising that the shepherds get the news first and what a way they hear the announcement. For me this is one of the great events of history. Here we have shepherds possibly looking after the temple sheep (more symbolism) and suddenly into the darkness an angel appears with the words, ‘Fear not.’ The Bible is full of angels telling people to ‘Fear not.’ Obviously a glorified angel is a terrifying sight. These men would have been used to fighting off wild animals, rescuing silly sheep from their own predicaments, even dealing with sheep rustlers but an angel appearing – and they are terrified.

The angel then makes the royal proclamation. Today, a baby has been born, a Saviour, the Messiah. The shepherds are then given the sign. This baby would be found wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. This should surely be enough but no.

A royal birth requires the royal choir of heaven to rejoice over the Saviour of the world being born. Suddenly – I love God’s suddenlys. Suddenly heaven is ripped open and the heavenly choir steps forth. What a sight that must have been! A choir of angels singing glory to God. How amazing! You can imagine the shepherds either lying terrified face down on the earth or standing with their mouths hanging open.

When the angels had gone back into heaven, the shepherds decide to investigate.  You can hardly imagine them settling down round the fire again. They ‘hurried off’ and found everything as it has been described to them. What Mary and Joseph thought of this group of uneducated, uncouth men turning up to coo over the baby we do not know but whilst the shepherds went out and evangelised the whole area with the good news of the birth of the Messiah, Mary treasured up these things and pondered them in her heart (Luke 2: 19). She didn’t need to tell the world that her baby was the Messiah, the shepherds did that.

Jesus wasn’t born in a palace in splendour to come and spread beneficence to his lowly subjects. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1: 14). Literally it means the Word tabernacled amongst us – just as God had done with the Israelites in the desert ‘dwelling’ in the midst of the encampment.

Jesus didn’t come to hob nob with the rich, the famous, the religious. He came and dwelt with ordinary people – shepherds and fishermen, tax collectors and sinners. And he will come and dwell with each one of us – if we will only ask him. Then we will be those ‘on whom his favour rests’ and we will know his peace – ‘the peace that passes all understanding’.

Happy Christmas.