We had one of our guys at church hit the streets of Lancaster last week with video camera in hand. He asked some shoppers at Central Market if they ever missed Christmas. Their answers were fascinating. Everything from "No are you crazy, you could never miss Chruistmas?" to "Yes I was in boot camp....I was in Chna....I was away from my family..." I guess they missed what we arr asking??
"Missing Christmas" really means -- "Have you missed the MEANING of Christmas?" Obviously a little bit more intrusive and would take a lot of honesty and humility. A little bit more than what an unsuspecting shopper was looking for -- however that is the real question. I answered it from the Bible and the first Christmas....when there were five different people who missed Christmas! So who were they.....you probably could guess?
1. The Innkeeper - he missed Christmas from preoccupation. You see Bethlehem was a buzz with the cencsus being taken. he was so overwhelmed with work and the busyness of life that when a VERY pregnant woman and husband showed up, he couldn't be bother to help! He missed it and it happened on his property!!
2. Herod - you probably said him. The angry "king of Judea" was scared to death that a true, real King of the Jews had been born. he was afraid to let the new and true King sit on the throne.
3. Priest and Scribes - they knew where the king would be -- they knew the prophets exact instructios to find Him. How do we know that? Herod asked and they instructed the Magi how to find him. yet they never went to him...amazing. Why did they miss Christmas? Indifference....they did not think they needed a Savior. Their system of works righteousness was all they needed. In their mind, every morning they woke up and stared their savior in the mirror...sad!
4. The Romans - all of them! And why? Because they were already worshipping their king and god - Ceasar! They were into idolatry, bith of their emperor and all their pagan idols.
5. The people of Nazareth - where are they in the story??? Simple, Mary and Joseph were from there. The people in that town knew that Mary was suspeciously pregnant. It is written that Nazareth had never seen a boy like Jesus. At 12 years old he baffled their greatest theologians. But when he revealed at 30 yrs old that he was Messiah -- they rejected him. They missed Chriostmas from familiarity.
Now here's the morale of this blog entry.....preoccupation; fear of relinguishing your throne; indifference; idolatry and familiarity --- these are STILL hinderances of people coming to Christ and finding CHRISTMAS! How about you?
Merru Christmas! PJM