Christmas Thoughts

Alfred Edersheim gives us 6 separate proofs that place the birth of Christ near the 25^th of December. Whether working backward from the preaching ministry of John the Baptist, forward from the course of Zacharias in the temple or back from the death of Herod we find Jesus being born in late December. Being December in Palestine and often rainy, the almond blossoms were blooming as the almonds were called “early wakers” or “the wakers” in Hebrew. The olives boughs would have been silvery green when Joseph and Mary ascended through the fertile valleys of the “House of Bread” (Bethlehem) up to the town itself some 2700 feet above sea level. In the distance they would have seen the magnificent fortress palace of Herod the Great built on the highest hill south east of the city and above, the tremendous glow of the star. It was on a hillside, in a cave stable that our savior was born. But there was one fact that stopped me in my study. Because of the rabbinic law of the time, it was expressly forbidden to keep sheep outside of the wilderness except for temple sacrifices. The shepherds that came to keep watch over the messiah were those entrusted with the sacrificial lambs. Here he was an infant child born to die so we could live, born among the sheep whose blood would decorate the alter as his would decorate the cross. This was an infant wiser than the sages, a king more powerful than the emperor, destined to a death more certain than the sheep. When Paul says that Christ humbled himself to be born a man, realize that he humbled himself to be born as stock, fit for slaughter in the service of the temple. Perhaps this week if no other week in the year, we can take a little time and ponder these things in our heart like Mary did, the ushering in of the king, the prince, the savior warrior priest by proclamation of angels, and the watchful eye of the shepherds. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Merry Christmas