This week we looked at the story of the nativity and the characters around it.
First we looked at the poor innkeeper. Often given a bad rap for not finding a room for Mary and Joseph, in reality he may have been quite hospitable. That barn that he put them in may have been quite regularly used as a guest room when there wasn't another available. It was not unusual to place a baby in a manger. Hay can be clean and soft and the mange about the right size to hold a baby. Here was a business man, someone of ambiguous reputation, opening his home, or at least his outbuilding so this young mother could have her child under shelter. He RECEIVED them and the baby Jesus.
Angels sang of God's glory. Through the music the message went out that something spectacular was happening. Through the angels' song, not only was God glorified, but the humble everyday birth was proclaimed in a way definitely NOT humble. People started to get a hint that maybe this wasn't just another first time mom with bad timing. Mary praised God through song when she found out she was going to be Jesus' mother. Zechariah praised God when he regained his voice. Elizabeth sang God's praises when her baby kicked at Mary's approach. The shepherds sang songs of praise after visiting the baby. Music holds a powerful message - and we are called to share it. So, with the angels we should SING out the Good news!
Wise men, Magi, came from the east looking for a spectacular new king. This is amazing on so many levels. They weren't Jews yet they ventured into Jerusalem in their pursuit of the star and whatever it fortold. They travelled for a very long time - possibly years as there were no planes, trains or automobiles. They SOUGHT the new baby that would change the world. They recognized that this child had significance, not only for the Jews but for them also. When they found him, they WORSHIPPED him. Not oohing and awing "oh how cute" - but kneeling prayer kind of worship. These foreigners acknowledged Jesus' larger mission as from God. In reverence and respect they brought the best of what was available in their land - Gold, Frankinscense and Myrhh. They GAVE what they had in homage to this child. God, once again, uses the unexpected, the gentile travellers to show Jesus as a Messiah for all. There is so much we can learn from these strangers that wander into the story from afar then wander out again.
Shepherds, the kind of unclean, unsavory, strong "man's men" - were some of the first to see the baby. I wonder what Mary thought when these men of dubious reputation (and odor?) came to see her precious baby. Did she wonder how they had heard? Did she mind their outdoorsy dirt and smell? Did she wonder at their reverence and respect? Once again God has given the message of Jesus' birth, not to the regular, middle class religious Jewish type, but to the questionable, the outcast, the ones seen as not quite as good, not quite clean enough for civilized society. And what did they do? They saw the baby and they praised God! Most of us would quietly leave and talk just amongst ourselves, but they called it out, they sang, they praised God - they SPREAD THE WORD!
So the story of some ordinary newlyweds spreads out to include the extraordinary - but not necessarily in what would have been seen as in a good way. Businessmen were sometimes fine - but other times were shifty and less than honest. Often they were well off and not seeking for a way out of their situations. The magi were foreigners - the Jewish religious people would have seen them as unclean. They were probably wealthy - not really in touch with everyday life. The shepherds were even worse - at least the others were respectable people - the shepherds' reputation was dubious at best. Yet Jesus came for all of them: The ordinary;The unclean; The Outsiders; the Low. And Jesus came for us, wherever we fit into the spectrum: Priest or sinner; Clean or unclean; Ordinary or extraordinary.
This seems to be the message at Christmas. God comes in unexpected ways to meet all of us. We are all called to come to the stable - to receive the good news of Jesus' birth, to rejoice at God's goodness, to seek God's will, Worship at God's feet and bring whatever we can in homage. Then we are called to spread the word - through speaking, through singing and through doing - and, like Mary, to ponder these things in our hearts. This Christmas let us seek God and God's will in our lives. Let us seek to understand the messages God is sending us through situations and people we meet, or through dreams and ideas that won't go away. And let us always, always take time to sing, to pray, to worship. For God is good. Glory to God in the Highest!
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