BIG, HUGE NEWS

You know there are some things in life that we do over and over again simply because it is the way we “always” do it or we have “always” heard it or “believed it.”

Take Christmas for instance, is there something that you and your family do every year or believe every year? Do you do it because it is part of “Christmas” or because it is “tradition”?

Perhaps I need to be a little clearer, how about the wise men in the Christmas story. We sing songs, we talk about them, we have them included in our nativity scenes and they always show up at the kids Christmas concert. I would venture a bet that the Wise Men are almost as popular as Baby Jesus Himself to most of the world.

But did you know that the wise men never came to see baby Jesus in the stable when He was born?

Mind blowing right? BIG, HUGE News!

There were some “wise men” also known as “magi” who came to see a child at his home sometime after Jesus was born. How many were there? We do not know, the only thing we know is they brought at least three things as gifts, but it does not mean there was only three of them.

I know I am wrecking the whole nativity scene you have displayed out in your home.

The “wise men” saw a star and followed it to the “home” of the child Jesus as explained in the Book of Matthew in the Bible. It is the only portion of the Bible that even talks about them and there is not a lot of information given.

Jesus was not born at home or even in his hometown. Mary and Joseph had to travel when Mary was 9 months pregnant in order to go and register for a tax that the government wanted to collect. They were away from their home Nazareth, when the baby decided to be born. They were in the little town of Bethlehem.

The passage in Matthew says the “magi” went to the home of the child. Home is not a stable and a child is older than a baby. There is much speculation on how old Jesus was when they came calling, up to two years old is some of the numbers I found. No one knows.

So, what do we do with all those wise men standing, kneeling in our nativity scenes? If it is possible, remove them or at least be ready to tell the “full story” of who they are.

Upon doing some research, the “magi” were probably from Babylon or Persia, again we do not know. They were astrologers, dream interpreters, divination, I would guess that present day we would call them Psychics, fortune tellers, part of the occult.

I find it so interesting that the Jewish people did not all go rushing around trying to find this baby Jesus, who was after all, labeled the King of the Jews, the Messiah, the One who was to save them. From the Bible we get the sense that other than the shepherds, not a lot of hoopla actually went on by other people.

The angels showed up “en-mass”, the shepherds thought it was awesome and they told others about it this "BIG, HUGE!” news.

But no where do we read that there was a line up of people waiting to go and see or meet baby Jesus.

So, we have the angels having a celebration, some shepherds having an exciting evening and then in the future, possibly a couple years these “wise men” show up.

They have studied and know who this child is. He is the King of His People, they tell the reigning King Herod about him and he decides to kill all male children under 2, he is so scared of this little ones power and he does not want this Jesus to overtake him or threaten his kingdom.

Then we have the wise men….

Have you figured out where I am headed with this?

The angels, the spiritual world is celebrating.

The shepherds are celebrating.

King Herod believes a King has been born and he is afraid.

The “magi”, the men who rely on the power from the dark side, travel for a long, long time to go and see this child, they celebrate Jesus. You see these men know exactly who Jesus is.

The only ones who seem to miss it are the people who live around Jesus, who live in Israel, the Jews for whom Jesus is their long awaited Messiah.

As I stood in the Thrift Store today manning the prayer room, I watched a woman come in, look over at the Christmas decoration section and say, “I can’t wait til Christmas is over, I really hate it!” and walk the other way thoroughly disgusted. I found it a very odd reaction.

I remember from my sales job when I went into a major Canadian chain store and the manager told me that Halloween was threatening to overtake Christmas in décor sales and that was 8 years ago. i wonder if it has overtaken Christmas now?????

I see big “Halloween” stores pop up in the fall offering all kinds of costumes, decorations and everything you need for that occasion.

I have yet to see a huge “Christmas” store pop up anywhere in town to help us with this occasion.

Would it be a correct sentiment to say that just like the Jewish people who did not recognize, did not know who Jesus was and missed the whole event, that in today’s world, santa reigns supreme over the holidays, the wise men steal the nativity scene and most people would be hard pressed to know why Jesus was so special in the first place?

Yet this baby Jesus is called “Emmanuel” – which means God with us. Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23

God with us… the God of the Universe, is with us and He comes in the form of a tiny baby Jesus. I do not know about you but I find that to be some “BIG, HUGE!” news.

Christmas, the very word defines the holiday. “Christ- mas” it is a day set apart and designed to celebrate the Christ who really is Christmas.

He is the gift that keeps on giving, He is the love that keeps on loving, He is the helper who keeps on helping, He is the One that heaven celebrated, shepherds cheered, and mysterious men came from other countries to acknowledge. He is still the reason we celebrate, whether you actually know it or not.

He, Jesus is really BIG, HUGE NEWS!