When Does Christmas End?

 

                                                       When Does Christmas End?

Reminding myself of an old Christmas carol/hymn (almost 200 years old) --

"As with gladness men of old, did the guiding star behold; as with joy they hailed its light; leading onward beaming bright. So, most gracious Lord, may we evermore be led to Thee."

That's the first verse.

Reminding me that the Christmas story did not end 2000 years ago -- it continues today as we follow His light that leads us right to Him.

As we say, 'Wise men still seek Him.'

And the last verse is wonderful, too. "Holy Jesus, every day, keep  us in the narrow way. And when earthly things are past, bring our ransomed souls at last, where they need no star to guide, where no clouds Thy glory hides."

Don't you just love this idea? We no longer need a star to guide us now and we won't when our earthly life is over --  We have His Holy Spirit to bring us home to be with Him forever!

We'll see Him in all His glory and bow in worship just as the wise men did.

And we'll thank Him throughout eternity  for Christmas!

              'Twas grace that brought me safe this far, and grace will lead me home!

Christmas - Charles Spurgeon

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

 and shall call his name Immanuel.

-- Isaiah 7:14

     Let us today go down to Bethlehem, and in company with wondering shepherds and adoring Magi let us see Him who was born King of the Jews, for we by faith can claim an interest in Him and can sing, "For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given" (Isaiah 9:6).

     Jesus is God incarnate, our Lord and our Savior, and yet our Brother and our Friend; let us adore and admire Him.

     Let us notice at the very first glance His miraculous conception. It was a thing unheard of before, and unparalleled since, that a virgin should conceive and bear a son.

     The first promise [Genesis 3:15] concerned the seed of a woman, not the offspring of a man.

     Since venturesome woman led the way in the sin that resulted in paradise lost, she, and she alone, ushers in the Redeemer of Paradise.

     Let us reverently bow before the holy Child whose innocence restores to manhood its ancient glory; and let us pray that He may be formed in us, the hope the glory.

     Do not fail to note His humble parentage.

     His mother has been described simply a "virgin," not a princess or prophetess, not a woman of influence.

     True, the blood of kings ran in her veins; and her mind was not weak or untaught, for she could sweetly sing a song of praise.

     Yet how humble her position, how poor the man to whom she was engaged, and how miserable the accommodation provided for the newborn King!

     Immanuel -- God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our daily work, in our punishment, in our death, and now with us, or rather we with Him, in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent splendor.

       -- From Morning and Evening, December 25,
                      Charles Spurgeon

       

The Man and the Birds - Paul Harvey's Christmas Story

Maybe you remember this........


This is a transcription of Paul Harvey's classic original verbal presentation of this commentary just as he spoke it on the radio.

                                                                             * * * * *

Unable to trace its proper parentage, I have designated this as My Christmas Story  - "The Man and the Birds."

You know, "The" Christmas story, "God born in a manger," and all that, escapes some moderns. Mostly, I think because they seek complex answers to their questions, and this one is so utterly simple. So for the cynics and skeptics and the unconvinced, I submit a modern parable.

Now the man to whom I'm going to introduce you was not a scrooge. He was kind, decent, mostly a good man. Generous to his family, upright in his dealings with other men, but he just didn't believe all that incarnation stuff which churches proclaim at Christmas time.

It just didn't make sense, and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just couldn't swallow the Jesus story about God coming to earth as a man.

"I'm truly sorry to distress you," he told his wife, "But I'm not going with you to church this Christmas eve." He said he'd feel like a hypocrite, that he'd much rather just stay at home, but that he would wait up for them. So he stayed and they went to the midnight service.

Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall.

He went to the windows to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and then went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper.

Minutes later, he was startled by a thudding sound. Then another. And then another - sort of a thump or a thud.

At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his living room window. But when he went to the front door to investigate, he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They had been caught in the storm and in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly through his large landscape window.


Well, he couldn't let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter if he could direct the birds to it. 

Quickly, he put on a coat and galoshes and tramped through the deepening snow to the barn.

He opened the doors wide and turned on a light. But the birds did not come in. He figured food would entice them in. So he hurried back to the house, fetched bread crumbs, sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail to the yellow-lighted, wide open door to the stable.

But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs and continued to flop around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them. He tried "shooing" them into the barn by walking among them waving his arms. Instead, they scattered in every direction - except the warm-lighted barn.

Then he realized that they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, "I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could let them know that they can trust me." But how? Because any move he made tended to frighten them...confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led, or "shooed" because they feared him.

"If only I could be a bird," he thought to himself, "and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to the safe, warm .....

....to the safe, warm barn......but I would have to be one of them so they could see and hear and understand."

Suddenly he realized exactly what he was thinking. And at that moment the church bells began to ring. He stood there listening to the bells ringing  "O Come All Ye Faithful." Listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas....

And he sank to his knees in the snow.

                                              ``````

Christmas - Joseph the Just (Part 2)

Part 2....


Now the birth of Jesus took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband, Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
                      -- Matthew 1: 18-19


So we now see (Part 1) that Joseph's definition of justice stemmed from the Old Testament teachings on mercy and compassion.

We see in Matthew 1 that Joseph did not have an initial appearance of the angel messenger, like Mary did. Probably someone else told him Mary was pregnant. The text does not tell us. Maybe a gossipy neighbor told him.  But it is clear that
he decided to do the righteous and just thing first, and then the angel appeared. (Maybe a good message for us there.)

The English translation of Matthew 1:20 says he "considered" the situation. Most scholars say the more accurate meaning of the Greek word used would be that he became "very upset," even "fuming."

Even though he did choose to do the right thing, did that mean he had no feelings at all? Certainly he was embarrassed. Felt betrayed. Angry. There would have been great doubts about his bride-to-be and her merit as a wife and mother of his children.

But one remarkable thing about Joseph is that he was able to still do the "right"--  the "just" -- thing. He could re-process his anger and hurt. He could turn them into grace.

Later when his Son Jesus was grown (and we don't know how long Joseph lived, whether he even saw his Son grown) we can see glimpses of Joseph actions in our Lord's teachings.

Remember the parable of the great banquet when the wealthy generous man was publicly insulted? It's in Luke 14. The
donor decides to re-process his anger into grace, and turned to the unworthy outside the community to invite them to his grand banquet.

And in Matthew 12 Jesus talks about the wealthy farmer who build a vineyard and rents it out to tenants. When he tries to collect the rents the tenants refuse to pay. They insult, beat and finally kill the servants who come to collect the rent. The master decides to turn his anger into grace and send his son, alone and unarmed, hoping they will be ashamed and pay their due.

Did Jesus grow up with this kind of example, of extending mercy, not legal justice, when he watched his earthly father?

Why did Joseph even take Mary with him to Bethlehem to register? Did he fear that she would be shunned or mistreated during his absence? She was also a descendant of David and so was entitled to go.  He could have registered for her, but he chose to take her.

Anyway you look at it, Joseph is a silent hero in this 'only once in history' story of the Incarnation. His courage and understanding of God's over-reaching, eternal message made it possible for there to be a Christmas story at all.

He was able to turn his anger and hurt for himself into grace and mercy for others.

Joseph the Just. Joseph the Noble. Joseph the Kind and Good. Joseph the godly.


[Shakespeare understood justice and mercy. Remember
Portia's cautionary words in The Merchant of Venice?

''(mercy)... is an attribute of God Himself
And earthly power doth then show most likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us to render
The deeds of mercy..."

When mercy seasons justice...like God's example...
If we pursue justice none of us would ever see salvation....and that appeal for mercy compels us to extend more deeds of mercy..."Let him who is without sin, cast the first stone," Jesus said.

Was He remembering?

I remember my father saying, every time we took a photo of him, "does it do me justice? No, I don't want justice. I want mercy!"

[I understand that better every year.]

Christmas - Joseph the Just (Part 1)

Now the birth of Jesus took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
                  --Matthew 1:18-19


    What is justice?

There was a time when these verses unsettled me. Because he was a just man....he was unwilling to put her to shame....I thought being just meant applying the law equally to all  (according to Deuteronomy an unfaithful partner - man and woman - were both to be stoned).  But here we are told Joseph was just.

Is the text talking about another kind of justice? Is there another kind of justice? Apparently, to Joseph it was more than "equal application of the law."

Joseph, being a faithful Jew, would have known many Old Testament passages talking about justice.

He would have known Micah 6:8:  He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

To act justly and love mercy - are they one?

He would have also known Isaiah's songs about a "suffering servant" who would one day appear. One of these hymns is in Isaiah 42:  A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.

Justice here is not "pay back" and it is not equal distribution of punishment. It is compassion for the weak and exhausted.

Reeds were used in the ancient world as pens. In southern Iraq until recently, they were also used for houses and boats -- that is, if they were not damaged. What could be done with a crushed reed? The only option was to break it and use it for fuel.

(For more on this, see Kenneth Bailey's Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes.)


Wicks were used for illumination. Every home had small clay lamps fueled with olive oil. The wicks for these lamps hung from a spout on the side of the lamp. As the oil ran out, there was danger that the wick might sever through burning and the end fall out of the spout and cause a fire. A small bowl of water was often placed on the floor under the lamp and prevent this kind of accident.

But the servant of God described in Isaiah will not break the damaged reed nor quench the dimly burning wick...he will faithfully bring forth justice.

According the Kenneth Bailey, "Joseph looked beyond the penalties of the law in order to reach out with tenderness to a young woman who was no doubt bruised and exhausted. Perhaps he saw Mary as a 'dimly burning wick.'

"This prophetic definition of justice required a compassionate concern for the weak, the downtrodden and the outcasts in their need.

"...Without that prophetic understanding of justice embedded in Joseph's mind, Jesus would never have been born..

"Joseph is not, therefore, a passive, mute figure. Rather he acts as a strong, thoughtful person whose bold decision at a point of crisis saves the life of the mother and her unborn child."

Joseph was a theologian whose concept of justice grew out of the Old Testament writing, especially those "suffering servant" songs in Isaiah.

Joseph was a "just" man and so he showed mercy and extended grace.

(con't in Part 2)