No Threat

The Shepherds found him just as the angel had told them.

The Magi came later and entered into the house and there he was, in his mother's arms.

The Baby Jesus.

We love Christmas.
We love everything about it.

The sweetness of the season.
The traditions, good and bad.

The carols and readings that fill our churches with wonder and life.

Why do we love Christmas?
Because it is centered around a baby and for the most part.............babies aren't threatening.

Yes, it is Jesus.............but he's a baby.

He isn't the man yet who would take cross and sin upon his shoulders and crush them both through an act of death. This baby we worship during the Christmas season isn't the one who will return to enact judgement on the world for their sins. He's just a baby.

Like everything God does, time is involved. No different with Jesus' growing from baby, to child, to adolescent to man. As Jesus grew so did the people around him, not always in a positive manner. Some grew hard and critical of Joseph and Mary's son. "Is this Joseph the carpenter's son? What good can come from Galilee?"

We need to remember that the celebration of Jesus' birth ushered in a new dawn in God's plan for restoration. It was only the beginning of the change that had been prophesied in the Old Testament. The Magi who came and worshipped the child, did so with the insight that this was not just a child, he was a king. They were not swayed by the surroundings of poverty. They saw a King. Maybe I need that vision today. To see Jesus as he is and not who I think he is, and to hear what he desires me to be, not what I want to be.

Merry Christmas!
The Bynum's