There is not enough time to buy everything that I need to get. I am going to have to spend too many days with my crazy in-laws. Just another day that no one will notice me and why does my life even matter. One of the two times a year I have to go to church just in case there is a God.
Maybe the above comments are some of the responses you think of, or maybe there are others. The typical response I get when I ask someone about the how the Christmas season is going usually revolves around buying presents or having to cook a meal for a large family.
What should our response be when we think about Christmas? It is the time we celebrate the birth of our Savior. God intervened into our lives and came in human flesh to accomplish what we could not do for ourselves. He became our perfect sacrifice for sin, and then defeated death on the third day. This all started with the birth of Christ in a manger, in the town of Bethlehem.
As I looked at the stories surrounding the birth of Christ it became apparent that the birth of Jesus set in motion many different responses. Matthew and Luke give us different perspectives of how individuals responded to the announcement and the actual birth of Christ.
Mary was the first person to be told about the birth, which of course would make sense since she is the one to carry and actually give birth to Christ. In Luke 1:29 we see Mary’s first reaction which is fear as the Angel pays her a visit. This is the typical response within the Bible when an angel visits anyone, and I would imagine would still be the response today if we came face to face with an angel. There would also be fear, as she was about to become pregnant without her husband, meaning she could be stoned for having a baby out of wedlock.
Next Mary responds with curiosity on how it is possible for her to be with a child, as she has not “known” a man. This would certainly be a legitimate question, as opposed to when Zacharias asked the angel about having a child, because he did “know” his wife and could continue to do so for his wife to become pregnant. This is most likely why Zacharias was punished for his disbelief and Mary was not, as her curiosity rational.
Luke 1:38 says, “Then Mary said, ‘Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.’ And the Angel departed from her.” Mary responds in obedience and says basically that she is the slave of God and will do His bidding. She realizes her place and completely submits.
Lastly, we see Mary worship God in Luke 1:46-55 for her blessing. She has been given the responsibility and honor of bringing the Savior of Jews and Gentiles into the world.
We see Joseph in the Matthew account and his first response would seem to be disbelief, as he was going to quietly divorce Mary. Obviously Mary told him, as he knows, but must not have believed her. In some ways it is probably the same response a lot of men would give if their soon to be bride came to him and said that she was pregnant with the Messiah. Joseph was being very “compassionate,” at least in his perspective, in his decision as he could have had Mary stoned to death for being pregnant when they had not “known” each other yet. Instead he was going to end the marriage quietly, which would allow her to live.
Joseph receives a visit from an angel that changes his mind very quickly, as we see Joseph marry Mary, which would probably become a very dishonoring act within the Jewish community. Joseph responds in obedience to God once what Mary said was confirmed. It took an interjection by God for him to believe.
On the other side we see Herod who makes a devious plan to have Jesus brought to him so he could kill the child, as he was afraid of this prophetic king being born. Herod talks with Jewish historians and lawyers to learn about the prophecies and then he brings in the wise men. Just a side not, there is no where in the Bible stating there are only three wise men. He then lies to the wise men and tells them he wants Jesus brought so he could honor him, but in reality it was to kill him.
The wise men find out and tell Jesus’ parents of the plot and they are able to flee to Egypt. When Herod finds out the wise men deceived him he orders that all children two years old and younger be killed. Herod responds as a paranoid megalomaniac. He is only thinking of himself and will destroy anyone he believes may take over his kingdom. How would you like to explain this to God at your judgment? You are the one who tried to kill His begotten Son, the Messiah. Definitely not a good response on Herod’s part! Is there a difference from what Herod did, and when we deny who Jesus is in the eyes of God? It seems denying Christ as Lord may even be worse, as at least Herod realized that Jesus is a king. Either way I certainly would not want to find out the hard way, which is the judgment seat.
The wise-men also respond in an interesting fashion. They first respond in obedience to Herod and start out planning on retrieving Jesus and bringing Him back to Herod. Something weird happens. They see what looks like a star move and stop over a specific location. As being wise men they know that stars do not just move around the sky and then stop. They probably also knew that comets and asteroids (whether or not known by those names) would burn out or disappear.
They find out about the plot and their immediate response is to warn Mary and Joseph, as the vision of the bright light dramatically changed their belief about what happened in Bethlehem. Upon arrival they fall down and worship Jesus, who was probably around two years old at this point. Their response is worship and praise.
These men, however many of them there were, most likely gave up their position with Herod and had to go to their home town by a different route. They responded with sacrifice and what could have been their lives if Herod found them and they were tried for their direct disobedience.
Now we come full circle and ask the question again. What is your response now to Christmas, as you rethink about what happened in Bethlehem? Go back and read the accounts in Matthew and Luke and really dig into what is happening within the texts. It may not have been on Christmas exactly, but it is the time we celebrate Christ’s birth. We should bough down and worship our Messiah, and respond the way Mary and the wise men did. We should respond in obedience, worshiping Him and celebrating the great day that the Second Person of the Trinity invaded was born in human form. He became fully human while at the same time being full God. A mystery of the ages, but it was done so we may have a relationship with Him and live eternally in Heaven.
Because of Him we can handle the shopping lines a little easier. Our families will not bother us nearly as much. We can be assured that someone does love us and cares about us deeply. We will want and look forward to attending church where we can worship God with fellow believers.
If you do not know Christ as Savior and Lord then I would ask that you accept Him today. Just pray that you are a sinner and that you realize there needed to be a perfect sacrifice for your sins. Pray that you believe that Jesus Christ paid the price on the cross, and then defeated death on third day by resurrecting physically from the dead. Pray that you accept Him as Lord and Savior and you will be saved.
Here are some verses to follow to support what I said above:
Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Acts 16:31, “And they said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household.’”
Romans 10:13, “For ‘Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”
This is by far the most important decision you will ever make. This is the response one should have it a response has not been given yet. Again, I ask you: What is your response to Christmas? Is Christ Savior or not?
