“When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.” Matthew 2:3
Christmas is disturbing.
One of the great challenges that come with having power and control is of course maintaining it. It seem like we all know that deep down inside us all there is a frightened child hiding behind layers of wealth and privilege. We create artificial positions of status and social classes to help maintain the illusion that any of us have it all together or that we are the masters of our destiny. Unfortunately there are different times in our lives when the illusion is broken, our vulnerability is reveals and we are left to face the harsh reality of an exposed frighten child.
One of the most peculiar parts of the Christmas story is the effect it had on the residents of Jerusalem, the capital and religious center of the Jewish people. The story tells us that strangers had arrived one day from far away asking about the birth of a new Jewish king whose birth had been foretold in the stars. His birth was so significant and His kingdom so wide reaching that even the universe was needed to announce his birth to the world, a minor detail everyone in Jerusalem it seems had apparently missed. Jerusalem was by this time a busy, bustling urban center of religious and political power, privilege and prestige. Anybody who was anybody was in Jerusalem where political and religious positions were being bought and sold to the highest bidder. Spirituality was asleep at the wheel in Jerusalem, until these strangers began rocking the boat.
dis·turb (d-stûrb) 1. To break up or destroy the tranquility or settled state of mind: a. To interfere with; interrupt b. To intrude on; inconvenience: c. To put out of order; disarrange.A little digging in the archives soon revealed that yes in fact the prophets had predicted a ‘king’ would be born in a town nearby called Bethlehem, the City of David or the city of bread. But to an urban resident of Jerusalem, it was scandalous to suggest God would do anything without their say so. (apparently not!) Besides with everything else going on this with the new Roman regime this couldn't have come at a more inconvenient time! The people of Jerusalem had forgotten the big “why” of their existence as God’s people liberated from Egypt to be bearers of His message. Christmas is both confrontational and disturbing, but in the end, liberating. It is disturbing to think that we don’t control life, we don’t have all the answers or even all the right questions. We see and experience evil (i.e. the recent shooting in Conn.) and we desperately need help. We need a whole-life make over. We need to start with Christmas. Why do we need Christ whose birth we celebrate? How do we welcome Christ into our homes, our lives, our future? Has Christmas ever disturbed, troubled or confronted a sleepy faith?
“We live in an age disturbed, confused, bewildered, afraid of its own success, in search not merely of its road but even of its direction” Woodrow T. Wilson
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