A Merry Christmas for All

In my Bible the Old and New Testaments are separated by a few pages, but in reality they were separated by about 500 years. Think about that, 500 years and not a peep from God, gosh, I can barely go 500 seconds without talking! When Jesus came to earth that night it was the first time God had contacted anyone, but something I thought was interesting is the guests at Jesus’ birthday. Think about it, first King Herod wants to kill Him, then the only people that show up to witness His birth are a couple of shepherds, barn animals, and some wise men. The thing I noticed is specifically that, an event that has been predicted for 500 years and that is the welcome wagon! I don’t know what the imperial reception for a king was at the time, but I bet it wasn’t that; Jesus was a King, I know that for sure, but He was a different kind of King. In my Chinese class we watched this touristy video about the “forbidden city” in China which was where the emperor resided, and even now way after the last emperor a lot of stuff is off-limits. Jesus was not off-limits; in contrast He welcomed everyone, even the obscure people. The Shepherd was not a rich or esteemed man, and wise men is really code for astrologer, think about that, people that may have not even believed in the Christ traveled at their own risk to see His birth. Jesus was not off-limits that night, there were not velvet ropes and no sign that said “No flash photography”, no, instead He held out His arms and called us to Him.