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I suppose most of you have written Christmas
cards in the past days or weeks. I especially enjoy
writing to people I haven't seen for a while. It's a
great opportunity to send greetings and to give them a
summary of family highlights for the year and I found
myself mentioning the 2 holidays that Chris & I have
had. |
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We have been to 2 very different places. In the
middle of the year we went to Tonga, an island in the
Pacific Ocean, with some MLC girls from Year 10, so we
hopped on a plane and travelled east away from Melbourne.
That was not really a holiday because the sense of
responsibility was so great that we never really relaxed,
but we saw some great sights and met some wonderful
people. Then in the next holidays we travelled to Perth
and to do that we climbed aboard another plane and
travelled west to enjoy the wineries and the rugged,
beautiful scenery of the south-western corner. We're not
going anywhere special in the next holidays. We are
having a very quiet Christmas at home followed by a trip
to Sydney to visit family and then a few days at the CMS
summer school in the Blue Mountains. Maybe that sounds
exciting to some of you but we have done it so often that
it seems a simple thing to us. |
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So, as we sit here tonight on Christmas Eve and
think again about the events of that first Christmas, we
can't help but notice that most of the people involved in
that great story were also travellers. They all had to
make journeys and they were not very sure about where
that journey would take them. |
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The First Travellers were Mary &
Joseph who had to leave Nazareth and make a journey to
Bethlehem when Mary was about to have a baby. In Luke 2:
1-7 we read that all people in the entire Roman world had
been ordered to return to their place of birth to be
registered for tax purposes, and for Mary and Joseph that
meant a trip from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in
Judea, a journey of about 120 kilometres. People must
have been very worried for them. Imagine travelling that
distance when you are more than 8 months pregnant!
Imagine the warnings everyone would have given them. I'm
sure if Mary were around today she would have told her
family & friends to 'chill out' or 'don't stress'
– that's what my kids tell me when I tell them I'm
worried about something they are planning to do. I also
remember that just before we went to India with our
babies (who were 11, 9 and 6 at the time) their
grandparents rang us up to say they would look after them
so that Chris & I could go to India by ourselves.
They were very worried about us. They felt that we would
be in danger. People feel that way about pregnant women
and young children. |
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Nevertheless, Mary & Joseph did what they
had to do, comforted a little by the fact that an angel
had appeared to each of them. Perhaps they thought that
if God had chosen them to be the earthly parents of His
Son, he would look after them wherever they went. They
took a risk and God was with them in their choice.
Perhaps they were more than a little frightened. The idea
of having a baby without the support of family members
must have made them anxious. They must have been more
than a little concerned as they travelled from one hotel
to the next looking for a place to rest, but, while their
final destination in that stable was not where they had
expected to be, all the important things happened as they
were promised. Mary gave birth to a healthy baby boy and
Joseph named him Jesus. They shared that wonderful time
that so many of us have enjoyed - that time of finally
seeing & loving the baby that they had wondered about
for so long. Yes, they were glad they had responded to
God with a clear 'Let's go'. |
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The Second Travellers were the shepherds.
We read about them in Luke 2: 8-20. Imagine how they
felt. They were out in the fields as they had been so
many times before. It was a cold night. They might have
been sitting around a fire or wrapped up in a warm
blanket. They were talking quietly to one another;
perhaps some of the shepherds were dozing off. There
wasn't too much trouble with wild animals or with sheep
rustlers and both sheep and shepherds enjoyed a familiar
routine. Suddenly an angel appeared to them and something
called the glory of the Lord shone around them. (I
guess that was some kind of bright light). |
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They were scared but the angel told them not to
be afraid because he brought them good news – joy to
all people. 'To you is born this day in the city of David
a Saviour who is the Messiah'. All they had to do to find
him was travel to the manger in Bethlehem. They were told
that they would find the child wrapped in bands of cloth. |
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Now … they could have said it was only a
vision. |
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Perhaps it was their imagination. |
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People might laugh at them or they might get
into trouble if they just left their sheep. |
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They might have been too afraid to leave the
area they knew so well. They may have asked questions: |
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Why would a Saviour be found in a manger? Why
would the Lord be wrapped in bits of cloth? |
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Surely the Messiah would come to earth in more
significant surroundings. If they wanted to find out the
answers to all these questions, they would have to start
on a journey. God often leaves that first important step
to us – he alerts us, he makes us available - but
like the shepherds, it's up to us to make the move. So
the shepherds said 'Let's go'. And what was at the end of
the journey? Joy – they had seen and heard what had
been promised and they shared the good news with others. |
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The Third Travellers were the wise men.
We read in Matthew 2: 1-12 that they had seen the star in
the East signifying the birth of a King. They could have
waited till they heard it on the news or read a paper or
found the latest information on the Internet. They could
have waited until they received word from the place where
the king was born. They could have said 'Is it worth all
that trouble?' But they went. They journeyed many
kilometres and many hot, dusty days. They came looking
for him in the most obvious place, the palace of King
Herod. But what did the wise men think when they saw that
King Herod was frightened, when they saw him calling
together the chief priests and the scribes, asking them
where the old books said that the Messiah would be born?
Why wasn't a royal baby found in the palace? |
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Because God's plan was different. What seems
foolish to us is God's great plan. So we find when we
look at the Bible, that God didn't choose a palace in
Jerusalem for His Son to be born. No, the prophets speak
of the Messiah coming from Bethlehem, the city made
famous by King David. So that's where the wise men went
next. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were
overwhelmed with joy and after entering the house they
gave Jesus gifts: gold, because they knew he was a king;
frankincense because they knew he was God and myrrh
because they knew that his death would one day be
significant. |
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The wise men travelled to see God as a baby, a
member of a human family. That way Jesus would grow up to
experience the pain, weariness and loneliness that we all
feel from time to time. There was no room in the inn so
Jesus had to be born in a stable. That's how God sees
kingship: he wants to meet with people in their place of
need. |
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The wise men's journey took them from luxury to
poverty. They came with a sense of anticipation. They too
said 'let's go'. Perhaps they came with some doubt, but
God had put His mark on their journey. They followed
God's star to joy in a humble home where they presented
gifts not just to a king, but also to the one who would
shepherd his people, one who would guide them, love them
and even die for them. |
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We are travellers too. Our lives are
journeys and as we sit here tonight we cannot be sure
about where we will be in 5, 10 or 20 years time. But we
can be sure about God and we see him at work in the way
Jesus came to earth, in the way that the promises about
him were fulfilled. We have just heard in the words of
Matthew 11:28-30 that Jesus asks us to travel. You might
not have thought of it that way before, but once we have
heard about him, that's what he asks us to do. We don't
need to take the enormous risks that Mary & Joseph
took. We don't need to overcome the fear that the
shepherds knew. We may not have to leave the comforts of
our home country the way the wise men did. Jesus simply
asks us to come to him. When we are weary and carrying
life's burdens, he will give us rest. He tells us that he
is gentle and humble in heart. He will make some demands
of us, because we will have to be willing to learn from
him, but we will be rewarded with what we are truly
seeking. We will find rest for our souls. Isn't that what
people everywhere are seeking after - rest, peace, joy
& contentment when we stop to think and wonder what
on earth life is all about? |
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When we come to Jesus we see him as a king, but
also as our life's gift. He is the One who guides and
protects, who saves and heals. We can agree with the wise
men and say 'Let's go'. We need to continue in our life's
journey expecting that Jesus will make a difference.
Sometimes we become afraid of what God might ask us to do
for him but when we learn to trust him we will find along
with the wise men that this is what we have been waiting
for. And if we have already found Jesus to be the One who
fulfils God's plan for humanity, what else can we do but
share this gift of life with others so that they may join
our journey? |
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This Christmas may each one of us come to Jesus
and find rest for our souls.
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