The Christ Of Christmas Series

Poor 4-year-old Landry, from Andover, Kansas, hesitated to go to school on another Monday this last winter (February 28, 2022). Here he is caught on his home’s outdoor security camara. Take a look (show video: 4-year-old has severe case of the Monday’s; www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9NeN8emtCM ).

The lens is focused on the driveway and the street in front of the home. It’s a sunny but cold winter’s day, there are no leaves on the trees, and the lawn is brown. There is a yellow school bus waiting at the end of the driveway. Then we see four-year-old Landry bundled up in his coat with his backpack, walking down the driveway toward the bus. When he reaches the end of the driveway, he suddenly stops, plops backwards on the driveway, and just lays there. The bus attendant comes down the bus stairs and reaches down to help Landry to his feet, and they get on the bus together.

His dad Jason explained, “When he’s really tired, he gets a bit grumpy and then gets way overdramatic… I think we all feel like this on Monday, and I think that’s why it’s so relatable, to see the bus and be like, ‘I can’t do it today’” (“4-year-old has "case of the Mondays" while getting on school bus for preschool, CBS News, 3-4-22; www.PreachingToday.com).

That’s the way some people face life every day. They’re exhausted with life’s challenges and a little bit grumpy. So, when they face the day, they think, “I can’t do it today.” Did you ever feel like that? Then I invite you to turn with me to Luke 2, Luke 2, where some exhausted, anxious people find peace and joy in the midst of some extraordinary challenges.

Luke 2:1-7 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn (ESV).

Sense the stress in these verses. Caesar wants to raise everyone’s taxes. Mary, a newly married teenager, is 9-months pregnant. And after a long journey, she finds herself in labor with no place to go except for a makeshift, lean-to, cow shed next to an inn. Now, having a baby produces enough stress in and of itself. But a young girl, delivering a baby in a shed, a long way from home, in a strange city where nobody cares, that’s really stressful!

In 1967, psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe examined the medical records of over 5,000 patients to determine whether mental stress causes physical illness. They assigned points to various life stressors, which they called “Life Change Units” (or LCU’s), and they discovered that those with 300 or more LCU’s are at an 80% chance of a health breakdown in the next 2 years. Out of their study, they developed the Holmes Rahe Life Stress Inventory, which among other things includes:

• Marital separation at 65 Life Change Units

• Marriage at 50 LCU’s

• Marital reconciliation 45 LCU’s

• Pregnancy 40

• Adding a new family member 39

• Change in financial state 38

• Trouble with in-laws 29

• Change in living conditions 25

• Change in working conditions 20

• Change in residence 20

• Change in church activities 19

• Change in social activities 18

• Change in sleep habits 16

• Minor violation of the law 11

When you think about it, Mary and Joseph experienced all these events, surrounding that first Christmas, for a total of 435 Life Change Events. The total excludes divorce (73 points), as it was threatened but not carried out. It also excludes jail terms (40 points) or minor violations of the law (11 points), but Mary's pregnancy out of wedlock violated Jewish law, which could have resulted in stoning. Christmas (12) is also excluded (Editors’ Choice, Mary and Joseph on Holmes Rahe Stress Scale, www.PreachingToday.com).

This was a time of high stress for Mary and Joseph. Then there were the shepherds.

Luke 2:8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night (ESV).

Now, when you read this, don’t think about little boys in bath robes in a Christmas pageant. These are homeless, street people, with a reputation for being thieves and liars. Their testimony was not even allowed in a court of law. They are “living out in the fields,” because they have no where else to go, and they have to keep an eye on the precious few possessions they do have, namely their scrawny, little sheep. Like any homeless person, they live in fear every day, and especially at night, of being molested and robbed.