How Do You Celebrate Christmas?

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INTRODUCTION

Today we are going to see the right approach to Celebrate Christmas based on three personalities surrounding the first Christmas.

When we study through the gospels the Christmas story has many aspects to it: We have the engagement of Joseph and Mary, Mary conceiving in the Holy Spirit, Mary going to Jerusalem to be with Elizabeth, the angel of the Lord talking to Joseph, Joseph accepting Mary in marriage, and together they go to Bethlehem where Jesus was born. Then we have the shepherds, King Herod, the star, the wise men, and their gifts.

God put many pieces of history together for the birth of His Son. When we go through life, we just see a part of what God is doing in our lives. We do not know why some things happen in our life. But when we look through God’s perspective, we understand that anything and everything that happens to us will eventually be for our good and will bring glory to His name.

For today’s devotion, we are going to see 3 different people represented in the Christmas story from Matthew 2. With these examples, we will clearly know how to celebrate Christmas in the actual sense.

The Magi Visit the Messiah

Mathew 2:1

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem.

The magi or the wise men are the mystery men in the Christmas story. We have heard a lot about these wise men from childhood days, but as we study the scripture, we find that there are many unanswered questions about the wise men.

How many were there? We don’t know.

Where did they come from? We don’t know.

They seem to just show up mysteriously and just as mysteriously they are gone.

Who were these magi?

They came from the east or probably from the land of Babylon. The OT mentions that Daniel was one of the wise men in the Babylonian kingdom who was eventually made head of the wise men.

Daniel 2:48

Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men.

The magi were from Babylon and were the descendants of the students of Daniel, so they were familiar with the scripture. The scripture pointed out to a coming king of the Jews called Jesus. Once they knew a Messiah would come, they looked for the signs. Finally, when they saw a star rise up, they left their houses to see the Messiah, king of the Jews.

Mathew 2:1-2

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.

The wise men went straight into Herod’s place looking for the king. King Herod immediately called for a meeting to enquire about this matter.

Matthew 2:3-4

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.

Now I want to introduce the first people group for today’s devotion: The teachers of the law (Chief priests, Pharisees, and Sadducees).

We do not know whether the magi had a chance to talk to the teachers of the law; however, King Herod called a meeting and conveyed the message that the magi had come looking for the King of the Jews. The king enquired as to what the Jewish scripture said about it.

Well, the teachers of the law looked into their scripture and found the exact prophecy regarding the birth of Christ.

Matthew 2:5-6

5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: 6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

In those days people were expecting a person would come into the scene and deliver people out of Roman bondage. The thought of a new leader was a worldwide thought because Rome controlled a major part of the world then and people were suppressed by the Roman rules. The Jews were expecting it even more because their scripture directly pointed to an incoming Messiah, the King of the Jews.

King Herod initiated a debate on this subject among the teachers of the law. They spotted scripture concerning Christ. Now listen, the Jews had the scripture, they had a star that was moving around in Jerusalem, and there were these foreigners (Magi) who had come with a great caravan traveling through Jerusalem to see the king. Sadly, the Jews ignored all these signs and ignored the birth of Christ. Real Christmas was happening in their hometown, and God’s own people were busy in their own ways instead of being part of the first Christmas celebration.