Opening illustration: Have you ever missed a great opportunity? The story is told of a small resort area along the east coast that was having an open town meeting concerning some financial problems they were facing. Among the two dozen or so people was one man no one seemed to know who was apparently visiting the area and had just dropped in on the meeting. He started to make a comment as various projects were considered but he was interrupted; so for the rest of the time, he kept still and finally left early.
Just as he went out, someone arriving late came in and said breathlessly, “What was he doing here? Is he going to help us out?” The rest of them said, “Who are you talking about? Who was that man?” The person who had just arrived said, “You don’t know who that was? That was John D. Rockefeller.” That night they missed an incredible opportunity because THEY DIDN’T KNOW WHO HE WAS!
Introduction: Right here in our nation, there are a lot of people who miss Christmas. Now it might seem like it would be hard to miss it here, since every place you turn there is a ton of advertising going on about what you need to buy for Christmas. It’s not just the advertising either, there are the lights and the Christmas trees and the snow and the parties. So here in America, very, very few people will miss the Christmas celebration, but many will miss Christmas. Even many Christians will miss the real reason for the season. And we might be the cause for the world not to know Jesus.
Today I want to look back in time at those who were actually there in Bethlehem. We want to gain an understanding of how someone can miss Christmas. Scripture tells us of three kinds of folks who missed Christmas even though it was in their own backyard. Somehow, with all the commotion, they missed its essence and opportunity. They missed the joy, the hope and the satisfaction is brought. The greatest event in the world was under way with the coming of the Savior, and these people were absent.
Who were the people who missed Christmas?
1. The Inn Keeper – His life was too crowded for Christ (Luke 2:1-7)
The innkeeper is the first person who missed Christmas. Christmas was literally out his back door, but he missed it. He met a pregnant woman with child but he had no room for them. He wouldn’t make room for them. Surely he could have rolled out a mat on the floor of his own home had he been willing to inconvenience himself but he wasn’t and so he missed Christmas.
Where were the people who were supposed to care for things like this? Where was the inn keeper? Didn’t he know anybody who could help? Couldn’t even the innkeeper’s wife concern herself with this matter? All this is foreshadowing to the truth of what the prophet said, that the Savior would be despised and rejected. It seems that this was the case even from his own birth. And whatever the stable was, it was not the cleanest place to have a child. It would have been full of animals, and their droppings. It probably would have been filled with smoke from a fire built by Joseph to keep Mary warm. It was not a place for any baby, let alone the Son of God come in the flesh.
The inn keeper was busy caring for his guest and his inn and whatever other things an innkeeper takes care of. He was preoccupied with dirty dishes, mud on the tile floor, animal manure that needed to be cleaned away from the entrance to the inn, the rich customers upstairs who were demanding more blankets and another wine skin. He wasn’t an evil man, and he wasn’t unloving or unsympathetic. He wasn’t angry or belligerent. He wasn’t even indifferent. He was just busy. Just too busy! He had business to take care of. His family also was a priority to him. He wanted to provide for them and spend time with them. His friend too, was inviting him over for dinner tonight and he just couldn’t take the time to bother with a poor family who arrived in Bethlehem so late. He wasn’t evil. He was just too busy.
Think about your own lives this year. Have you spent more time shopping or decorating or baking than you have loving and serving others? Have you spent more money on stuff, than you have on investing in His Kingdom? Have you given more of your time and energy to the busy pursuits of life than in building relationships with people? The innkeeper missed Christmas. Let us not miss it as well.
2. King Herod – saw Jesus as a threat and intimidation (Matthew 2:3)
Herod wasn’t ignorant. He was very well informed. So why did Herod miss Christmas? What is the reason? Fear, Jealous fear. Herod wasn’t about to let this little child interfere with his career, with his position, with his plans, and his life style.
Don’t we see that today everywhere we look? Stores and businesses are afraid that a nativity scene might cause them to lose customers. People at offices are afraid of being a witness because their boss might not like it. People today are afraid of what Jesus might do to their business and their business practices, just like Herod.
Herod liked being king, and was not about to let anybody else be king. If not even his own sons, then surely not some baby born in Bethlehem. You know, if Jesus had come as another wise man, or as a counselor with some good advice, we can bet Herod would have welcomed him gladly.
Haven’t we seen that? There are people who want Jesus as a nice spiritual friend. They believe he was a good man or a good teacher or someone with some wise counsel. And they treat Jesus as just another part of their life. He fits into a neat little compartment reserved for Sunday morning. The rest of the week is filled with work and family and entertainment. Jesus is taken out on Sunday, but he has no impact or place on the person’s career and position and treasures.
Too many people have the same attitude that Herod had. They want to be king of their own little Kingdom and feel threatened by a baby born in a manger. The world is full of Herod’s who cry out “We will not have this man to rule over us.” Herod is the second person who missed Christmas, out of fear for what King Jesus would mean for the power and prestige that King Herod enjoyed. There are many such Herods today, who refuse to bow to Jesus out of fear for what He will do to their power.
Like Herod, who waged war in an attempt to rid the world of the baby Jesus, there is a movement at work in the world today that seeks to rid the world of Christian influence. Christmas and Easter—the holiest holidays to Christians – have been commercialized to be only about Santa Claus and bunny rabbits instead of about our risen Savior. Am I the only one upset that they took Our Christian holiday, diluted it with secular themes, and now forbid us to publicly celebrate or make mention of its origin and true meaning?
Illustration: If you think it being melodramatic; A judge in New Jersey has told Jersey City they can’t put up a nativity scene or a Hanukkah Menorah unless they put up enough non-religious symbols to mask the religious one. The Colorado ACLU is threatening to sue a school if the principal refuses to censor Christmas for its students. I could go on with more examples of how Christmas is being “De-Christianized” by our modern society that bows to political correctness above truth.
3. Religious Leaders – too proud and indifferent to take notice of Christ (Matthew 2:4-6)
This group is the most shocking. The innkeeper we could understand, he was ignorant of what was happening in his own backyard and too busy to take notice. Herod knew what was going on, but was too evil and power hungry to give up his rule. But this third group of people should have never missed Christmas.
In Matthew 2:4, not that after Herod finds out from the Magi that a King has been born, he want to find out where this King was born. The text says he gathered “together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he began to inquire of them where the Christ was to be born.” Herod called the experts together: the theologians, chief priests, the captain of the temple police, the best of all teachers with great speaking skills, the pastors and elders, the seminary-trained professors with their Ph.D.’s and Doctorates of Ministry. And they all knew the Scriptures. They said: “Oh yes, we know where the Messiah is to be born.” And they quoted Micah 5:2, “He will be born in Bethlehem.” They knew where the Messiah was to be born.
The Religious Leaders of the day missed Christmas. Does that surprise you? It doesn’t surprise us that they knew, for God made it very clear in Scriptures. What astonishes us is what they didn’t do. They didn’t go there. They didn’t go to Bethlehem. Since the time of Moses, they taught that there would be a Messiah. They longed and hoped and prayed for a deliverer. It had been the great hope of the ages. And the ones who knew, the ones who were the intellectuals, the leaders, the religious teachers, they never even bothered to walk the 2 or 3 miles south to Bethlehem to check it out for themselves.
We look at them as say “If I were them, and I knew, I would have camped out in Bethlehem. I never would have left. I would have made sure that I did not miss the coming of the Savior.” But would we have? They knew more of the Old Testament then we could ever hope to know, and yet they missed Christmas. The Spiritual leaders at the time of Jesus Christ missed Christmas.
The fact is, out of the entire population of Jerusalem and Judea, only a few shepherds came to see the Messiah. And do you remember what they did? After encountering Him, they joyfully told everyone about their experience until everyone in the Judean countryside heard about the birth of the Messiah. But even then, there is no record that anyone else, including the religious leaders of the day, came to see Jesus.
You know, he probably lived in Bethlehem for about two years. It was only after the Magi came and left that Joseph received the instructions to escape to Egypt. The religious leaders had two whole years to go visit their Messiah, but they missed him. And so we have to be honest with ourselves. I have to be honest with myself. The prospect here is chilling. I too am a spiritual leader. All of us are spiritual leaders in some respect. Not only we miss it but make others miss it too.
Maybe some people at work know you are a Christian. If so, you are a spiritual leader. If you are a father or a husband, you are called by God to be the spiritual leaders in your home, both to your wife and to your children. Mothers also are called to be spiritual leaders to their children, to other women, to neighbors and the people they interact with on a daily basis. Even children can be spiritual leaders to their friends who don’t know Christ. We are all spiritual leaders and so this group of people who missed Christmas hits us right where we are. And we can miss Christmas just as they did.
Why did they miss Christmas? I’ll tell you why. Pride and Indifference! They didn’t care. Of all three people who missed Christmas, this group is the worst. Having a Messiah was really no big deal to them. At least the innkeeper didn’t know because he was too busy. At least Herod feared Jesus. But the religious leaders just didn’t care. Why not? They were already self-righteous. They were already perfect. They were proud. You could call it proud indifference. Wrapped up in their own pride and indifference, in their own self-righteous system, there was no room for the son of God in their lives.
They thought they had all they ever needed. They were God’s chosen and that was enough. Who cares about developing an actual relationship with the Messiah? And besides, God’s servant wouldn’t be caught dead in a stable with a woman who gave birth out of wedlock. Let the government take care of them. Well, maybe most of God’s servants wouldn’t be caught dead there, but the greatest servant, God’s son, was born there. In fact, what happened when Jesus did show up later as a man? They ridiculed him, hated him and plotted his murder. They didn’t need him. They didn’t want him. The ultimate crime against Christ is indifference. They were just not interested.
Today, many people miss Christmas because they don’t realize their need for Christ. Oh, they may have eternal life if they believed in Jesus for everlasting life. They may be going to heaven. They most likely “go to church.” They observe religious traditions. But that’s where it stops for many. They think they know what they need to know about Christ and who He is and what He did. They don’t really want to have a relationship with Him. They don’t really want to meet him daily in His Word and come before Him daily in prayer.
Application: When we humble ourselves and seek to serve him as He humbled himself to serve us, we will not miss Christmas. None of us are ignorant like the innkeeper. We know what time of year it is, and who this season is about. But like the innkeeper, all of us are guilty of adding too many activities into our days. We get so busy; we miss out on what this season is all about.
Maybe some of us are like Herod. We are afraid of what Christ might do to our business if others knew that He was our king. We must bring Christ into our workplaces and homes and workplaces and among our friends. And we must not just say we will worship him, but actually worship him, and be proud to be associated with Him, to follow Him into places that might ruin our reputation and cause us to lose face with our peers.
Finally, and most importantly, we need to recognize our need for Christ. Not just our need to receive eternal life through faith in Jesus, but recognize our daily need for fellowship with Him and to follow Him wherever He leads. Not just into our Bible study and prayer meetings, but into the sinful and dark world where people need to hear about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Only then will we not miss Jesus, but will enjoy the true blessings of Christmas.
