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Who Cares?

This morning I was asked the question I knew was coming. In fact, it eventually comes every year about this time. Why should this year be any different?

The question? "Chaplain, why do we celebrate Christmas on December 25? You know, Jesus wasn't born in December. He was born in April!"
I've also been told with great assurance over the years that He was born in August, September, and May. One went so far as to tell me it was an absolute certainty that Jesus was born on August 22, 4BC. (That young man said he could prove it.)

After giving the inmate my answer this morning, (the same answer I've given every time the question is asked) I was curious. So I Googled the question "When was Jesus born?" Try it. Without exaggeration, there were 1,160,000 results to my query.
Again, the various determinations as to the 'real' exact date of the birth of Christ ranged from early spring to late autumn. And every one (of the nine or ten I purused) worked hard to prove its validity with much intellectual wrangling.

Maybe you're wondering what my answer to the inquiring inmate was? Well, with as much scholarly wisdom as I could possibly muster, I replied, "Who cares?"

That's really how I feel about it. Does it matter? Is there any real benefit to knowing for sure the exact date of His birth? I think not.
What really matters is that He came. He became "Emmanuel." I don't care when. But its vital to me that He did.

I'm afraid that too many who choose to enter the fray of such debates end up missing out on the simple truth: "They shall call His Name, Emmanuel," which translated, means "God with us."

Here's Another Favorite (I can't help myself)

Baptism

I will be baptizing fifteen men at Charlotte Correctional Center this evening during our worship service. I'm stoked! It's always a big deal for me.

My All-Time Christmas Favorite

He Always Comes

"Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. And it had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them."
~ John 6:16-17

I've been right where the disciples were. In the dark... and wondering where Jesus is. It's a scary place to be. I can't tell you how many times over the years I noticed the darkness all around me, and I've wondered where the Lord is. But I've learned something. He always comes.

There have been times when the darkness has seemed overwhelming and I've wondered if He will. When the doctor said, "Cancer!" the darkness came suddenly, and I wanted Him to be there right then.
There have been other times when the darkness was of my own making. Bad decisions. Carelessness. Sin. I've wrapped myself in darkness like a thick blanket. I had no business expecting Him to come. But still, He always does.

He comes because He's always faithful to His Word. The promise is He'll never leave us or forsake us. So He always comes.

His Story Looks a Lot Like Us

Typically when we read the Christmas story through Matthew's eyes, we begin with these words: "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise..." But that's verse 18 in Matthew 1. There are seventeen verse that most of us tend to skip to get to the birth. They are verses filled with "so-and-so begat so-and-so" and so on and so forth.

This is where I think we find the real story. Actually, we find a number of stories. Some not-so-nice stories. Here we find the stories of liars and cheaters and schemers who seem to have no regard for the holy. Let me point out a few:

"Judah begat Perez and Zerah by Tamar" (Matthew 1:3) - Tamar was Judah's daughter-in-law. You see, old Judah was a pretty despicable fellow who slept with what he thought was a prostitute while on a business trip. It turned out to be his daughter-in-law who had conspired to deceive him because he had lied to her.

"Salmon begat Boaz by Rahab" (Matthew 1:5) - You remember Rahab, don't you? She wasn't even an Israelite; she was a descendent of the people of Canaan. And she was a prostitute.

"David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urriah" (Matthew 1:6) - Ouch! The biggest mistake in David's life. A scandalous affair in the king's house. Adultery. Murder. And here it is, a glaring reminder of David's treachery.

What's my point? Simply this: The story of Jesus Christ is our story. The family tree is filled with less than reputable folks who'd lived life in the fast lane. Not the kind you'd expect to find at a church social. Yet God included them in the story of His Son. They weren't banished to the obscurity of the Old Testament with the hope that they'd be overlooked or forgotten. They're there in the Savior's story for all to see.
And they look like us.