“And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
The night Jesus was born the quiet world of these humble shepherds was lit up by the heavenly host calling them to hurry and go see the newborn baby. The shepherds are a pretty treasured part of the Christmas story. There’s always at least one in every nativity scene. They never fail to make a Christmas pageant—usually in the form of a cute youngster in his daddy’s robe, carrying a staff for which he has been threatened with everything short of death by hanging if he uses it Jedi-style to hook an unsuspecting audience-member as he processes down the aisle. We love the shepherds. The people of first-century Israel, however, did not.
“So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and from Dan to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men died.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
So, let me get this straight: David did a census of his nation that God didn’t like, and He killed 70,000 people for it? What in the world are we supposed to do with this?
“For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Have you ever met someone who was too big for their britches? We like to give lip service to the idea that people are people no matter who or where they are, but in reality we don’t really believe that. We don’t believe it whether we think we are something or whether we’re sure we aren’t. Our celebrity culture makes this as plain as day. Celebrities are a little (or sometimes a lot) like spoiled children. The worst of them act in the zany ways they do not only because they think they can, but because all the people around them enable them to do it by catering to them.
In this final part of our Christmas series, The Characters of Christmas, we look at Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father. What can we learn to him? How about what to do when life takes a sudden left turn on us? Joseph’s perfect plans were thrown into chaos by the news of Mary’s unexpected pregnancy. How did he handle it? Keep reading to find out.
When Life Turns Left
Don’t you love a
good plot twist? I sure do. The best movies and TV shows always have that
moment that leaves you going, “Whoa! I
did not see that coming!” When I was in
high school and college, one of the directors who was the very best at creating
those kinds of moment was M. Night Shyamalan.
Two films in particular do this better than just about any other show
I’ve seen (and I think I can talk about these because they’ve been out long
enough you’ve either seen them or you’re not going to see them). The first was The Sixth Sense with Bruce
Willis and Haley Joel Osment. Osment
plays a young boy with the ability to see and interact with people who have
died. Willis plays a therapist who is
trying to help him work through the fear and emotions of his unique
ability. The movie is filled with
moments of heart-stopping suspense as Osment’s character navigates his
frightening world. But the real “whoa”
moment comes right at the end, after Willis helps Osment figure out that the
various dead people are coming to him to help them resolve some unresolved
tension from before their death, and that with his help they can find peace and
leave him alone. The climax comes as we
realize that Willis was one of these
dead people all along who had come to Osment for help. The moment is so jarring that people still
talk about it almost 20 years later.
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Where’s your mind? Ever been asked that? It was probably asked sarcastically when you said something that was possibly suggestive in some way. Or perhaps you were not paying as much attention in some sporting event as you needed to be and your coach told you to get your head in the game. Our minds are amazing things. The amount of information, they can process effortlessly and their ability to analyze complex data to find patterns is jaw-dropping. But sometimes it’s hard to keep them focused, isn’t it?
The Nexus 