The Night Before Christmas
'Twas the night before Christmas... and almost no one knew what was going on.
Sometimes a group will conspire to buy one special gift for someone. Or, maybe send the "lucky" one on a treasure hunt through the house to find their gift. Last year, someone gave each member of the family a big gift - just to share the wealth. So, it's not unusual to find there's something happening that's not public knowledge.
But the first Christmas? That tired, dusty couple from Nazareth, out in the barn - yeah, the pregnant girl! - in all the world, they were the only ones who had a clue what was about to happen.
Even they couldn't really know. It's one thing to hear a prophecy, see an angel, quite another to deliver the Creator as a squalling, bloody, baby boy. Then care for Him as He grows to manhood? Watch as He performs miracles and teaches with authority no human ever possessed? See Him rejected, beaten, tortured, mocked, and killed? Hear - stop! can't you leave a sobbing mother alone? - hear that He's not dead, but has in fact conquered death? The young man and his girl-bride had heard what would happen, but it was like they were standing in a small room with their hands on the knob of a closed door; on the other side of the door was a world they could not imagine.
It was Christmas Eve, and no one knew....
Sometimes a group will conspire to buy one special gift for someone. Or, maybe send the "lucky" one on a treasure hunt through the house to find their gift. Last year, someone gave each member of the family a big gift - just to share the wealth. So, it's not unusual to find there's something happening that's not public knowledge.
But the first Christmas? That tired, dusty couple from Nazareth, out in the barn - yeah, the pregnant girl! - in all the world, they were the only ones who had a clue what was about to happen.
Even they couldn't really know. It's one thing to hear a prophecy, see an angel, quite another to deliver the Creator as a squalling, bloody, baby boy. Then care for Him as He grows to manhood? Watch as He performs miracles and teaches with authority no human ever possessed? See Him rejected, beaten, tortured, mocked, and killed? Hear - stop! can't you leave a sobbing mother alone? - hear that He's not dead, but has in fact conquered death? The young man and his girl-bride had heard what would happen, but it was like they were standing in a small room with their hands on the knob of a closed door; on the other side of the door was a world they could not imagine.
It was Christmas Eve, and no one knew....
posted by David Hardesty | 4:06 PM
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