What?
You think YOU have troubles???
Really?
What’s the matter? The cat playing with the ornaments again?
It’s snowing and your flight may be delayed?
What?
Both YOUR parents AND his are coming?
You ran out of Scotch tape again didn’t you?
Last minute shopping? Some weasel stole the parking place before you could get around the corner from the other aisle?
Oh…You’ve got problems. One thing’s for sure…YOU have PROBLEMS.
You were the FIRST in line and you STILL got a rain check???
Oh the humanity.
Have a little faith.
THAT’S all I’m sayin’…Have a little faith.
You think YOU have problems???
I’LL tell ya who had REAL problems at Christmas.
Joseph.
JOSEPH had REAL problems. His wife, Mary…PREGNANT and HE NEVER TOUCHED HER!!!
THAT’S A PROBLEM!!!!
Oh…SHE said GOD did it. GOD!!! Ya know how hard THAT is to sell to your husband???
EXTREMELY…Which is why NOBODY has ever tried it again!!!!!
Now…Get THIS…Mary is something like 8 months along and guess what???
TAXES ARE DUE…AND THE ONLY WAY TO PAY EM IS TO GO TO JOSEPH’S HOME TOWN!!!
For land’s sake…THAT’S 80 MILES AWAY!!!
And you think YOU’VE got problems???
MARY HAD TO RIDE A DONKEY…through the desert…NO AIR CONDITIONING…all the way from Nazareth to BETHLEHEM.
Have you EVER ridden a donkey ANYWHERE???
IT AIN’T FUN AND IT SMELLS.
I’m willing to BET that wherever YOU’RE going for Christmas…YOU’VE got RESERVATIONS!!!
Not Joseph. Oh no…HE COULDN’T HAVE CALLED AHEAD IF HE WANTED TO.
HE spends a couple of WEEKS…WALKING…ROCKS ALL UP IN HIS SANDALS…A PREGNANT WIFE …THANKS A LOT GOD…ON A DONKEY…and when they get there…
NO VACANCY!!!!!!!
Let me tell you something…If he hadn’t already been hearing it for 2 weeks and 80 sandy miles…HE WAS GONNA HEAR IT THEN!!!
And you think YOU have problems.
Oy.
So then Joseph has to go back out to the parking lot where he tells Mary…”I got BAD news and I got GOOD news.”
Mary: “So what’s the BAD news?”
Joseph: “There’s no room at the Inn.”
It was just an Inn as “Holidays” hadn’t been invented yet but…THEY WERE SO CLOSE…
Anyway…
Mary: “What’s the GOOD news?”
Joseph: “Ummm…”We can stay in the stable?????”
Mary: “ARE YOU KIDDING ME???THE STABLE??? MAYBE YOU HAVEN’T NOTICED BUT…I’M ABOUT TO EXPLODE AND YOU…MISTER…IT’S ALL GONNA WORK OUT…YOU WANT ME TO HAVE THE SON OF GOD…IN A STABLE??? WHY I OTTA…”
Oh yeah…YOU’RE the one with troubles oh yeah…
Meanwhile…
Ya got your 3 Wise Men…coming from who knows where exactly and THEY’RE following a STAR!!!
You know WHY they’re following a star?
3 Wise Men…3 reasons.
First, it’s part of a prophecy and they’re SURE it’s a sign.
Second, They apparently don’t mind driving at night and…
Third…They’re wise MEN…YOU THINK 3 GUYS ARE GONNA PULL OVER AND ASK DIRECTIONS???
Well guess what ladies…THEY DID.
When they got to Harod’s place…They asked HIM where they could find the new King of the Jews.
Harod didn’t take THAT very well and YOU’RE the one with problems?????
What??? Did ya burn the PEANUT BRITTLE…AGAIN?????
So….The Wise Men follow the star until it stops and where ARE they?
In front of a STABLE???
Yep…Mary and Joesph have JUST put the baby down…HE’S wearing something from the Gap for Messiahs…There’s a GOAT over there doing what goats DO in stables and…
THERE’S A KNOCK ON THE DOOR???
3 GUYS RIDING CAMELS WANT TO SEE THE BABY?????
Oh sure…they brought gifts…
Let me ask you something.
WHAT IN THE WORLD IS A BABY GONNA DO WITH GOLD…FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH???
Myrrh…it’s an embalming fluid. THEY GAVE A LITTLE BABY…EMBALMING FLUID…AND YOUR WORRIED ABOUT WHAT YOUR CRAZY UNCLE BOB IS GONNA GIVE JUNIOR?????
Then…The Wise Men tell Mary and Joseph about the dream they had…You know…About Harod wanting to KILL all the new baby boys so…NOW…Mary, Joseph and Jesus can’t even go HOME.
THEY HAVE TO GO LIVE IN EGYPT FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS.
That would be like YOU having to go live just south of…YUMA for a couple of years…NOBODY THERE SPEAKS THE SAME LANGUAGE AS YOU DO AND THEY DON’T LIKE YOU MUCH.
Ya know what?
Joseph COULD have walked AWAY from Mary but…He DID accept the fact that Mary was going to give birth to the Son of God.
Mary COULD have said NO WAY was she going to go to Bethlehem but…She DID make the trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem without a problem.
They COULD have looked for DIFFERENT accommodations but…They DID sleep in the stable.
Mary GAVE birth and the baby Jesus DID lay in the manger.
The Wise Men COULD have said “WHY BOTHER…It’s JUST another star,” but…They DID follow that star and they DID find that for which they were looking.
They COULD have shown up empty handed but…They DID deliver their gifts AND they DID take the LONG way home when they COULD have taken their chances with Harod.
Mary, Joseph and little Jesus COULD have ignored the warning of the Wise Men but…They DID flee to Egypt until the danger was over.
Would you like to know HOW all them coped???
They had faith.
FAITH.
Now…Consider this…The world is falling apart…Syria…Iran…North Korea…Egypt…Look around…Afghanistan, Iraq…
THOSE are the people with REAL problems.
Would you like to know WHY they have REAL problems???
THEY…don’t have faith.
In THIS country, we’re told there is a “separation” of church and state. We’re told we CAN’T pray in school. We’re SUED if WE put up a Creche in a park. There are those who want “Under God” removed from the pledge, God removed from the public square and Religion itself removed from our culture.
Just like Mary, Joseph and the Wise Men…We COULD accept those things but why SHOULD we?
Those who push THAT agenda don’t have what we have.
Faith.
In Newtown Connecticut, this Christmas is going to be rougher than any of us can even imagine. THEY don’t just have PROBLEMS…THEY have suffered real LOSS and we can’t begin to fathom it.
Just like all those parents who lost the greatest gifts THEY’D ever been given at the hands of a madman named Harod, 2000 years ago…The parents on Newtown have lost more than we can comprehend but…WE have FAITH and we have been and will continue to SHARE that FAITH with the good people of Newtown.
I’m willing to BET that OUR faith is giving THEM hope.
Isn’t that what faith is for?
Sharing…And hope?
Because Mary, Joseph and the Wise Men had faith…WE now have faith. THEY were all there at the very FIRST Christmas and…Here we are, at this one.
This probably won’t be the sort of thing you’ll hear in Church this Sunday or at midnight services Monday night but, maybe it should be.
Maybe it’s time to
believe that OUR problems, most of them anyway, aren’t really problems and for those who ARE facing REAL problems…It’s time we let them know that they are not alone.
Because…It’s CHRISTMAS…
Don’t KEEP the faith…SHARE it.
Merry Christmas.
Craig Andresen
The National Patriot
Weekend Edition 12/21/12
Craig –
Excellent posting. As always; you get to the heart of the matter – and, with humor and sharply drawn contrasts!
May God continually bless your website and the message it pours forth!
Nathan Bickel from the “Moralmatters” and “The Christian Message” websites, wishes you and yours, a joyous Christmas holiday season and earnest and successful New Year. Please allow me to share with you my joy at this time of year. It is a short message from my The Christian Message website, which contains a short and pointed rural story:
“Why Christ became a man:”
http://www.thechristianmessage.org/2011/12/christmas-2011-why-christ-became-man.html
Wonderful!
Merry Christmas!
Thanks for the great perspective, however, there are a number of inaccuracies in the account.
It’s not likely at all that Mary rode a donkey. More likely she rode a cart pulled by a donkey. It definitely wasn’t an inn as we understand the term. More like a family home. It was likely overcrowded with Joseph’s relatives. Therefore they went to the “stable” to get away from the crowd. As a matter of fact there were a number of holidays. They just weren’t called that. Holiday is the lazy derivative of holy day. You skipped over the shepherds. They showed up at the stable shortly following Jesus’ birth. Who didn’t show up there is the wise men (magi.) They showed up later, when Joseph, Mary and Jesus were back in their home. We are not told how many there were, just that there were three types of gifts brought. It is likely that there was a whole caravan.
Otherwise, very nicely presented. Again thank you for the perspective.
God bless you and your family. Have a very merry Christmas!
Marcus,
Ummm…The “Weasel” who stole the parking place…Wasn’t actually a weasel.
You see…Weasels don’t actually drive and therefore, are unable to rip-off a parking place at the mall.
Seriously…..
What a way to paint the story of the Nativity! Nicely done Craig. Merry Christmas and Happy New year to you, your family, and all of your audience.
Thank you for the perspective, Craig! God bless you and your family this Christmas! Faith will see us through….
Now I’VE got problems. My sides hurt soooo much and I won’t be able to stop laughing until at least noon.
Merry Christmas.