Hey guys. It has been a while! but life… It is mere days away from Christmas and I have been reading about the Christmas Story. And I just have random thoughts about it. Here they are.
So, the Christmas story… You know the one.. An angel appears to Mary. His first words are “Do not be afraid”. Um yea. Many times in the bible when an angel appears they are too magnificent to even look at. People fall to the ground and tremble. So it makes sense he starts it off saying do not be afraid. I wonder if angels think “ugh, stand up, so annoying” lol probably not. The angel tells her she will have a baby and name him Jesus (Which means to deliver or to rescue) and he will be a King. Mary was probably 13 years old, a Virgin, and married to Joseph (but they had not had sexual relations yet). She asks how this will happen because she is a virgin and the angel tells her it will happen by the holy spirit. Her beautiful reply is ” I am the Lord’s servant”. It also states that she was greatly troubled. She was scared but still complied with God’s will. Back then if you had sex out of marriage they would shun you, stone you, etc. basically your life was ruined. When Mary told her husband, Joseph, he basically thought she was lying or crazy. What would you do if your wife told you they were pregnant by God? You would assume they were nuts and had cheated. Would you tell all your friends because you were angry? Throw them under the bus? This is not what Joseph did. He was a good man. The bible says: And her Husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. Reading this makes me think about when I spread gossip, when I complain about my husband to my sister or friend (Just kidding hun, eek), or how quickly I want to talk about the crazy thing this person did. I so desperately want and need to be more like Joseph. Soon an Angel appears to Joseph to corroborate Mary’s story so they are all good. lol What an unsophisticated way of telling this story. What I take away from this is how I want to be like Mary and Joseph. I want to say to God, let your will be done, no matter if I like it or if it scares me. I want to be like Joseph who is an honorable person. Im sure God chose them knowing this is the type of people that they were. I mean He made them that way.
Also, as I read the Christmas story I got pretty consumed with Herod the Great. I was a history major in college and it kind of blew my naive mind when I learned that all these historical figures with “the great” or “the mighty” were not great or mighty.. they were usually murderers and slave drivers who named themselves. Young Patty didn’t catch on quickly. He was also called “the great” because he built amazing things. But still a tyrannical murdering maniac. I thought of my brother too as I learned about Herod. He likes to learn about the evil guys. We all do. Which is why murder shows and hitler documentaries are so popular. Well Herod is up there. He was a ruthless murderer. He was called “the king of the Jews” which is why he wanted Jesus dead to badly. Someone else is thought to be the king of the jews, i think not. When he heard of Jesus’s birth he ordered for all boys 2 and under to be killed, this included his own son. He also murdered his own wife and some of this other sons and relatives during his life. Crazily, Because he was Jewish he would not kill pigs so it was said that it was better to be Herod’s pig than to be Herod’s son. Joseph was warned in a dream that Herod sought to kill Jesus so he was able to keep him safe. Herod ended up dying a very painful death. The pain was so bad that he attempted to stab himself to death but was stopped. He was so worried that no one would mourn his death that he rounded up important men and ordered that they would be killed when he died so there would be plenty of mourners seen. Luckily this was not carried out when he died. What a miserable life. Please let us be Josephs and not Herods.
This Christmas we were lucky enough to see the Christmas star. We believe that this is the star that the wise men were inspired to follow so that they could witness Jesus after he was born. It was not the night of his birth by the way, it could have been up to 2 years after his birth. But I digress. Wise men often studied astrology and knew about the prophecy of the star. What we saw this year was Jupiter and Saturn lining up which appears as one big star. It is the closest two planets have appeared together in 800 years. It is thought that this star could be what the wise men saw around 7 BC. It makes me think about how God and science do not have to be enemies. God invented the science we study and we get to study it along the side of the one who created and designed it. I got to imagine this year that I was one of the wise men spotting the star in the sky and traveling to the one who would save us all. Pretty cool.
Year 2020 was one for the books. I am ready for 2021. But no matter what happened this year I like how Christmas reminds us of Jesus’s birth. That he left a throne in Heaven to be a servant to a sinful people. That he died for us, because he did not want to live without us. That he came to save, not to condemn. He came for the sinners, not for the righteous. He loves us as a father loves a child. He is coming back to make all things new. And I look forward to that. My kids memorized a verse and have been repeating it over and over and here it is:
Thanks for Reading.
ponderwithpatty 