Did Anyone Care About the First Christmas?

My kids gave me a wonderful Christmas gift this morning. They sat, listened and asked a few questions while I shared a personal study on the characters who cared about the original Christmas message. It was also an exercise to see how different gospels each gave a unique perspective.

To set the stage for you:

During the past two years, my faith in God has been at record low points after walking away from a business, struggling through a sales job and then taking a salaried position where I've had almost no income since a client hasn't paid. I have often felt like God set the world in motion, dusted His hands and walked away.
My "kids" now range in age from 16 to 22. We adopted them out of foster care at different ages. My daughter, who is 21, gave birth a year ago and has lived at our house since March and defied our order to not let her boyfriend who is 24 years old and currently unemployed move in.

Two nights ago, she stood in our bedroom door in the middle of the night screaming at us for interfering with her parenting because our 16-year-old daughter who is mildly developmentally delayed got up to comfort the baby at 1:30 in the morning who was left crying in our family room.

We are guardians to one boy who is turning 19 and a senior in high school craves money, computers, new shoes, new clothes and has little to no interest in church or God. But we also have a son who endured his first semester in college and is strong in his faith.

How the Bible Characters Responded

Reading the following passages inspired me in new ways that God doesn't care whether or not our world is perfect, but whether we allow ourselves to appreciate the love He expresses in our lives.

John 1:10 - "...the world was made through Him, but the world did not recognize Him." Even though God doesn't receive credit or thanks from His creation, He nevertheless continues expressing His love.

Luke 1:12 - the priestly Zechariah was serving in the temple when an angel appeared and told him he was going to be a dad. The angel explained why but Zechariah was stunned in disbelief saying he was an old man.

Now let's contrast that with Mary's response in Luke 1:26 and the following verses where the angel told her she was going to give birth. She asked how would that happen since she was a virgin and the angel explained - sort of. She responded positively saying she was the Lord's servant.

In Luke 1:42 - we read Elizabeth's response and this woman seemed to understand how the pieces of her own son's impending birth would fit together with the child Mary was going to bear.

Flip to Matthew 1:20 where the humble, hardworking Joseph is greeted by an angel as "Son of David". Joseph didn't want to disgrace his fiance' for being pregnant outside of marriage and he was willing to divorce her, but God intervened to help Joseph understand why he shouldn't worry.

In Luke 2, we see the response of the shepherds who were astounded to see not one angel but an entire "host" proclaiming Christ's birth. Their response was to hurry off to Bethlehem and see the miracle for themselves.

Back to Matthew 2, after Christ was born the Magi were seeking Him. Word got to King Herod who responded with suspicion and deep jealousy that his own kingdom was now threatened. The magi presented the child with gifts while Herod plotted an early assassination attempt.

So how do we respond to God and His seeking after us: it's a question I continually ask myself while I try to re-build a personal world that has been shaken and weakened.

One of the treasures that has surfaced in the last two days was my daughter's boyfriend who prayed during a family gathering yesterday morning and was the person asking the most questions while we read the verses this morning. He's the same person who stormed into our house unannounced during a jealous rage three years ago. Yet, he's also the one who sees us as family since he grew up being passed around from one relative to another.

These passages also remind us that not only does God work to achieve His purposes, but He'll let us experience challenges to build our character and challenge any complacency we may otherwise experience.

Have a Merry Christmas!