When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.
(Matthew 2.3-4 NRSV)
During the winter of 1962, Dr. Robert Middleton was vacationing in Florida and happened to see the Christmas Day edition of the St. Petersburg Times. The thing that attracted his attention to this particular paper was its unusual format. For this one day, there were two front pages, one containing only good news about the holiday season; the other containing more serious matters of world affairs, like the rioting in the Congo and a bank robbery in Chicago. The editors explained that they were arranging the news in this fashion out of deference to "the spirit of the season."

It was a noble sentiment. Nevertheless, the way our Bibles describe the first Christmas stands in marked contrast. The Gospel writers do not tell about the birth of Christ with two front pages. When you turn to the New Testament there is no separation of the good news and the bad news. In fact the two are inseparably intertwined.

In Luke's Gospel, the story of the manger scene appears sidebyside with that of universal taxation by the occupation forces of Rome (Luke 2:1). In Matthew's account, there is no attempt to hide the fact that Jesus was born at the same time that a paranoid tyrant named Herod was on the thronea tyrant who would slaughter tiny infants. And always across the manger falls the shadow of the cross.

Dear God, in whatever circumstances I face, help me to carry the cross of hope. Amen.

Ron Newhouse

Help Promote Devotions.Net | Past Devotions
| Home | Bible | Devotions | Humor | Visitors | Links |