NATIVITY

It's Christmas time.  All month.  I don't want to ruin your pristine view of the Nativity story, but the Bible doesn't really provide us with that many details about Jesus' birth.  Over time a lot of elementary school Christmas plays and artist's renderings have filled in blanks for us.

I remember church musicals of the past where we used a very pregnant Mary riding a donkey in the middle of the night -- barely able to hold the baby inside herself -- he was going to pop out any second.  But the Bible doesn't tell us Joseph and Mary made it to Bethlehem 'just in time.'  It says: 'While they were there, the days were completed that she should give birth.'  Frankly, I doubt Joseph would have made that arduous journey with Mary on the threshold of delivery.

'We should never become so focused on the peripheral details of the account that we miss the most important part.'

Remember the pudgy, jovial innkeeper who met the happy couple at the door in a bathrobe?  There's no mention of an innkeeper who told them the inn had 'no vacancy.'  He's the most famous Bible character never actually mentioned in the Bible.

Then, a lot of people think the wisemen -- three of them -- showed up right next to the shepherds at the birth of baby Jesus because the Nativity scene often shows shepherds and wisemen side by side --- but the wisemen didn't actually arrive until many months after Jesus' birth.  And we don't know how many there were -- only that they brought three gifts.

Here's the thing:
We should never become so focused on the peripheral details of the account that we miss the most important part:  Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came as a baby in the flesh -- sent by the Father God so He could ultimately go to the cross and die in our place.

And be blessed.