Around our home are a variety of nativity scenes. One is from Bethlehem. One was a gift from Kimberly’s parents when she was growing up. Another is a gift from my parents on one of our first Christmas’s as a married couple. Each of these nativities are meaningful to us. Each is beautiful … and each has its own style. The biggest thing these sets have in common, though, is the scene they are depicting. Unsurprisingly, they all feature statues of Baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, shepherds, animals, and Magi. In each set, all the figures “match.” They all look alike and like they go together.
The familiarity we have with the story, and the reinforcement of our decorations, however, lulls us into the false belief that this group of people ALWAYS went together. We begin to think that in the first century, at the time of Jesus’ birth, Magi, shepherds, Nazarenes, angels, and animals spent every Saturday night together … like a Augustan era eclectic bunko group. But that idea is not backed up by history. Though the figures look the same in our nativity sets, they were quite different in the eyes of the original audience.
The shepherds were not invited to religious gatherings. Though they were Jewish, they were outsiders and considered unclean because of the demands of their job. Nazarenes (Mary and Joseph) didn’t hang out in Bethlehem on the regular. And the Magi? Well, they lived 1,000 miles away in (what we know of) as modern day Iran! This group didn’t hang out normally. Unless something remarkable happened to mingle them, they would never have even met.
But … something remarkable DID happen.
Jesus was born!
And at His birth, Jesus invited ALL of them together for the celebration. He went out of His way to make sure they all knew about this moment, and were invited to the party. It was not an accident. It was not normal. It was God’s plan to invite them to come “home” to Him.
Do you wonder where your true home is? Do you wonder if God really wants you around? Do you want to know if you are truly invited to His party? Then join us this Sunday, December 22 at Wildwood Community Church in our 8:30, 9:45, or 11:00 worship services as we hear again His invitation to all of us to be “Home for Christmas” in Christ in part 4 of our series, looking at Matthew 2:1-12 and Luke 2:8-20. See you Sunday … and bring friends!
P.S. In our children’s ministry on Sunday we will also have our “birthday party for Jesus” and our worship team has prepared a special Christmas “gift” for us all … the 2024 rendition of “Carol of the Bells” to conclude our services. See you Sunday!