Christmas : Different things for Different People

Shepherds and wise men, inn keepers and Herod.

Christmas means different things for different people.

For the inn keeper there was no room for Christ.

Joseph and Mary were looking for a place to stay but not only was there no room at the inn, there was no room in the inn keepers heart.

The inn keeper saw that they were not from Bethlehem.

He saw that they had nowhere to stay.

He saw that Mary was with child, but there was no room for compassion or generosity.

He did not want to get involved in the problems and life of another, so he turned them away from his inn and from his heart.

On the first Christmas and every Christmas since and probably this Christmas too, there are still inn keepers in the world who have no room.

No room for Christ.

No room for the homeless.

No room for those in need.

For Herod, the Christ Child was a threat.

A threat to his power, his throne, his tiny little kingdom.

So he tried to kill Jesus, because the Christ child would cast down the mighty from their thrones and lift up the lowly.

He would fill the empty with good things and send the rich away empty.

On that first Christmas and every Christmas since and probably this Christmas too there are still Herods threatened by the Christ Child.

Threatened that they would lose their money.

Threatened that their tiny little kingdom that they have worked so hard to build will all come tumbling down if power, money, and influence were no longer the motivating factor in peoples lives.

For the Shepherds, the Christ child was their hope and fulfillment.

The Shepherds were not only the lower class they were the empty class.

They not only had no power or influence or money, they had no hope for change in their life.

They had no hope that their emptiness would be filled.

So they heard the angels song of praise and good will that a child had been born who would bring them hope.

On that first Christmas and every Christmas since and probably this Christmas too, there are still shepherds who can hear angels sing.

There are still poor and lonely and empty people in the world who look to the Christ Child as their hope and their fulfillment.

For the Wise Men, the Christ Child was the Light and the Truth.

What the Wise Men searched for all of their life was not power and riches but enlightenment and truth, so they followed the star to the Christ Child.

And they gave Him all they had in exchange for His Light and His Truth.

On that Christmas and every Christmas since and probably this Christmas too, there are still Wise Men who search not for power or riches or pleasure or possessions but for Enlightenment and Truth.

What Christmas means for each one of us depends on who we are and what we are looking for.

Christ is here for each one of us.

He knocks on the door of our hearts.

He comes to dwell in our midst.

Angles still announce Him and Stars still point out the way to Him.

And the true meaning of Christmas is still found only in Christ!