SMALL, BUT NOT SMALL AT ALL!

Rev Dr Gordon Wong, Bishop of The Methodist Church in Singapore. Bishop has started travelling overseas to the mission fields as travel restrictions have eased.

That’s my way of summarizing the rhetorical paraphrase that Matthew 2:6 adopts by quoting Micah 5:1. Some might accuse Matthew of misquoting Micah since Micah 5:2 states that Bethlehem is “small among the clans of Judah” whereas Matthew quotes Micah as saying that Bethlehem is “by no means least” in Judah!

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel.” (Micah 5:2, NIV)

“But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.” (Matthew 2:6, NIV)

But Matthew hasn’t mangled Micah’s point, he has magnified it! Micah marvels that a ruler of Israel would appear in one of the smallest towns in Judah, the little town of Bethlehem. Matthew, who knows that the Christmas Child Jesus was born in this little town, expresses the same wonder conveyed in Micah’s prophecy. Bethlehem, though you may be small, you are by no means small, for in you was born Jesus the Christ.

How surprising! Why didn’t God choose a bigger city like Jerusalem? Or Rome? And why so little fanfare announcing His birth? Yes, there was an angel choir, but only a few unnamed shepherds in an unknown field somewhere near little Bethlehem heard them sing. No newspaper headlines appeared the next morning declaring the birth of this Saviour of the world.

What an unusual God! Why appear in such a small and low-key town like Bethlehem?

Perhaps God prefers to work quietly and in small, often unnoticed ways. Perhaps the God of the Bible prefers to walk around as an unassuming Clarke Kent rather than burst spectacularly out of the dark skies like a Batman or Superman.

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth, the everlasting Light. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

Christmas is celebrated the world over with bright lights, loud music, and both Christian and commercial fanfare. But perhaps it will be in the smallness and stillness of our lives where the Christ Child will be born.

How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given; so God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven. No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin, Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.

Are any of us feeling small this Christmas season? Do we know someone feeling small in a world that seems to admire only the big? Pray for him or her. Bethlehem was small, but not small at all! And perhaps this Christmas God will choose to appear most clearly in the life of your friend, who although feeling small, is not small at all.

Bethlehem was small, but not small at all!