2 minute read
Christmas reflection
Paul Whitfield Chaplain
Australians spend tens of billions of dollars each Christmas, which averages out to more than a $1,000 per person. When you start to add up the cost of gifts, food, drinks, outings, decorations and perhaps even travel it’s easy to see how. The temptation to spend big and worry about the consequences later is strong. In 2019, the Kempinski Hotel in Spain displayed a $15 million Christmas tree decorated with diamonds and in 2013 a Finnish florist created a $5 million wreath. Compared to these expenses, our Christmases might seem modest.
After all, isn’t Christmas meant to celebrate the birth of a king? The word ‘Christ’ means king and a ‘mass’ is a commemoration. Isn’t there something appropriate about remembering Jesus’ birth with the best things in creation? But before we spend big, we might pause to remember the events surrounding Jesus’ birth as recorded in his biography written by Luke:
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was Governor of Syria.) and everyone went to their own town to register.
So, Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Luke 2:1-12 (NIV)
Reading this account, two things stand out – the modesty of Jesus’ accommodation and who God chose to be his guests. A manger was an animal feeding trough. I’m sure they took the food scraps out first and lined it with straw, but it wasn’t a glamorous place to put your baby. It was such an unusual place to house an infant that the angels describe it as a ‘sign’, something that would catch the attention of his guests. The guest list is also remarkable. Shepherds were considered unclean and were outcasts in polite society in Jesus’ day. They weren’t allowed to enter the temple in Jerusalem and their testimony wasn’t considered valid in court. But it is shepherds that God invites to view the newborn king and they’re the ones who spread the report that a saviour has been born.
So, if your Christmas this year is relatively humble, perhaps remember the circumstances of Jesus’ birth. But if, like most Australians, you pull out all the stops
