The House of Bread

Micah 5:2 KJV

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Bethlehem means “house of bread,” and the name refers to the fact that the village was situated in a fruitful and fertile place,

A place where with work its soil would yield food and harvest to the faithful.

A place where grain and fruit could be grown and there was an abundance of fresh water in the wells.

It was NOT a flourishing place in the sense of a great market town or trading center, but it was a special place where favorable circumstances stimulated by effort could produce refreshment and sustenance for its people.

It was NOT the holy city, it was not Jerusalem, the great capital, the center of worship and ritual and influence.

It was a modest village favored not so much in riches as in opportunity.

Dear to the heart of the Jews; a village with a history, not simply a past.

In Bethlehem was to be found the monument to Rachel, for it was here that this wife of the patriarch Jacob died and was buried.

This was the city of Ruth, who lived here with her husband, Boaz, and became the great-grandmother of Bethlehem’s most distinguished son, David.

It was here that David himself was born, and thus, “the City of David” as the Gospels describe the place.

It’s rich with associations for the Jew—a history that speaks of the future as well.

The prophet Micah, distressed with the

Worldly splendors of Jerusalem and the

Corruption that surrounded him on every side,

Points to this modest city of Bethlehem,

Least among the princes of Judah, as

The place out of whose past will come Israel’s future hope.

The text is a promise that in the midst of bad things great things shall come from small things.

He warns that in extraordinary times it is in some measure to the ordinary that we must look.

Where you least expect to see the power of God demonstrated in a corrupt and demonic world, there you will find God working out his purpose by the ordinary means of flesh and blood.

Though thou art small, little Bethlehem, our hopes reside in thee.

So on this Christmas day when our hearts are stilled by the magnitude of God’s great love toward us, we are reminded that the greatness of God is seen in the wonder both of the ordinary and the small;

The miracle of God, His divine economy, is that he can make much of nothing and something of almost anything.

A little town becomes the focus of the world’s last best hope;

a little baby comes to oppose the forces of Caesar and fear;

and human flesh and human life are dignified and made whole as never before.

The test of God’s power is not in His capacity to move mountains

and outmaneuver the phenomena of nature,

or in His power to perform and rebuke nature;

God’s power is in His capacity to make much of little.

That is what He does in creation

That is what He does at Christmas and

That is what He does with us, if only we will let Him!

I’ve never been to the Holy Land. I hope to go someday, and one of the places I’d like to see is the that cave-like space where many years of tradition hold to be the place where Mary bore her son. A reminder of the tangible quality of the INCARNATION.

Christmas lends itself so easily to metaphor and sentiment.

We need our metaphors, and

sentiment is the grease that keeps our human machinery from breaking down and wearing out.

But, Christmas does not represent a sentiment, an idea, or even a feeling about God.

Christmas belongs to those who recognize not the sense of the holidays but the real presence of God in their lives and in their world....

Not simply once upon a time.... long long ago.... and far away.

But HERE and NOW

Inhabiting our hearts.

Struggling with us against the tangible realities that surround us.

The world of Bethlehem was real.

Caesar Augustus was real.

Herod was real.

Taxation was real.

Death and slaughter were real.

Despair was real and normal.

And, in the midst of all of this God had to be made real.

And was made real, not an ideal but in the flesh.

That is what the Incarnation was and is, and that is why we bow before His presence.

“God with us” Emanuel

Not just the translation of a Hebrew name...

But a translation of the living, loving purpose of God to be present in and among His creation.

God does not abandon that which He makes;

He becomes one with us that we may become one with Him.

The old legend says, Every time a baby is born, God endorses his world.

Every time we worship Him in Spirit and in Truth we come face to face with that which made angels sing.

What is the Miracle of Christmas?

Is it the star?

Worshiping angel army?.

Wondering shepherds?

The lovely mother?

the Wise men from the east?

The cold night?

The Hopes and Fears?

Not really!

The miracle of Christmas is that God cared enough to send the very best.

And that he continues to do so in the gifts He continues to give....