In my garden I have three fly catchers (the ones you get from Bunnings.) They catch and kill thousands of flies. Every time I pass one, I give it a swirl and drown whatever flies are buzzing around inside.  I wish they would come up with one for mosquitos! However, I ask myself, “Can’t those flies see the 100’s of their drowned comrades and that they are destined to the same fate! But they are all buzzy trying hard to find the holes at the top where the stench is coming from, and when they get in there they are trapped! It is at this point that I ask myself, “Can’t people in this world see the fatal stench of things they are attracted to. They swarm around things that lead to death. Why do people choose that option over what God is offering? The evidence for Jesus is insurmountable! My garden fly catchers are a microcosm of what this world is going through. The world is an orbiting cemetery, and God has provided only one way of escape.

Luke 2:10 – 14 NLT “but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”  Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and sayings “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” Most ‘Christmas messages’ use this text.

“Peace on Earth?” If we are honest with ourselves this has never come true in a human sense. The angels must have been talking about a different kind of peace. There certainly has never been peace on earth throughout all its history. The news shows us how the rest of world will spend Christmas. The misery and descriptions of the millions who will endure cruel winters with no assurance of food, water, or shelter as we see, for example, in Gaza.  

Christmas can become a time of stress as low-income families struggle to provide what our culture says the season must deliver. I know many secretly dread the financial burden of these expectations. Amongst all the gift giving of Christmas no one thinks to share a gift with the great gift giver, in fact church offerings plummet over Christmas, as even Christians struggle to make Christmas conform to contemporary culture. As your floor is littered today with bright coloured wrappings, give a thought to the greatest gift that this season is about.

December 2023, Bethlehem is closed. The world is locked out. It is located on the West Bank. Sweeping the world today is a brooding anxiety that includes political changes, economic uncertainty, conflicts, and impending environmental collapse. In his swan song documentary, One World, One Life, David Attenborough gave this world about 80 years. That is why I called this devotional story The Missing Peace!

Over 2000 years ago, life was different. There was no working social security system, no pension plans, no hospitals, no medical research. The known world was under a dictatorship, sensual indulgence was rampant. There was no reason to expect hope to get any better as far as anybody could see. BUT THEN shepherds on a Judean hill heard the music as never before. The angle host sang, and the Angel of the Lord announced the text mentioned above.

What made the angels sing? Didn’t they know what this world was going through? What made the shepherds, then a long line of grateful people have hope? A saviour was born! God became man! The Eternal stepped within the bounds of time. God would not let this world die on the vine! He had big plans for the world that would bring hope and joy into the midnight of despair. He would bring an end to the rebellion that began in heaven!

Think of what the world would look like today if Jesus had not come! There would be no hospitals, no relief agencies, most of the great Universities had Christian foundations. There would no churches dispensing the grace of God in our communities.  The Birth of Jesus brought hope and Joy to a despairing world. It altered the way the world thought and acted, but more than that it brought salvation. He came and cleared up exactly what people needed to hear. He told the truth about God, about humanity’s potential, and about the future. These had all been confused by centuries of tradition. These are the same truths that we need to hear today.

You may find it strange but the Bible writers did not record much about the birth of Jesus. Their emphasis was on the death, resurrection and second advent of our Lord. One circumstance surrounding his birth is recorded by Matthew. He was concerned with Joseph’s dilemma of a pregnant fiancée (Matthew chapter 2). Mark had begun his gospel with the baptism of Jesus, John totally ignored it also, but Luke was touched by the disturbing and pathetic scene of a young women about to give birth to the Messiah in a stable with smelly animals (sacrificial animals, which is an analogy)

The question we should ask ourselves, if business is booming, as it was in Bethlehem that night, what could cause us to hang out the no vacancy signs? Jesus was about to be born, and now he wants to be born again in the inn of our hearts. There are many things that can cause us to hang out the no vacancy sign. Can you identify any in your life?

The shepherds bowed to the one who would become the great Shepherd. The wise men turned up about two years later. Wise men still seek Jesus and when they find Him, they travel “by a different route.” (Matthew 2:12)