Series: The Call of Christmas
Message: The Call to Praise
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira
Refresh: Open with prayer. Read or listen to Psalm 44:17-26.
Read: Luke 2:1-20—As you read in the Message paraphrase, note 1-3 insights/questions that arise.
Reflect: N. T. Wright, in his commentary Luke for Everyone, page 39, brings home the reality of the location:
“Let’s be clear about where they were lodging. Tradition has them knocking at an inn door, being told there was no room, and then being offered the stable along with the animals. But the word for ‘inn’ in the traditional translations has several meanings, and it’s likely that they were, in fact, on the ground floor of a house where people normally stayed upstairs. The ground floor would often be used for animals – hence the manger or feeding-trough, which came in handy for the baby – but there is nothing to say that there were actually animals there at the time.”
Again, most historians would confirm today, that the heat generated from the animals feeding, along with other matters, was on the ground floor so that it heated the first floor where the family resided. This was not a pretty location; quite the contrast that Jesus was going to live for His whole ministry time. It is hard to celebrate simplicity in a world at that time, and even more so today that celebrates “things.” Our culture today has replaced awe and wonder with transient commodities. Jesus arrived in nothing and yet was everything. That humble beginning set the tone for His ministry (Luke 9:58) and challenges us today to process our consumer addictions.
Recalibrate:
Respond: Pray for strength.
Research: Christmas marketing, focus trends. Which decade did it start to transition more away from Jesus?