Don’t Miss the Baby – Wisemen still seek him.     Luke 2:1-7

^{Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason -- December  10,  2006}

¹At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. ²(This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³All returned to their own towns to register for this census. ⁴And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. ⁵He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was obviously pregnant by this time.

⁶And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. ⁷She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn.

I saw a plaque at my Dentist’s office last week that was interesting. It said: “Every day is a gift. That is why they call it the present.”

An American Express survey about Christmas gifts found that the fruitcake was chosen most often (31%) from a list of "worst" holiday gifts. It even finished ahead of "no gift at all." When asked how to dispose of a bad gift, 30% would hide it in the closet, 21% would return it, and 19% would give it away. This suggests that the Christmas fruitcake might get recycled as a gift for the host of New Year's party. Resource, Mar/Apr, 1990.

This is the Christmas season and gifts and presents are very much on center stage. It seems that on the night before Christmas, a young father scolded his 3 year old daughter for having wasted expensive, gold tasseled ribbon on a Christmas present.
The next day however she gave him his present, a box wrapped with the golden tasseled ribbon.
When he opened the box, he saw there was nothing in it and told his daughter.
“You can’t give an empty box as a Christmas present” he said “It has to have something in it.
“His daughter started to cry and then sobbed: “Daddy, the box is full – it’s full of kisses for you.”
It is so easy to miss the present if we are looking for something different.

How often do we miss the point of something important? In the story of Christmas we find that this was certainly true. And most of the time when we consider the event and all the elements of the birth of Jesus, we think about the people who met and gathered around Jesus, Joseph and Mary. There were the shepherds, the wisemen, Simeon and Hannah the prophetess. It is easy to remember them. They were active participants in the story. They were all either waiting for or seeking out this baby born on that night of nights.
But do we ever stop to think about THOSE who MISSED Him – God’s chosen one – Jesus. There were people involved in the Christmas story who simply missed the point of his coming. They missed the most important event in all of history.
Why, because they didn’t recognize God’s present to them. To them it was like “the box full of kisses”.

First of all there were:
1. The Innkeeper and the Bethlehemites.
Inns in those days weren’t smart five star hotels. Inns were very simple accommodations.
They were a bit more like campsites - rough and ready with no running water!
We are told, by Luke, that in 4BC - the year of Jesus’ birth - there were many travelers in Bethlehem because of the census that had been ordered while Quirinius was ruler in Israel. The census was decreed by Caesar Augustus. He wanted to know how many people lived in the empire and of course how many could be taxed.
And to ensure he got them all taxed, everyone in Israel had to go and register for the census where they were born so that they could pay their taxes. This meant that most people in Israel were on the move. This is a major upheaval in the lives of these people. But having to go to their ancestral home was the least intrusive means of counting the subjected people of Israel and pretty much guaranteed that they would not revolt against the Romans because of the census.
This meant that Joseph and Mary had to travel to Bethlehem from Nazareth.
There was no public transportation and that meant that they had to walk. We see their travel pictured in such a way that Joseph walks and Mary rides a donkey. Any one who has raised a family knows that pregnant women, who are about ready to deliver, don’t travel quickly. By the time they finally arrived at Bethlehem, the inn was full.
There was no room for them.
If the innkeeper had known who was going to be born that night - he would probably have found room in his inn. But he was too busy and missed the boat - or should I say the Baby.
He was just too busy with running a business to recognize that this Baby was going to be the one who would save all of mankind. He had other things on his mind.
The Bethlehemites also missed the baby because they were too busy with other things to notice one little baby - but WHAT a Baby. And this baby was born to a couple of out-of-towners. No one really knew them and so they were outside their circle of influence.
Could we be like the innkeeper and the townsfolk– too concerned with what the world has to offer – job, cash - or lack of it and worldly ambition? Or are you simply too busy to spend take time? After all, there are a lot of things that eat up our time and energy at Christmas! Perhaps, we need to stop and take stock of WHO this baby really is - and what he has to offer us.
The second group of people to miss Jesus’ birth was King Herod and his Court:
2. King Herod and his Court
The Wise Men knew a new king had been born - because a special star appeared to them in the East - which means that they traveled west to Jerusalem. We don’t know exactly when they came to visit the baby and his family, but this was some time later because they came to the house where the family was living. I think that they saw the “glory of God” that appeared to the shepherds on the night Jesus was born. And that started them on their journey to Jerusalem. The go to Jerusalem because it is the capital city of Israel. Surely, there is where they would find the new-born King of Israel.
And Matthew records the facts that they followed this star and landed up at Herod’s, asking where they can find this new king. Actually it wasn’t a bright question because any king would feel threatened by the revelation that there was a new king born in their kingdom.
Herod was pretty much like most Middle Eastern despots. He was ruthless and brutal.
And we know from history Herod killed at least one son and a wife - his favorite wife - for allegedly plotting against him. So we can be sure that he wasn’t too excited to hear about a competitor being born.
In fact he was so upset that he later ordered the murder of all baby boys under 2 years of age living in Bethlehem. This gives us an idea of the time between the birth of Jesus and the arrival of the wisemen. It could have easily been a year or so later that they came looking for this new king.
Herod and indeed his Court were scared of this new king - because they thought that they would lose their power and influence.
They missed the Baby because they were afraid of what it might cost them.
There are many people who live today - people who are living like Herod and his Court.
They are not willing for Jesus to be crowned as King in their lives. They are concerned about what Jesus might cost them - and so they miss out on meeting the baby.
Do you need to allow Jesus, the heavenly king, to take the throne of your life this Christmas?
The last Group of people to miss Jesus’ birth were the
3. The High Priest and the religious leaders
The last person who missed Jesus was probably the one man who SHOULD HAVE met him – the High Priest.
In those days, the Jewish High Priest was seen as God’s representative on earth to the Jewish people.
The High Priest and the religious leaders knew all about the Messiah – who was Jesus - from prophecies in the Old Testament. And when Herod wanted to know where the Messiah was going to be born they went to the Scriptures and found that he was going to be born in Bethlehem. And they told Herod that. And Herod told the wisemen where he would be and to be sure and let him know when they found the baby so that he could go to worship him, too.
But what did these religious leaders do?

What would you have expected them to do? Surely, they would hasten to go see their Messiah. But once they heard the report of the Wise Men - did they go and check Bethlehem out - to see this special baby, God’s Son who had been born there? This is a stupendous event. Their messiah might have actually come to save them.
No.
They missed the Son of God because of indifference.
They had the facts about the baby. The news about the baby would have traveled quickly around Jerusalem.
They knew how special he would be.
They knew he was the Messiah sent to save them.
They been waiting for him for 300 years. – But perhaps the wait had just become a tradition for them. The life had gone out of their faith in his coming.
But they didn’t really believe about the Messiah enough – or care enough -to find out more.
Many people today think in the same way as those religious leaders of Jesus day did.
To conclude:
- Some missed the baby because they are just too busy – Life suddenly comes to it’s end just as the Scriptures say. Some people are going to get around to considering all this God stuff one day, but they get busy with life and many miss the baby.

- Some missed the baby because they feel threatened by him. They want to rule their own lives and they miss out on that wonderful relationship that Jesus offers. The cost of change that he will demand in one’s life is just too high. So they miss out on what he has to offer in love, forgiveness and redemption.
- Some missed the baby because they are indifferent to who Jesus is - and to their own needs.
This Christmas, let’s not miss the opportunity to make time to look for the greatest Christmas present of all – the baby who was born in a manger 2000 years ago.
His name was Jesus Christ and was and still is the Savior of the world.
Because we cannot celebrate Christmas

without remembering Easter too.
Jesus was crucified - on a Roman Cross - but after his crucifixion, God the Father raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus is alive and can still be known today – if you care to seek him.
As the 80’s car sticker said: "Wise men still seek him"

--Dennis Gleason