The city was London and the date was sometime in the 1500's. The priory of Saint Mary of Bethlehem – which formerly had been a hospital for the sick and dying – became a city-run insane asylum. To raise money for this "ministry" a small admission price was charged for any who wanted to go inside and heckle the inmates. Not surprisingly, this became one of the most famous tourist attractions in the city. Now because the name Saint Mary of Bethlehem was rather long and bulky, the name was shortened to Bethlehem – which was pronounced bedlam. In time, bedlam came to refer to the noise and confusion that symbolized an insane asylum.
In the Bible, Bethlehem is known as the birthplace of our Savior. It is the place where God condescended to our level. It is where Jesus became man. It is the city where the eternal intersected with the temporal! It is where the Rich became Poor, that we through His poverty might become rich.(1)
Yet in our day what occurred in Bethlehem 2000 years ago has become the center of the most profitable holiday of the year.(2) And for many in our society Christmas has become the source of untold heartache and misery as the shopping days disappear. Depression sets in when all the money is depleted. Often when the relatives get together some feel ostracized and left out of the conversations. Marriages are more and more placed under the strain of the holidays because of the busyness of this time of year. It is at this time of year that more people suffer nervous breakdowns than at any other time of the year. No wonder many of us find the season to be little more than bedlam!
And yet, it isn't as though the first Christmas was any less of a bedlam than today. Dr. John MacArthur wrote these words:
"One thing hasn't changed since the time of Joseph and Mary: nearly everyone missed that first Christmas, too. Like people today, they were busy, consumed with all kinds of things- some important, some not- but nearly everyone missed Christ."(3)
In the coming weeks I want to look at four or five types of people who missed the birth of Christ. People who could have participated in one of the most important acts of God on this earth, yet for a variety of reasons chose to miss this event! To think that these four or five types of people are different from people today is to fool ourselves. Each person surrounding the birth of Christ has a counterpart today that we can discover by looking at the mirror of God's Word. Notice the first people who missed Christ's birth.
Luke 2:1-7, "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn."
These verses detail the events of the first Christmas day. Note the peculiarity of that first Christmas: there were no midwives, nurses, obstetricians, relatives, or friends. The Bible doesn't even mention that Joseph was present. Mary was left alone to birth, clean, swaddle, and lay Christ in the manger.
Luke 2:7, "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn."
This verse is explicitly concerned with a lonely birth!(4) G. Campbell Morgan commenting on this verse wrote the following:
"The method of the writer is very distinct. She with her own hands wrapped the Baby round with those swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger. There was no one to do it for her."(5)
Dr. John MacArthur put it this way:
"Mary brought forth the child, she wrapped Him in swaddling cloth, and she laid Him in a manger! Where usually a midwife would clean the baby and wrap him, there was no one. Mary did it herself. And where usually there would have been a cradle or basket for the baby, there was none. Mary had to put Him in an animal's feeding trough."(6)
Now, if you are at all familiar with the Jewish culture of the first century, this is shocking! Where was everybody? See Israel was NOT a people who sent their women off into the wilderness to labor and birth alone. Rather Israel was a compassionate people who cared deeply about human life, and thus would rarely have left a young girl to give birth by herself. Indeed! The circumstances of Luke 2:7 are highly unusual!
Where was the midwife? Where was the nurse? Where was anyone who cared? How could this young girl have been abandoned to labor and birth alone? In fact, while Scripture doesn't specifically mention him, that night in Bethlehem an innkeeper was directly confronted by a man and his pregnant wife, and he turned them away! Why? What could possibly have made a typically warm and generous people toward their own neglect a woman in such great need?
Luke 2:1-3, "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city."
From history we know that Rome had a rather peculiar way of dealing with its conquered kingdoms: they charged them for the battle. And so because of this practice, a whole system was developed in which "employees" of Rome—called tax collectors—collected the required taxes of a certain area and submitted them to Rome. However, this raised a question, how much should a region be taxed? The answer was this: each region should be taxed according to its population. And so, as was the policy of Rome, a census of a region was to be conducted every fourteen years for the purposes of taxation. Now while there were a variety of ways in which Rome determined the population of a certain region, one way was to require everyone to travel to their patriarch's city(7) – which in the case of Bethlehem was the city of David.
As a result of this taxing census, Bethlehem would have been crowded and overflowing not only with those whose lineage went back to this town because their ancestry went back to David, bust also with the Roman officials and soldiers charged with taking the census. And thus, in the hustle and bustle of trying to find housing, secure food, and keep the family together a young woman with child would have been the least of ones concerns. From the perspective of the inn keeper – who himself would have been over-burdened with the responsibilities that accompanied a full inn – Joseph's and Mary's predicament would have seemed trivial.
And so, why did the people of Bethlehem neglect this poor woman? Because they simply were too busy. They were too preoccupied. They were too self absorbed. And because of this they neglected to care about a young girl about to give birth. And because they were self absorbed, they missed participating in one of the most significant acts of redemptive history—next to Christ's resurrection—Christ's birth. They missed beholding the start of a new era. They missed Christmas!
And yet, this wasn't the first time someone missed Christ and His Kingdom on account of self absorption! Nor would it be the last.
There are few in Scripture who missed the mark as did Saul. Saul was a chosen instrument of God, called to lead God's inheritance—His people.(8) As you know, the position of covenant head was one of the most important and highly prized positions in the Old Testament for in it a man shepherded and cared for God's people. Imagine therefore how important and crucial that this new position of King would have been. The King not only was to oversee his own household. But he also was to shepherd the nation.(9)
And yet, rather than spending his life caring for God's inheritance, Saul spent his life fighting for that which already was his by calling. Thus, he wasted his men, money, time and energy because he was self absorbed in trying to kill a man who already knew that God had made Saul King! After David let Saul escape from him the first time we read this:
1 Samuel 24:6-7, "And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD'S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD. So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way."
Why did Saul spend his life chasing after David? Had David threatened him? Did David marshal and army to take over the kingdom? NO! Rather we read this about Saul --early on in Saul's reign:
1 Samuel 18:6-9, "And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick. And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day and forward."
Saul's wasted and pitiful life was the result of his own self absorption! Saul couldn't stand to have another praised more highly. Saul couldn't stand not being the most important fellow. Saul wanted to be the center of attention. Saul craved the focus of every man's eyes. And thus, rather than serving God as he had been called and commissioned to do, Saul stands as one who missed Christ and His kingdom on account of his self absorbed life.
How many this day stand in the same shoes as Saul? How many of us are like the inhabitants of Bethlehem
Two thousand years ago God came to a people who had been longing and waiting for His arrival—the incarnation of Christ was the fulfillment of all that the people had hoped for. Yet, the entire nation missed Him!
Why?
God had not failed to warn His people that Christ would come. The prophecies were clear about this. God had not withheld His Word from His people because they had the Scriptures. Rather, it was because at that time and place, the people of God were too self absorbed to notice any miracle of God—let alone the incarnation! The self absorbed are the ones who miss Christ.
The natural tendency when hearing a message like this is to resolve in your heart to not miss the Christ of Christmas this year. Let us not play games with ourselves. Christ has already come! And thus, the time to be concerned about missing Him is not just one day out of the year, or even one month out of the year. But we need Christ every moment of our lives!
See, just like Saul, each and everyone of us here this day has been entrusted by God with a stewardship. In the stewardship of the call of salvation we are called to be holy, undefiled, devoted to God. We are called to be a people of prayer. We are called to be a people of the Word. We are called to be a people of God's glory and praise.
We are given the stewardship of responsibility. The call of responsibility calls us to be faithful to the specific call that God has placed on our lives. We are called to be responsible husbands and wives. We are called to be responsible singles. We are called to be responsible parents and children. We are called to responsibility in every area of our lives whether we are workers, students or bosses. And yet sadly—just like Saul—we get side-tracked into looking out for ourselves instead of fulfilling God's call. And thus, just like the inhabitants of Bethlehem we miss God's workings and moving.
Brothers and Sisters, in the years I've walked with Christ I have been amazed at how many times I have resembled the workers of Matthew 20. They labored in the fields for their master only to end their day grumbling and complaining at him for not getting what they thought they deserved.
Matthew 20:11-16, "11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen."
From this perspective, notice: the travesty of this text is that these workers' self absorption robbed them of the joy that could have been theirs on account of serving their master and receiving from him!
How will you spend today, tomorrow, and the rest of your life? Will you spend it with an eye that ever and always looks out for your own interests? Will you spend it in bitterness and conflict? Will you spend your life trying to get all you can get? Will you be looking out for your own personal interests? Will you spend it in Bedlam or Bethlehem? Will you spend it at the feet of your Savior or in the kitchen, "...worried and bothered about so many things"?(10)
Now, lest there be any here who might be saying at this very moment, I am sure glad so and so is hearing this; they need it! Let me ask you these questions: This past month, have you participated in a conversation that was critical of someone else? This past month, have you participated in an argument not because truth was on the line, but simply because you wanted to win? This past month, have you defended yourself? This past month, have you been hurt because you were overlooked or slighted? This past month, did the victory/success of another move you to jealousy? Based on this, let me ask you this: Are you self absorbed or Christ absorbed?
Today, let us purpose within our heart to not allow ourselves to be discouraged or defeated by our sin. But to, "...lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus."(11)
Truly, one of the reasons Christ entered into this world was to free us from our proclivity to self absorption. And so let us not spend another day missing the Christ of Christmas! But in humility and contrition, let us seek Him in all that we do, content to have nothing less than His presence!
(1) 2 Corinthians 8:9
(2) *Note: Just in wrapping paper and tape alone, our society will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars this coming month.
(3) Dr. John MacArthur, God With Us, page 65
(4) See Morris' commentary on Luke, The New Testament Commentary page 92
(5) G. Campbell Morgan, The Gospel According to Luke, page 36
(6) Ibid., page 67
(7) This was the practice that was used to determine the population of Egypt. See A. Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, page 271
(8) 1 Samuel 10:1
(9) Compare 2 Samuel 5:1; 1 Kings 22:17; Jeremiah 3:15
(10) Luke 10:41
(11) Hebrews 12:1-2