Dr. Mike Murphy
Despite every effort by the local school board, the parents insisted that the story of the Nativity was going to be a part of the Oakdale Christmas Pageant this year. But with the parents insistence, the board also became insistent, demanding that certain changes would have to first be made. So both sides decided to sit down, so the school board could tell the parents exactly what they had in mind.
As the story of that night in Bethlehem was read, you could see the school board officials starting to squirm in their seats. And as the reading of the story was finished, board members began to speak even before the parent reading could get their Bible closed.
“First of all”, a woman on the school board began to say, “why does May have to be Joseph’s wife? What if it was just his girlfriend? We cannot offend a large amount of people by trying to tell them they were married. And second, we could not dare have them riding a donkey to Bethlehem! To ride that poor donkey that far would be perceived by many as animal cruelty. We would have to have them as a couple of people who just happened to be together, both walking the whole way.”
As soon as she finished, another board member began to speak. “We do not know if that stable was private or public property, and if it was public property, we could never have a religious symbol, like an angel, on it! That would be a violation of Church and State, this simply cannot be! And if there was no room for them at the inn, then that means they were homeless, so the stable would have had to have been public property. No way we can allow an angel to be seen at that stable!”
Another woman on the board then began to chime in. “What message are we sending to all woman if we portray Mary as a virgin? To say this would set women’s rights back fifty years, and tell women they could not have sex before marriage. I will not be a part of anything that would even begin to do that! And this idea of swaddling clothes wrapped around the baby, binding a baby like that would be perceived by many as child abuse. I am not going to be on the local news explaining why i support child abuse!”
The man on the school board who had spoke about the stables before, began to speak again. “Back to these angels, we cannot have them praising God! That is unconstitutional! That would leave us supporting one religion above another, even worse, it would have us support religion period. We cannot do that, the ACLU would be here protesting before the pageant finished!”
Immediately, another school board member spoke. “And the idea of these three wealthy men bringing gifts to someone they say is their King, no way could we allow that! First of all, it would find us supporting a crime, because we have no proof they paid taxes on these gifts. And second, why would they not have spread the wealth, and given part of this to those poor shepherds? No wonder we do not read the Bible in my house, look at what it supports! We cannot allow children to be a part of this!”
As the parents heard all of this, one of the parents jokingly spoke. “By what you are all saying, it would have been best if Jesus was not born at all. Maybe we should just have Mary getting an abortion in our pageant before that night even begins!”
On hearing this, the school board members soon began to raise their eyebrows and look at each others. Soon one of the school board members began to speak, “Maybe you are on to something we could live with.”
We all see our little story, and smile at the joke. But if we take a second to look closely at the direction on society is presently heading, we have to ask ourselves, how much longer will it take for this joke to become a reality? How many around us now think this world would be better off if Christ would not have been born at all? So let us ask ourselves, what would things be like if Christ had never been born?
Although many will never allow themselves to admit it, Jesus changed every aspect of life as we know it. And through those who have come to accept Christ, what we call the Church, more good has come to this earth than through any other movement in history. No event, or even a series of events, has done more to transform this world that both the birth and the death of Christ. Not one, as His presence is still immeasurable in this world today!
Look at just two, of countless examples, of the difference that the birth of Christ brought to this world. First, without the birth of Christ, we would never know what God was really like. From the moment that man rebelled in the Garden, mankind has had a yearning to know God better, and to have a deeper understanding of the Lord. To not see the Lord at a distance, overseeing and creating all, but to feel His presence, as He lives amongst us each day. God came to the manger that night, so man would no longer have that hunger to know Him, and would no longer have to ask what God is really like. On that night, He became Immanuel, God with us(Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:22-23). And as the world stood still that night, He showed us, firsthand, just how much He desired to be close with us, and to have a personal relationship with each of us. Because on that night, man no longer had to imagine what the Lord was like, man only had to look into the eyes of the Child that was born in that stable.
Second, if Christ had not been born, man could not know the true meaning of hope. We look around us today, and we see the chaos of this world. The violence, greed, vanity, debauchery, and war that this world feeds off of. But to see this should not surprise us, as one of man’s oldest sayings, tells us, “History repeats itself.” What will surprise many, this saying does not come from the mind of man, but was given to us through the wisdom of God(Ecclesiastes 1:9-11). God knows the heart of man, and the rebellious nature that is present in man. And God knows that as long as sin is at the center of man, history will simply continue to repeat itself. A repeating loop that will never leave man knowing true hope. A hope that no earthly leader or government can ever bring to this world. A hope that can only come to man because One came to destroy the bondage that sin held over man(1 Corinthians 15:54). And as Christ laid in the manger that night, sin looked into the eyes of the Child, and saw its’ defeat.
On that night, so many years ago, not only did the world change, hope changed. And today, in this politically correct world, we joyfully do the most politically incorrect thing this world could imagine, we remember and we celebrate that night. Knowing that only because of that night, hope became a reality. And only through the miraculous gift the Lord brought to this world that night, can we experience and know true hope this Christmas!
Praying you always see hope as you look at that manger!
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