Merry CHRISTmas to one and all! From our family to yours, we wish everyone a blessed Christmas season and a joyous 2008. The past 12 months has flown by — there’s no doubt about it: the older I get, the faster the days go by.
2007 has seen many visitors (old friends as well as new ones) perusing the contents of this blog site as well as its companion website. Despite being spammed several times throughout the year and the ever-present hate-mail for anything related to Christ, we’ve tried to fulfill our vision for this site by posting a variety of topics intended to generate dialogue and spark conversation.
One surprising turn of events in 2007 has been the interest visitors seem to have in one particular person’s interpretation of the Bible, Harold Camping of Family Stations Inc. Less than 7% of our overall postings are devoted to Mr. Camping (or his doctrines or his company Family Radio), and yet these sparse postings have generated many, many comments from his followers. These “Campingites” as we’ll affectionately call them are definitely a small but spirited and opinionated band of followers. And we thank them for their comments.
As we prepare to celebrate our Saviour’s incarnation and birth, we’d like to ask our visitors to reflect on one aspect of the Christmas Story that oftentimes get lost in the discussion/debates over how many Magi came to Bethlehem or whether the star was a supernova or conflagration of planets. The point to ponder is this: why did Mary & Jospeh remain for so long in Bethlemen after Christ’s birth?
The Magi definitely visited Joseph, Mary & Jesus in Bethlehem — and we know the couple were now living in a house and no longer in the stable. COuple this with Herod’s decree to kill all male children 2 years old and under and we can infer from Scripture that as much as 18 mos to 2 years had passed before the arrival of the Magi. In our minds, that begs the question: why did they remain in Bethlehem for so long?
Scripture doesn’t tell us, so all we can do is speculate.
Perhaps one reason was the difficult nature of the journey back to Nazareth — and with an infant, the trip would be all-the-more dangerous.
Perhaps they decided to stay in Bethlehem because no one there was aware of the circumstances surrounding Mary’s pregnancy. The same could not be said about their neighbors in Nazareth. No doubt she and Joseph would have been subjected to scorn and hostilities in Nazareth, with gossip and innuendo about Mary’s “unfaithfulness”.
Perhaps the Augustan census took several years to complete and they needed to remain there to be counted. This doesn’t seem plausible however because there was certainly an urgency to get to Bethlehem right away. The Romans were an efficient bunch and they could probably effect a census in a small, rural village quite quickly.
So we’re left pondering why they remained in this village for so long – far from their families, friends and Joesph’s occupation. The only thing we can say with confidence is that they remained there because it was the LORD’s will for them. They remained there so that the magi could pay homage to the King of Kings. They remained there to fulfill all that the Scriptures had predicted about the coming Messiah.
Does anyone else have any other ideas as to why they called Bethlehem home for so long after Christ’s birth? Let us know.
Merry CHRISTmas!
To God Be The Gloria (in excelsis deo too!)
Posted by Jeff & Cindy 
