Scriptures and Stories.

 Scriptures and Stories.

 

All my life has been wrapped around the stories our parents read to us when we were little, but they never explained some of the things that were in the plain texts of the Bible. For instance, my Grandmother Pollard was asked to loan me her beautiful night robe the year we had a play portraying the birth of Jesus Christ. Somehow, my character was supposed to be one of the wise men—yes, that is pretty funny all by itself. But here’s the catch: we have no idea how many wise men came, when exactly, or which countries they came from. Just because the gifts mentioned were gold (for a king), incense (for God), and myrrh (used to anoint the dead) and only three were mentioned, that does not prove that only three men came. Another interesting thought is that they came when he was already a child—not recently born. Have you ever considered why King Herod had all the male children two years and under killed? In Matthew 2:11-12 it says: “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” Do you suppose that Mary and Joseph had already returned to their own home since they had gone to Bethlehem for the census and for the Feast of Tabernacles? Sometimes we might need to expand our concepts just a wee bit to see that what has always been portrayed is not exactly how things happened at the time.

 

The most important thing that we might consider is that Jesus Christ was born to be savior, shepherd, and king. Luke says that the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke19:10) From a tiny babe to a grown man, He showed us His love from the Father above. He is the only Messiah, the One we can trust.

 

Rest well and live with joy in His love.