Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover.
Luke 2:42 (NIV)
I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 8:11 (NIV)
I had the pleasure of participating in a Christmas party at work on Wednesday and had a lot of fun. We had one of those gift exchanges where everyone brings something to put in a pile, then people take turns choosing one. As it progresses down the list, whoever has a turn can pick a new gift or take something from someone who already picked, forcing them to choose another. It can get very animated and was a lot of fun. I wound up with a cheap pair of earrings--not even a good re-gift. Oh well.
As I drove home that night, it struck me that as God looked down at our fellowship time, He would have thought that we almost had it right.
God loves a party. I did a quick search through the Bible on the word "feast" and a lot of familiar names came up. In the Old Testament, Abraham had a feast, Issac had a feast, Joesph had a feast when he reunited with his brothers, Samson held a feast, David had feasts, Solomon had a feast...well, you get the idea. When these biblical heroes weren't at war, they gathered with friends and loved ones and celebrated their blessings from the Lord with a big party. There was even a schedule of feasts laid out as part of the Jewish faith.
Moving into the New Testament, I don't think it was any coincidence that Jesus' first public miracle, changing water into wine, was at a wedding feast. He had been taught as a child, as we see in the verse from Luke, to observe and participate in the Jewish feasts. In the parable of the prodigal son, his father threw a big party for the whole neighborhood when he returned home. In the verse from Matthew, Jesus Himself even referred to the gathering in heaven as a feast.
While I'm writing this, Brenda is finalizing plans for our Christmas feast, where we'll be hosting close to 20 family members. Rather than a burden, we are approaching this as an opportunity to share our blessings with our family. God doesn't bless us so we can hoard His blessings and keep them to ourselves. We are supposed to share, and we are supposed to celebrate. While we're not going to the excess of serving expensive wine and caviar (those of you who know us realize just how ridiculous that would be), if anyone leaves our home Christmas day hungry it will be their own fault.
Nobody left our Christmas party at work hungry, but they weren't full either. Jesus wasn't invited to our party. There were several Christians there besides me, but it was much more of a generic holiday celebration than one where we rejoiced over the birth of our savior. Our family gathering on Christmas day will be an entirely different kettle of fish. Not only will we share in the abundance we have been blessed with, everyone there will know who we are giving the credit to--our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Many of us go to some trouble to celebrate birthdays, both ours and others, but there has never been a birthday of more significance in the history of our world than the birth of Jesus Christ. Let the joy that should be in all believers' hearts about that spill out into open rejoicing and celebration!
I realize not everyone will have the opportunity to gather with friends and/or family on Christmas day. If you are so isolated that you will be alone, I offer this thought for your consideration. God did not create us to be alone, and those of us who have received the Holy Spirit are NOT alone--we can fellowship with the Spirit. God wants us to have other people in our lives, and if that's not the case with you today, I encourage you to seek out the Lord and ask him to show you the path that will change that. Sometimes we're alone because we've forgotten or never really understood how to reach out and enter into fellowship with others--the Holy Spirit can teach you how to do that, and you can join with others to celebrate our savior's birthday next year.
I pray that everyone embraces the miracle of the virgin birth and the hope that brought into our world. Merry Christmas everyone, and don't forget to invite the guest of honor to your Christmas celebration.
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