When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy
East Baltimore's neighborhoods this month are literally ablaze with multi-colored lights while inflatable Grinches and prancing reindeer have taken up temporary residence on the small yards in block after block of row houses as far as the eye can see. An animated Santa Claus here and there waves endlessly from the porch to no one in particular, while illuminated plastic stars glitter in the night and a blinking wreath or two has been hung on the front doors of a number of dwellings for good measure. In the daytime it's quite a different scene with the lights turned off. The multitude of inflatable decoration toys lay lifeless flat on the ground in plastic puddles that remind us of what happened to Frosty the Snowman when the warm sun came out and unceremoniously melted him, thus ending the fun that he and the kids were having at the time.
All of this hoopla and glittering lights seem so far removed from the little town of Bethlehem on Judea's plain more than two thousand years ago during the very first Christmas. It is improbable that anyone in the town save it be Mary and Joseph and a handful of shepherds who were visited by an angel while tending their sheep on the nearby hillsides would have had any idea of the miraculous birth of the Son of God that had just occurred in their midst. But other eyes watching from far away to the east that night were focused on the heavens searching for a new star that would tell them that Christ had been born.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
. . . and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:1-2, 9-11)
As missionaries we have been seeking all year long to find those individuals whom we might bring unto Christ; but during this Christmas season when we commemorate the birth of the Son of God, Sister Lindsay and I have been especially sensitive to the importance of the message that we are commissioned to bear: the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth in this the final dispensation of time prior to the Second Coming of the Lord.
As we look up and down the streets in Sparrows Point, Dundalk, Essex, Middle River, Highlandtown, Overlea, Perry Hall and other communities in Baltimore City and County, we witness little evidence of the true meaning of Christmas. Instead, we see what mankind offers to us as a substitute for Heavenly Father's greatest gift to the world . . . His Only Begotten Son. The wise men who sought after Christ so long ago found Him and worshipped Him. Wise men in our day will still seek after Him!
All of this hoopla and glittering lights seem so far removed from the little town of Bethlehem on Judea's plain more than two thousand years ago during the very first Christmas. It is improbable that anyone in the town save it be Mary and Joseph and a handful of shepherds who were visited by an angel while tending their sheep on the nearby hillsides would have had any idea of the miraculous birth of the Son of God that had just occurred in their midst. But other eyes watching from far away to the east that night were focused on the heavens searching for a new star that would tell them that Christ had been born.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
. . . and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:1-2, 9-11)
As missionaries we have been seeking all year long to find those individuals whom we might bring unto Christ; but during this Christmas season when we commemorate the birth of the Son of God, Sister Lindsay and I have been especially sensitive to the importance of the message that we are commissioned to bear: the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth in this the final dispensation of time prior to the Second Coming of the Lord.
As we look up and down the streets in Sparrows Point, Dundalk, Essex, Middle River, Highlandtown, Overlea, Perry Hall and other communities in Baltimore City and County, we witness little evidence of the true meaning of Christmas. Instead, we see what mankind offers to us as a substitute for Heavenly Father's greatest gift to the world . . . His Only Begotten Son. The wise men who sought after Christ so long ago found Him and worshipped Him. Wise men in our day will still seek after Him!
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