Christmas celebrates a baby’s birth, and that can’t be offensive, unless that baby is more than just a baby. Herod the Great, King of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ birth knew Jesus was not just a baby. He saw him for what He was and that was a scandal to Herod.Herod is instructive for us. He knew that Jesus was to be a king or a ruler and that just was not going to fit into Herod’s plans. Herod was in charge and he was not going to make space for a baby to usurp him.
Could this be the reason so many people react negatively to celebrations of Christmas? Do they see Jesus as the ruler that He was born to be and instinctively rebel as did Herod?...
(John Malek, "The Birth of Christ: An Historic Scandal.")
Read the rest of John's Christmas Eve reflections at his blog, In Pursuit of Reason.
