The Christmas Story This Year and How We’Ve Done Devotions in the Past, I Wanted to Do Something That Looked at the Christmas Story in a New Way
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Merry Christmas! I hope you are enjoying this beautiful season of twinkling lights and candy canes. As I pondered the Christmas story this year and how we’ve done devotions in the past, I wanted to do something that looked at the Christmas story in a new way. How often do we read the words in Luke or Matthew without really thinking about them? Sure, we know the basic story, but have we ever really looked at how God constructed it. So, this year, we read through the Christmas story as told by both Luke and Matthew and wrote down all the ‘characters’ we encountered in our reading. 13 writers came together to write about these characters and their importance in the Christmas story. We hope it will help you shine fresh eyes on Christmas and the beauty of how God wove it together. Take a look at our character list and read through the Christmas Story as told by Matthew and Luke. Together, let’s walk into Christmas with a greater understanding of the importance of this incredible season. Blessings, Rebecca Beckett Content Coordinator, CRISTA Media Characters (Listed in Order of Devotion) Angel of the Lord King Herod Magi Archelaus Caesar Augustus Quirinius The Heavenly Host People’s Chief Priests & Teachers of the Law Prophets The Shepherds Joseph Mary Jesus The Christmas Story: Matthew 1:18- 2:23 (NIV) This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the before they came together, she was found to be pregnant people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord for out of you will come a ruler appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do who will shepherd my people Israel.’” not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As save his people from their sins.” soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down And he gave him the name Jesus. and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, returned to their country by another route. “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph Rachel weeping for her children in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and refusing to be comforted, and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is because they are no more.” going to search for the child to kill him.” After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the to take the child’s life are dead.” prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the fulfilled: prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene. “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, The Christmas Story: Luke 2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first a manger.” suddenly a great company of the heavenly host census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on And everyone went to their own town to register. whom his favor rests.” So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him about.” and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they a manger, because there was no guest room available for spread the word concerning what had been told them about them. this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has before he was conceived. been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a Day 1: The Angel of the Lord Which is why I believe that Gabriel is so very important to the by Julie Lessman Christmas story—an angel charged with delivering “good news” to mankind that a Savior has come. A true “messenger of God.” But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in Just like us. the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11) (NASB). Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15) And so, this Christmas, I don’t want to just revel in the joy of the Oh, to be a messenger of God like the angel Gabriel—a bearer of season with its twinkling lights and glittering trees, Hallmark movies “good news” to a world that so desperately needs it! and beautifully wrapped gifts.