By Jack Hammans

“In Bethlehem of Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:”
Matthew 2:5

When Herod the Horrible asked the “Bible-answer-men” of Jerusalem where the Messiah was to be born, they instantly knew the answer. The birthplace of the Messiah had been predicted 800 years before by the prophet Micah. It has always puzzled me that these Jewish scholars did not rush to Bethlehem to see the Christ child themselves.

It is sadly ironic that the Gentile Magi from a pagan land journeyed a long way to worship the recently born King of the Jews, and the Jewish chief priests and teachers of the Law did not travel the six miles to Bethlehem to greet their long-awaited Messiah.

Perhaps they doubted whether it was true that the Messiah had come, as many skeptics today doubt the Christmas story. Maybe they believed it but simply didn’t care, caught up in pursuit or enjoyment of the “good life” to pay any serious attention to the Greatest Story ever told. It may have been that the Jewish Bible experts were afraid of retribution by Herod if they went to Bethlehem (not an irrational fear!), as many today are afraid of what it would cost to give allegiance to the Lord Jesus.

Many years ago, I visited the Church of the Holy Nativity in Bethlehem (the traditional site of the birth of Jesus). I remember that to enter the Holy Grotto, I had to duck beneath the low doorway called the Crusaders’ Arch. It was built during the Crusades to stop soldiers from riding into the sacred site on horseback. The entrance is so low that it’s impossible for most adults to enter without stooping.

The Crusaders’ Arch has unintended symbolism. In the coming of Jesus the Messiah, God stooped low to meet us. In response we need to stoop in humility to receive all that God offers us through His Son. May all of us humble ourselves before Him this Christmas. And let us pray for everyone we know who, the like chief priests and teachers of the Law, have refused to make their spiritual journey to Bethlehem and to the Cross to receive the gifts of salvation and eternal life.

Our Father, we thank you for the testimony of the prophets of old to Jesus. May we marvel anew at the self-humbling of your eternal Son to be born as a human being and to die in our place for our sins. We ask that your Spirit work dramatically in the lives of those who resist him out of unbelief, indifference, or fear to bring them to the foot of the Cross.
Amen.