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The story of the first Christmas,
we, um...
we revisit it every year. Thank you.
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.LT
Maybe you... Maybe you know a little bit about it.
Maybe you know a lot.
I used to think that I did.
But like many of you, I was a kid when I first started
to learn about the Bible, its stories, the miracles.
But it was the first Christmas that always seemed
to be bigger than all of it.
I think I was about...
I think I was about four years old
when I was selected to be a shepherd
in our church's yearly production
of the Nativity.
It would be my acting debut,
and I would have one line. "Hark."
And I knew it well leading into that evening, but I kept...
I kept missing my cue of the star reveal
because my oversized turban kept falling
across my eyes.
The play kept going, of course,
but I refused to let my big acting moment go.
And regardless of where we were at, I pointed upward,
and I yelled my line just about as loud as I could,
bringing the play to a momentary stop.
I'm guessing that my mother was mildly amused.
My father, not... not... not so much.
But the play continued, and I'd done my part.
The next year, they made me a Wise Man,
but this time I couldn't pronounce
the gift we gave the Baby Jesus.
Frankincense.
It just didn't seem to-- It still doesn't.
It doesn't roll off my tongue.
But I never...
But I never forgot those evenings
and the chance to be in those plays.
Those songs we belted out,
they're forever a part of me.
You know, it's easy to think of Christmas
as the busiest shopping season of the year.
Things seem to move so quickly.
We think of Santa Claus, reindeer,
decorating the house, packages under the tree,
family and friends celebrating.
There's a lot to like about this time of year.
But let's...
let's not forget the Christ in Christmas.
Over one-third of the world's population
believe that Jesus Christ was one of the most
important persons that ever lived
and have called him Savior and Lord
for over 2,000 years.
But how did it all start?
What's the real story?
The story is often portrayed as a baby born
in a cozy barn, surrounded by animals.
But there's another version.
One that starts with a pregnant, unwed teenage girl,
a shamed lover,
a treacherous journey followed by a harrowing birth
inside a dark cave.
How Jesus came into this fallen, broken world
is far from what the people of the day expected,
and it's far from the version I played
as a four-year-old.
So whether you're a believer or a skeptic,
or just curious about the real story
behind the tradition,
I invite you to journey with me
all the way back to the first Christmas.
Our story begins in the obscure backwater
of the Roman Empire. Life was simple,
and it centered around tradition and family.
Nazareth was a small village,
just a couple of hundred people.
It wouldn't be a surprise to believe
that Mary and Joseph probably grew up together.
But now these two childhood friends
are taking a bigger step.
It's not a marriage ceremony, but almost as important.
An engagement.
And who asks for the betrothal to my daughter Mary?
It is I, Joseph, son of Heli,
descendant of the House of David.
And what, Joseph, son of Heli,
is the bride price for this betrothal?
Two hundred and ten silver shekels of Tyre.
I, Joachim...
father of Mary...
...accept!
Mary, the Blessed Mother,
must have been young, childbearing age, obviously.
In Judaism in that period,
probably the marriage age
for women was quite a young age,
at the age of 12 or the age of 14.
And so when a woman becomes betrothed,
there's an actual contract that is signed.
This couple today
would not be old enough to legally vote,
but back then, you had to grow up fast.
Joseph was expected to provide and protect his bride-to-be.
The engagement period was a time
where he had to prove that he could.
It feels certain that these two were in love.
Were you nervous?
Um, well, I guess a little,
but, you know, I've practiced many times, so...
You practiced aloud? For me?
That's so sweet.
Mary, can we just get married already?
Joseph, look around you.
Everyone's working so hard to prepare
for our wedding feast.
Wine won't be ready for at least three months.
Three months?
We don't need wine for our wedding.
You waited a year to save for my dowry.
You can wait three more months.
Exactly, a whole year.
Patience leads to abundant understanding,
but impatience leads to stupid mistakes.
There is no version of us that is a mistake.
The small Hebrew nation of Judea
was just one of the many nations
under the boot of mighty Rome...
...led by Emperor Caesar Augustus.
This vast empire of 45 million people
is known to have sprawled all the way
from modern-day Britain in the west
to present-day Iraq in the east.
They were the most powerful force the world had ever known.
By decree of Caesar Augustus,
emperor of the Roman Empire...
...all citizens shall register at their ancestral town
for the Census of Quirinius.
Registration begins at dawn.
Rome periodically needed to count
how many people were in their region.
It was a monumental undertaking,
but they wanted to get an accurate number so they could get more taxes.
Rome allowed people to worship any god that they want to,
as long as they acknowledge that Caesar is lord.
The half-Assyrian, half-Jewish people
known as the Samaritans
were used as local law enforcement.
The Jews and Samaritans hated each other.
Ah, the famous Galilean wine.
This wine is spoken for, sir.
It would seem, boy...
you are in need of a lesson.
Shh!
A good citizen of Rome
should be generous with the state...
in all of his blessings.
Let's take a little ride.
No, no!
Hey! Hey! Hey!
Release my daughter!
Panthera! Enough!
Stupid beast.
No wonder these people hate your kind.
Now go supervise the tally!
Judea had been conquered and ruled
by other foreign invaders,
but none had ruled the Jewish nation for this long.
Judea was ruled by a puppet king,
tolerated by the Romans because he was willing
to do their dirty work.
The king of the Jews named himself Herod the Great.
Herod was king of the Jews,
but he wasn't an independent king
the way we might think of monarchs today.
He was what you might call a client king.
Rome really had all the control.
Herod is tasked with suppressing the Jewish people
through intimidation and cruelty.
Herod was cynical down to his bone.
That is, that he had no feeling of reverence at all
for any of the gods, whether it's the God of Israel
or whether it's pagan Roman gods.
Herod was a builder of great structures,
who brought wealth to his Roman masters.
Josephus wrote that it was quite possible
that Herod was insane.
Herod was a walking culture of death.
Known for his oversized ego and golden crown,
he suffered from chronic pain
that some say affected his mental state.
Paranoid and brutal, Herod is a ruler willing
to do anything to retain his throne.
The most dangerous kind of survivor.
Father... you summoned me.
Antipater.
Good.
Come.
Join me, son.
Father, is there some way I can be of service?
Yes.
Actually, there is.
I heard whispers...
of a plot to poison me.
Father, that's not true.
How can I assure you my loyalty?
There is in fact one way
that you can give me reassurance.
Anything. Please.
Stupid boy.
Herod was paranoid.
And Herod's sister, Salome,
who was pretty pernicious, actually,
started to spread rumors.
No!
What have you done?
And so Herod comes to believe
that two of his sons by Mariamne,
who were really sort of the leading contenders
to inherit his throne,
were trying to sort of push him out and take over.
He is our son!
Your son...
Your own flesh and blood!
Augustus is quoted as saying,
"It's better to be Herod's pig than his son."
The name Mary was the most common
for Jewish women of her time.
A low-income teenage girl
who was just going about an ordinary day.
But this day was far from ordinary,
and she was anything but just another Mary.
Greetings, Mary.
The Lord is with you.
The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to deliver the message to the Blessed Mother.
Don't be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
This was an extraordinary moment because in salvation history,
whenever a human being
would come into contact with an angel,
the human being would exhibit reverence
towards the angel
because the angel is resplendent with grace
because the angel sees God face-to-face.
It's okay.
In Scripture, you see Gabriel, specifically,
would come in and bring a message.
And there's always this storyline
of the Lord's gonna work in a way
that is counter-intuitive, it's counterculture.
And so when angel Gabriel shows up
to Mary, you know, you're looking at a teenager
receiving this news that will change humanity.
You will conceive and give birth to a son.
You will call him Jesus.
He will be very great,
and he will be known as the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him the throne
of his ancestor David,
and he will reign over Israel forever.
His kingdom will never end.
But how can this happen?
I am a virgin.
The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you,
so that the baby to be born will be born holy
and will be called the Son of God.
I am the Lord's servant.
May everything you have said about me come true.
Mary herself kind of wonders,
"Why, God, did you choose me? 'Cause I'm...
I'm just your humble servant."
"There's nothing special about me."
"I'm not a queen."
"I don't come from an important family."
All the kind of what we might call worldly values
that show success,
Mary doesn't have any of those.
But what she does have is a willingness
to follow whatever God has for her.
Mary is the most sublime and pure human being.
After the angel greeted her, she didn't say, "This can't be."
She said, "How can this be?"
And the angel Gabriel tells her the power of the Most High,
the Holy Spirit, will overshadow you.
This is the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah
of the virgin conceiving and bearing the Son of God,
Immanuel the Christ.
And this is the turning point in human history.
There was a separation between God and humanity.
And as God is desiring to reach humanity,
uh, there is a gap.
And that gap would have to be filled or connected
through a bridge.
Now, that bridge is a human being.
And that bridge is God the Son.
God wanted to show us what He was like.
So as we're, like, trying to prove
how great we are, God's saying,
"But I use the lowly."
Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.
This is so massive.
I mean, you're talking about for the first time,
God being inside of a person.
My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
Mary believes that God is fulfilling His promise
to deliver His people through the Messiah.
And having a baby who grows up to be Messiah,
the Anointed One, the King,
is a promise of Scriptures.
This willingness
to surrender everything to God,
she was the right person in the sense
that she believed that God can do what is impossible.
Mary didn't ask to be the mother of the Son of God,
but she was available to God.
God saw her servant heart, her faithfulness,
and she chose to obey.
But obedience can come with a price.
And for Mary, that price would mean her reputation,
her future marriage to Joseph,
and even her life.
The Roman Empire,
their reach into these other populations,
those populations could, a lot of times,
keep their own language, keep their own local customs,
but they needed to pay taxes...
...always taxes, back to the central government,
which grew quite rich.
Straight line!
Straight line, everyone!
Get them in line!
Mary had received word that her cousin Elizabeth
had also recently become pregnant,
and she rushed to help.
Get over here.
The Blessed Mother is the great example
of discipleship, in terms of what did she do
as soon as the angel Gabriel visited her?
She went in haste
through the hill country to visit Elizabeth
and to help her.
To serve Elizabeth in her pregnancy, as well.
Mary!
Joseph.
Where are you going?
I'm going to visit my cousin, Elizabeth.
Now?
But what of our wedding preparations?
Everything has changed.
Changed?
What's changed?
I cannot say.
Not yet.
Mary, I don't understand what's happening,
but I will escort you.
It's not safe to journey alone.
Let me tell my father, and I'll join you.
Joseph!
I am traveling with others.
I must take this journey without you.
I pray the Lord will reveal to you why.
Get in line, boy!
My family is not from Nazareth.
Well, you and your family need to get your asses
to wherever that is and register
by the end of the consular year.
After Mary spends the first part of her pregnancy
with her cousin, Elizabeth,
she returns home to Nazareth.
She has a child inside her,
and a story about how it got there.
There was a recognition, both of, "God will work it out."
That's clear what she says in the Magnificat.
She knows, "All generations will call me blessed."
That's what she says.
But I think she also recognizes...
"If people don't believe me,
then I will be seen as having committed a sin."
From a Jewish perspective,
in the ultra-conservative society that they lived in,
under Pharisaic law,
if she would be condemned as an adulterous woman,
you would be judged in a way and condemned
that you would be stoned, put to death.
But she's a young woman that is very convinced,
"This is what I have to go through,
and this is my part to play
to the fulfillment of the Word of God."
Mary, what have you done?
I will explain.
If a teenage girl told you that she was pregnant
with the Son of God and still a virgin,
would you believe her?
Her mother, her future in-laws, and her future husband
all had to face that same question.
The stakes could not be any higher for this young woman,
not to mention for Joseph and both of their families.
I do not want to disgrace you publicly.
I will not openly accuse you of unfaithfulness.
I will end our betrothal quietly.
I'll do my best to protect your reputation.
The Bible says that Joseph was a good man,
but good men can have their hearts broken too.
These two teenagers were meant to be together.
God not only chose Mary, he also chose Joseph.
They both cried out to the same God
with the same prayer,
"Reveal yourself, O Lord."
And God was faithful to answer them both.
Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid
to take Mary as your wife,
for the child within her was conceived
by the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son,
and you are to name him Jesus,
for he will save his people from their sins.
Look.
Joseph. What are you doing here at this hour?
Sir, I need to see Mary.
I need to see her.
I know.
- You know what? - I know.
Joseph?
Dearest Mary,
you are the love of my life,
mother of my Savior.
The Messiah?
The Son of God?
Will you honor me by giving me your hand in marriage?
I will commit to taking care of you
and the child all the days of my life.
Joseph and Mary were most likely quietly wed.
They probably did not have
the typical large Jewish wedding.
A bride showing her pregnancy on her wedding day
would have been the source of rumor.
Joseph did not want Mary to suffer through it.
Joseph is the one that God chose to be entrusted
with not only caring for the Blessed Mother
and protecting her,
but caring for and protecting Christ Jesus.
And so this is a remarkable responsibility.
Months after the wedding,
Mary and Joseph set off on the 90-mile journey
to his ancestral home of Bethlehem,
where they were to register for the Roman census.
Joseph needed to travel to his hometown
within a certain time frame in order to register.
There in Bethlehem, nobody would know
whether the baby being born is Joseph's baby or not.
They would assume that this is a married couple,
and it's his baby.
So there will be no gossip
and no humiliation, which would have been there
if the baby had been born in Joseph's home.
Joseph, be sure you feed Mary
- twice a day. - Of course.
And be sure she drinks plenty of water.
Yes, understood.
Joseph, be careful out there.
And please take care of my daughter and my grandson.
On my life, sir.
Unlike what is usually shown
in most portrayals of Mary and Joseph
making the 90-mile journey alone on a single donkey...
it's more plausible that they would have traveled
in a group for protection.
There was good reason for Mary and Joseph's families
to be concerned about the voyage.
There were bands of outlaws on the road.
Lions and bears roamed the wild lands around it.
And the Roman soldiers who patrolled
were known for committing random acts of violence,
simply because they could.
The smaller, more remote communities
were especially vulnerable to random acts of violence.
One false accusation by a rogue unit of Roman soldiers
could be catastrophic.
Roman soldiers accused this village
of harboring rebels.
The Romans killed everyone but her.
We must leave now. Go. Let's go.
Living in modern society,
it is really nearly impossible
to imagine how barbaric they were.
Often just leaving one witness to keep the threat alive.
But things that were maybe considered normal for that time,
if you saw them today,
it's unlikely you would get over it.
Life was not kind or easy.
How are we doing?
We are good.
All right.
He moved again!
See, can you feel him move?
I can.
They knew that if people didn't believe them
about this truth that God had done in their lives,
that they would then be ridiculed or worse.
And so, in recognizing all of that,
I think we can maybe better appreciate
both Mary and Joseph's commitment
to raising Jesus,
even though they didn't know what all this would entail.
Joseph is the model for every man.
To be a good protector, to love the Blessed Mother
with the highest form of love, which is "agape."
I should probably warn you about my cousins in Bethlehem.
Okay, please do.
Well, this cousin, Asher, he's a talker.
Yap, yap, yap.
His words as welcoming as an annoying old maid
yapping about food during the Yom Kippur fast.
Joseph, be kind.
I am being kind.
To you. I'm warning you, don't get cornered by him.
At a certain point, Mary and Joseph did separate
from their group, heading out on their own,
towards his family's home,
the village of Bethlehem,
the ancestral home of King David.
Did he move again?
No. This is something else.
We're nearly there. A few more steps.
Joseph. What is that?
The Romans reserved crucifixion
as a method of execution for serious charges,
like sedition slash treason.
And the reason why crucifixion was chosen
is because it was a method of execution
that was long and painful before death occurred.
There were many who claimed to be the Messiah,
who were going to overthrow the Romans
and free the Jewish people once and for all.
They were all hunted down and made examples of.
There will be no mercy shown to anyone
who dare challenge the mighty Roman Empire.
Joseph!
It's okay, Mary.
It's okay, we're nearly there.
Just breathe. Deep breaths.
When my kids were small,
we used to put out our Nativity set
above the fireplace, on the mantel.
And sometimes below the tree in a bed of cotton.
And together, we'd look at the carved figures
of the Baby Jesus wrapped in a blanket,
the shepherds and three Wise Men kneeling,
while the cute angels and animals looked on.
It's a great way to tell our kids
about this amazing story.
And a great reminder for all of us.
But if any story is worth going deeper,
it's this one.
You know, I've learned... I've learned to appreciate
in a new way what it must have taken
for this teenage couple from nowhere
to be the parents of the Son of God,
what it must have taken for Mary and Joseph
just to keep him alive.
Life back then was brutal,
right from the very beginning.
Childbirth was extremely dangerous at the time.
Please! Open! Please!
- Cousin Joseph! - Cousin Asher!
- My wife! She's in labor! - Whoa, my--
Get in here. Get out of the rain.
Raya! Raya! Raya! Raya, come quick!
The mortality rate of infants
was about 20 times greater than today.
Boys, enough of that now.
Behave yourselves.
Not to mention the extremely high rate
of mothers dying in childbirth.
Her water's already broken. Where can we bring her?
Follow me.
And if the baby did survive birth...
More water.
Rachel, get linens, blankets.
...about one half would die within their first year.
The small town of Bethlehem was isolated and poor.
Unlike the Christmas carol about there being no room in the inn,
it's questionable whether Bethlehem even had one.
It's more likely that Joseph was planning
on staying at a relative's home.
Hospitality in the ancient world among Jews, and also the Romans,
everyone really valued hospitality.
If there was a visitor coming into your town,
it was really important that you gave them a meal,
that you gave them a place to stay.
So when Mary and Joseph arrived,
what they find is that there are a lot of other people
who have had to go back to Bethlehem to register.
So all these extra rooms are taken.
Okay. Careful.
Just follow me. Down here.
Bethlehem is known for its limestone caves.
These caves under the houses
acted as a basement of sorts.
They also were a kind of barn
to keep the animals safe at night...
...and, in a pinch, for guests.
Mary couldn't just give birth in a crowded room.
She needed to be set apart from the others,
not only for religious reasons, but also for practical ones.
Back then, you made do.
Shelter of any kind was valuable.
Unlike some modern accounts suggest,
this young couple in crisis
was not just being pushed into the night
by uncaring people.
Joseph!
Come on, watch your steps, all of you.
We're almost there.
We're almost there, just a few more steps.
Keep breathing through it.
Deep breaths.
There are different theological
speculations made about the birth of Jesus
and how the Blessed Mother was affected.
There is one point of view
in Christianity that posits the idea
that she would have been in pain,
had gone through labor
as any other mother goes through labor.
However, there's another idea
that because the Blessed Mother was not affected by original sin
and did not suffer the effects,
perhaps she didn't go through the pain of childbirth.
We can get mired in the details,
or we can speculate about this or that.
What matters most is Jesus Christ was born
of the Blessed Mother.
Here, here. Bring her back here.
There, near the top.
For a long, long time, and I'm talking centuries,
the women having their babies, and afterwards,
was really the responsibility of other women.
So presumably, there would have been
at least one midwife involved in the process
of childbirth, maybe with a couple of other women present.
Here. Gently now.
It is believed that it wasn't until the 17th century
that women gave birth on their backs.
Before then, according to reliefs and paintings,
it was in a standing, sitting, or kneeling position.
Okay, just...
In the Jewish tradition, men could not touch
or be near the mother during labor.
Every new father knows the feeling
of being helpless during labor.
Joseph must have been no different.
- You're okay. - My name is Mary.
I am Raya.
You're most welcome, Mary. This is Cousin Rachel.
Mary, you and your baby are in good hands with Raya.
She delivered both of my sons
and most of the kids in the village.
And you have already met my husband, Asher.
Yes, yes, you are most welcome.
Thank you, Cousin Asher.
I've heard all about you from Joseph.
Good things, I suppose.
I can't believe Joseph is going to be a father.
It seems like yesterday when he was born.
Celebrated for days.
Husband, enough chatter. Start a fire.
We need this place nice and warm for when the baby arrives.
Yes. Yes, of course.
Rachel, check on the boiling water.
We will need it soon.
Mary, it is time. I will count with you.
Ready?
Yes, I'm ready.
The ancient text says that the birth of Christ
coincided with the birth of a new star
that very same night.
So you don't have to be a genius now to speculate
why we put stars on top of Christmas trees.
The Scriptures go on to say
that yet another spectacle was sent to the heavens
to celebrate the birth of God's Son on Earth.
In the nearby hills of Bethlehem,
a Christmas miracle rained down
on a group of shepherds.
Shepherds were the lower class,
ordinary people.
But God's saying, "But I use the lowly."
And so it shouldn't surprise us that God would say,
"You know, I'm going to reveal myself to these shepherds."
Son, be careful.
These are dangerous skies.
Do not be afraid.
I bring you good news that will bring great joy
to all people.
Three, two, one.
Push!
Imagine a chorus of angels.
Like, I don't think it was just, like, this sweet, little song.
We're talking about these heavenly beings
in unison, worshiping, singing,
celebrating Jesus.
The Savior! Yes, the Lord, the Messiah,
has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David.
You will recognize him by this sign.
You will see a baby
tightly wrapped in strips of cloth,
lying in a manger.
Glory to God, in the highest.
And on Earth peace, and goodwill toward men.
He's beautiful.
You're beautiful.
Right now it just feels like he's up there,
they're up there, we're down here.
But it's like that layer was, like, removed,
and now, suddenly, Heaven and Earth are together.
And I think that's a picture of the incarnation of Christ.
Heaven and Earth are together now.
We need to go.
Yes, we need to go to Bethlehem.
Let's see this thing that the Lord has told us.
Joseph.
Shalom.
How can we help you, son?
Shalom.
He told us he would be here.
Just like that.
Who told you he would be here?
The angel of the Lord.
There were a lot of them.
You should have seen it.
Please, come closer if you wish.
Is there a midnight gold auction happening?
It's okay, Raya.
They're most welcome.
Well, if mother says so.
Now, keep your dirty hands to yourselves.
And keep your voices down.
According to scripture, after seeing the Baby Jesus,
just as the angels told them they would,
the shepherds would go on to tell anyone who would listen
to their story about the night's events.
And that fact alone,
that a host of angels, not just one,
but a host,
would appear to common shepherds and not emperors or royals,
must have said a lot about the kingdom
that God was intending to build.
The kind of kingdom where faith and humility were honored
over might and wealth, an upside-down kingdom.
Hundreds of miles east, a group of men called the Magi
noticed a new star in the heavens as well.
They were likely a religious sect of astrologers.
They were stunned
with what they were seeing in the heavens.
When the Gospel account is referring to Magi,
they're talking about Zoroastrian priests.
That is, priests who were from the area of ancient Persia,
who specialized in the interpretation of dreams,
the interpretation of the night sky, celestial bodies.
And who could, you know, based on these things,
predict or interpret events.
The Magi must have seen the new star
as a sign from above,
perhaps confirmed by their ancient prophecies,
a sign that the Messiah had finally come,
not just for the Jews, but for all people.
A world away,
they were compelled to follow the star
to wherever it was leading them.
They were willing to travel treacherous terrain
for months to find the new king of the Jews,
the Son of God.
The Star of Bethlehem, as it would later be known,
was their guiding light.
The Magi kings that came from the east,
they have no Jewish roots.
These are seekers, they are mystics,
and they're coming from afar to worship the king.
In stark contrast to the Heavenly Kingdom,
Herod's kingdom was just the opposite.
It was a mess.
A dysfunctional reign, led by fear and distrust,
an evil mortal king
willing to do whatever it took to retain power
as long as his ailing body would allow.
But time was running out for Herod,
and the writing was on the wall.
Herod's inner court
was a complicated mess of a situation.
His jealous sister, Salome,
had convinced the king that Herod's favorite wife, Mariamne,
was having an affair with Herod's young uncle.
At the same time, Salome convinced her brother
that there was a plot for the supposed lovers
to murder him and take control of the throne.
Driven by fear and paranoia,
King Herod ordered his favorite wife
to be put to death.
My love!
One account says that Mariamne decided
to go out on her own terms,
sending Herod into a new level of madness.
King Herod built a monument
in memory of his queen.
Mariamne Tower was yet another of Herod's monuments
built on the backs of Jewish people.
According to the Talmudic passage...
...Herod preserved his favorite wife's body
in a vat of honey.
It seems that Jesus was born into a dark and lost kingdom.
Maybe the very reason for his existence
was to bring light into the shadows.
To uplift a fallen world.
Mary and Joseph had to bring their son
to the capital city of Jerusalem,
which was only about five miles from Bethlehem,
to dedicate him before the Lord at the Holy Temple,
as required by the Law of Moses.
So many people.
The Temple of Jerusalem is legendary.
A massive structure refurbished for the Jews,
but not out of some religious dedication to the Lord.
King Herod, one of the most hated men in the kingdom,
had greatly expanded the spectacular temple
for his own glory.
The Temple of Jerusalem
was acres and acres of courtyards.
Herod the Great was a builder king,
kind of following in the tradition
to display how great you are,
you do a lot of building projects.
Make way!
I said make way!
If the ancient streets of Jerusalem could talk...
Make way for the king!
...imagine what they would say.
Herod the Great did not know that day
who was in his kingdom.
Soon to be his biggest threat, the true Messiah.
There was a Jewish custom for a mother
to be baptized 40 days after giving birth to a son
and before going into the temple to give sacrificial offerings.
What a beautiful tradition.
But just outside the temple,
it's anything but sacred.
It's a business.
Sorry. No, no, no.
Hey. Hello.
- Hey. Can I... Can I get two of those? - Yes.
For millennia, the Jewish people
would bring their sacrifices to the altar of God,
out of a spirit of thankfulness
or for atonement for their sins.
Mary and Joseph were no different.
Little did they know that someday their son
would be a living sacrifice
and that thousands of years of tradition
would be forever changed.
Make way for the king!
The Scriptures say that Simeon
was a righteous and devout man.
Make way!
He was eagerly awaiting the Messiah to come
and rescue Israel from the oppressive Herod
and the Roman Empire.
I said make way for the king.
The Lord had told the old man
that he would not die
before seeing the Messiah with his own eyes.
So he went daily to the temple to wait for that promise.
When you think of Simeon, he was waiting,
he was anticipating, he was hoping.
He didn't waver in his belief.
When that time came, he rejoices.
He knew what to do.
This is what he had been waiting for.
Shalom.
Shalom. Sha-- Oh!
The child.
Oh! My soul leaps for joy.
Surely he is the Messiah.
Shalom.
Yes, he is the one you seek.
May... May I offer a blessing over the child?
It would be our privilege.
Oh.
Sovereign Lord,
now please let your servant die in peace,
as you have promised.
I have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared for all nations.
And he is a light to reveal God to the nations.
And he is the glory of your people, Israel.
This child will cause many in Israel to fall
and many others to rise.
He is a sign sent from God...
but many will oppose him.
As a result...
the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.
And a sword will pierce your very soul.
Simeon's prophecy acknowledges that Mary
will experience intense pain as the mother of Jesus.
For the assignment of the Son of God was heartbreaking,
to sacrifice his perfect life for us.
But the Lord will be with her and her son through it all.
Unlike the customary image
of the Wise Men showing up at the birth of Christ,
along with the shepherds,
it was actually more like two years after his birth.
Although we only know generally where they came from,
or really how long their journey was,
we do know that the Magi eventually arrived in Jerusalem.
They believed that the future king of the Jews
had been born somewhere in the city,
most likely into royalty.
The Magi, they are seen as wise, seen as important.
It's not unreasonable then for King Herod
to want to receive them.
Now, to what do I owe the privilege
of your esteemed presence to our humble kingdom?
We are here for one purpose only.
Where is the newborn...
...king of the Jews?
We saw his star as it rose...
...and we have come to worship him.
We thought that he is here in your palace.
With you, the provisional king of the Jews.
"Provisional king"?
Priests?
Where does it say
that this Messiah is supposed to be born?
In Bethlehem, in Judea.
You may go.
The Magi come in thinking,
"Oh, everybody's going to be celebrating this."
"Something momentous has happened."
"There's been a birth of a king."
Well... ...Herod's the king,
and he's pretty sure there's no baby that's been born
that's going to be following him.
He's worried there's a baby born that's going to replace him.
Go to Bethlehem
and search carefully for the child.
It's not far from here,
and when you find him, you come straight back,
and you tell me
so that I, too, may worship him.
Herod was madly, jealously desirous
of holding on to his power.
And he used deception with the Wise Men
to ascertain where the child,
the new king of Israel, would be.
He wanted to find out so he could kill Christ Jesus.
The mad king plots
to use the Magi to find the baby.
A blessed child
that the stars have declared to be the Messiah.
If it is true, Herod the Great is now officially
what he's probably always known himself to be,
an imposter.
It must have been strange for Mary and Joseph,
embracing that their playful toddler
was in fact the Son of God.
And that those who believed had traveled vast distances
to kneel at his tiny feet.
Joseph, Mary, you have guests.
The idea that Jesus
is welcoming the seekers,
regardless if they would consider themselves Christians
or Jewish, and it's as if the Magi,
they would be attracted to the light, to the truth.
That attraction, like a magnet,
would bring them from so far away,
all the way until they come
to pay their homage and to worship the King.
As a kid, I sang Christmas songs
about these gifts from the Magi,
or as we call them, the Wise Men.
Gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
I knew what gold was.
That's about it.
Frankincense and myrrh
were highly valued incense and perfumes.
These gifts were seen as fit for a king
and were rare in Judea.
Imagine what it was like for these two teens
from the village of Nazareth to receive such gifts.
Herod had ordered the Magi to return to Jerusalem
to report the location of the new king.
But an angelic dream came to the Magi...
...warning them to return to their own country
by another route,
avoiding the mad king at any cost.
Herod was furious when he realized
that the Wise Men had outwitted him.
But he wasn't going to let the threat
to his throne go unchecked.
Fitting with the type of leader he was,
he ordered soldiers to kill every young boy
in and around Bethlehem.
Joseph had another encounter with an angel
in his dreams.
The angel of the Lord said, "Joseph, get up."
"Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother."
"Stay there until I tell you to return
because Herod is going to search
for the child to kill him."
It's said in the Scriptures
that the real battle is not against flesh and blood,
but against the spiritual force of evil.
By ordering such a heinous act...
...it's fair to wonder if Herod was being used
by an even greater force of evil.
The evil that Herod would commit towards defenseless,
innocent human beings
shows the lengths that the human will go to
if they succumb to that desire for earthly power.
And it shows that God doesn't will evil.
He allows evil,
only that some greater good can happen.
The killing of these baby boys
by order of Herod is such a tragedy.
Many people, though, think of them as martyrs.
They're part of the story...
...of God's ultimate redemption,
and thus their lives were not in vain.
Herod's death squad arrives
and shows no sign of mercy.
No sign of humanity,
no shred of anything besides pure, unfiltered evil.
And they take evidence as proof for Herod.
Stay back!
No!
It's a terrible chapter in this story.
A reminder really of how cruel we can be
when we put our own interests,
our own survival above God's will.
The ancient text reads that a cry was heard,
and there was great weeping.
Rachel weeps for her children,
refusing to be comforted because they're dead.
I don't think there's anything more painful in this world
than a parent losing a child.
And thankfully, that's not where the story ends.
The angel's warning had saved the life of the young Jesus.
But many others were lost at the command of Herod.
It is done.
Sire.
Shoo!
Eventually evil turned on its host,
further cannibalizing Herod's mind and body.
Herod reportedly was in a great deal of distress.
Why didn't you tell me?
He reportedly was wandering around, seeing ghosts.
Everybody could see that he wasn't in his right mind,
to the point where he actually tried to kill himself.
Herod committed these profound acts
of moral evil.
All of this was about one thing, power.
He's a repulsive historical figure.
The sorrow that happens
in the story of the first Christmas can feel,
I think, at times, like there's no justice.
It's all just about power and the assertion of power.
But the Christmas story starts a bigger story
that includes healing, and miracles, and great joy.
Mary, Joseph, and young Jesus escaped
to the land of Egypt, where they lived peacefully
for quite some time.
After Herod's death,
an angel appeared to Joseph once more,
telling him that it was safe to go home.
Eventually, the family did,
returning to the very place our story started, Nazareth.
There, Jesus grew the same way we all do, little by little.
His father taught him carpentry, but beyond that,
the Scriptures offer very few glimpses
into the lives of the family.
But like all good parents, I'm sure Mary and Joseph
made all the sacrifices parents do
to provide and protect their children.
So while we may not know a lot about Jesus's formative years,
his ministry years as an adult,
well, you'd need a few lifetimes
to count the words written about that.
Just as Simeon had prophesied,
Mary's soul was pierced
as she watched her son, Jesus,
be executed on a Roman cross,
killed for crimes he did not commit.
He was placed inside a cave,
perhaps very similar to the one he was born in.
But many, including myself,
believe he didn't stay in that cave for very long,
and that he rose from the dead,
saving those who would believe in him.
Jesus's teachings changed the world.
And those that followed him became known
as Christ's followers or Christians.
And while there was plenty of hardship
and persecution for the early Christians,
in time, even Rome would declare itself
a Christian empire.
And the followers of Jesus somehow would find a way
to spread his word across the globe
to over 200 countries.
One of Jesus's teaching was that we should love one another,
forgive our enemies, take care of the poor,
champion the disenfranchised,
and live with humility and kindness.
And underneath all the songs and the wrapping paper
and the stars on top of the tree,
I think that's really what Christmas is about.
Merry Christmas, everybody.