Thought of the Day !!

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past.
Micah 5:2 (NLT)

Our District Superintendent taught us a little about the Christmas stories this past Sunday at our Hanging of the Greens service. He has been to the Holy Land many times and has even led trips and taught over there. It was an honor to have him share some of his vast wisdom with us.

One of the things that he shared was that some of our traditional thoughts about the scene in Bethlehem may not be correct. For instance, how many of us were taught that there were three wise men? The Bible does not tell us how many came, only how many gifts were given. Even though I already knew this, and knew that they were not there at the birth, he taught me something I didn't know. He said that our traditional manger scene may not look like any of our nativity scenes. Well, I expected him to say that instead of a wooden stable, they were in a cave. But he stretched my imagination even farther.

Another possible scenario for what happened that night in Bethlehem is that the people never went to an inn as we think of it. We think of an inn as a "motel" type place. But in fact, the word in Greek is not the same word used in the story of the Good Samaritan where the man is brought to an inn to recuperate. The word possibly could be better translated guest house or guest room. It might be that they came to David's relatives' home where there was no room for them in the upper room (or guest room) because of all the other relatives staying there that night.

One reason for this interpretation is that in this time, hospitality was a way of life. If you had someone (especially a relative) come to town and you didn't open your house up to them, you would be shamed. But another reason for this interpretation is the size of Bethlehem. The scripture from Micah makes the claim that Bethlehem is "only a small village." This was true. It was most likely too small to have an inn like we think of Joseph and Mary being turned away from. Inns were typically in bigger towns at crossroads or major thoroughfares.

But no matter how small or insignificant the village was, and no matter where in this village it happened, and no matter who was there, the main point to the birth story is that God sent His Son as a gift for us on Christmas.

Sometimes we may feel small and insignificant, or even unimportant at times. The good folk of Bethlehem may have felt that way. This could be the reason for Micah telling them of how great their little town would become. Remember that God loves to use small things to build great things. He can, and will will do amazing things with your life. So never think of yourself as insignificant. Look what God did with a little town like Bethlehem and know He can do even greater things with you.

In the love of Christ,
greg