Most visitors to Israel want to see Bethlehem. Little do they know that many people who’ve been to Bethlehem leave somewhat disappointed, discovering it is not what they imagined. Recently, there have been few tourists in Bethlehem. Jesus’ birthplace is in what is known as the West Bank and now under the control of the Palestinian Authority. Pictures of an almost empty Manger Square will inevitably be broadcast worldwide this Christmas Eve. Accusatory headlines will read something like “Where is the promised peace of the Promised Land?” Mankind missed Jesus’ first arrival 2,000 years ago in the little town Joseph traveled to with his virgin bride for the census decreed by Caesar Augustus.

Surely God could have done better job of deciding where and when His only Son would be born. Why He chose Bethlehem, a small Judean village, I’ll never understand. And wasn’t His timing terrible? Faced with introducing the long awaited Messiah to His chosen people, I think Jesus’ proud Father should have selected a global advertising agency to promote the big roll out of His master plan? His ways are definitely not my ways. The most spectacular event in all of HIStory escaped everyone’s notice… except for a few dirty shepherds. Even Herod the Great learned of the birth of his infant rival after the fact. Certainly God could have done a better job of proclaiming His ‘great tidings’ around the world. Maybe He should have waited until the World Wide Web could be used to announce His Son’s incarnation. I would have been happy put a little e-pistle like this one together for Him.

Everything about Jesus birth seems backward to our natural minds. Maybe that’s why a revisionist story has been created, to soften the rough edges of what it was really like. But let’s think about a few of the facts. The first person the baby God saw was His unwed teenage mother. Nearby, His substitute dad looked on, probably feeling a bit left out and overwhelmed asking, “What’s next?” We know nothing about Jesus’ proud grandparents. Maybe they weren’t, denying the credibility of the young couple’s story. Only the lowest of society came to greet his appearance amidst the smell of defecating animals. Everyone else simply missed it, except Satan. He understood what was at stake and made every effort to destroy the anonymous infant. The real facts surrounding Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem have been largely ignored. No one takes offense at an innocent baby, they’re safe. But take a look at the ‘holiday’ cards you receive this season, listen to the faith neutral songs, and breathe deeply the scents of Christmas trees and Christmas dinner. The world loves Christmas but hates Christ.

Even well intentioned Christians inadvertently cloud the facts surrounding the real story. I guess it is only natural to us to view Jesus’ birth through the lens of our own cultural awareness. However, Jesus wasn’t born in a sanitized wooden stable. The swaddling clothes he wore were meant to wrap the dead before internment in the Judean limestone caves Jesus was likely born in. We need a reality check. Even a cursory reading of the nativity story tells us that something is amiss in our edition of “Bethlehem Morning”.

The ‘beloved disciple’s’ account of Jesus’ life opens with the Son of God in heaven, beside His Father. Through Him our world was spoken into being. Our world has blue skies, majestic mountains, and deep blue seas. There is beauty almost everywhere we look. But there are places where it is unspeakably ugly, dark, and evil. At times it appears evil is overpowering and winning. There is another largely unseen world occupied by angels and demons. A battle is raging there too. But in that world, God is the very visible victor. Saints passed on watch and wait, knowing the eventual outcome.

Two millennia ago, these worlds collided on a dark and starry night in a little backwater town situated amid the dusty hills of Judea. Bethlehem became the cosmic intersection of heaven and earth. It was there that God stepped into time as a wrinkly, crying and needy human being, “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation… before all things”. All but a few eyewitnesses missed it. Once again, amidst all the holiday cheer many will miss Him again.

I’m certain though that His second time around, everyone will see Him coming. Let’s get ready!