Nothing makes news like crucial court cases. Consider the media coverage given to high profile trials that garner millions of dollars worth of television time and print space. Everybody loves a mystery. And there are few arenas of intrigue that compare to courtroom drama.
An attorney friend of mine once told me he would like to write a book about a trial that took place two thousand years ago: the trial of Jesus. His goal would have been to retry the prisoner, resurrecting the facts and calling for a just decision. Had he fulfilled his dream, he would have birthed a book about the trial of the centuries. The judge that day refused to render a legal decision, carving out for himself a place in judicial history that has been unmatched through the millennia because of his choice to stay in legal limbo.
Few remember the names of judges presiding over famous trials, but the name of a Roman politician named Pilate is remembered by millions as Easter approaches for his refusal to take a stand on the guilt or innocence of the accused one, even though he admitted he could find no fault in him (John 19:4).
There were many pressures on Pilate during that historic trial. His wife had sent a message urging him to “have nothing to do with this just man.” He longed to find a way to free this peaceful prisoner but even a suggestion of this brought cries from the crowd that if he did so he wouldn’t be loyal to Caesar, a rumor he couldn’t allow to get back to Rome lest it cost him his job…or his head.
Finally, at the end of himself, Pilate asked a question that has endured through the centuries: “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ” (Matthew 27:22).
Pilate’s historic question was personal: “What shall I do?”
Some decisions are so personal that no one else can make them for us.
“My wife has all the religion in our family,” a man once told me. But his religious wife will not be able to give an account before God for him. Her faith will neither clear his name nor relieve him of personal responsibility.
The judge’s personal question demanded action: “What shall I do?”
Pilate didn’t want to do anything. He tried to avoid deciding by publicly washing his hands to show that he wanted no part in sentencing this prisoner. He knew what he ought to do but felt he must stay uncommitted in order to please the crowd. And Pilate was neither the first nor the last to leave the decision that determines destiny to those they were trying to please.
Crowd pleasing Pilate had made some important decisions in his tenure as a representative of Rome, but they were all small compared with this one; no wonder he wanted to stay neutral.
“What if I just don’t care?” a woman asked when confronted with her need to respond in faith to God’s love. Like Pilate, she didn’t want to decide.
But in not deciding, she decided.
So do we.
February is the month Americans celebrate the birthdays of two unforgettable presidents: George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. While we do this officially on President’s Day, many still prefer to do so on the dates they were born: Lincoln on February 12, and Washington on February 22.
Lincoln was a man of many firsts: the first president to be elected without being a native of one of the thirteen original colonies; the first to have a beard; the first to be a Republican; the first to hold a patent; the first to be photographed at his inauguration and sadly, the first to be assassinated.
At the age of nine, Lincoln made a promise to his dying mother that affected him throughout his life: “I want you to live as I have taught you, to love your Heavenly Father and keep His commandments,” she had said. And during Lincoln’s long hard road from poverty to the presidency, he never forgot those words or his promise.
Writing in “The Man and his Faith,” G. Frederick Owen said of Lincoln: God, to him, was not the God of the philosophers, but the God of Nancy Hanks Lincoln and of the Bible. Religion to him was not a philosophy which he was to formulate, but a personal experience into which he was to enter.
In spite of his high standards, his honesty and his regular Bible reading, however, Lincoln seemed to ever be on a search for a relationship with God he had not yet found.
Then came Gettysburg and his entire night of prayer before that bloody battle. According to this praying president, seeing the graves of the soldiers who fell at Gettysburg moved him to absolute faith in his mother’s Lord. No wonder his brief but powerful “Gettysburg Address” has endured. It was delivered by a man who tearfully told his friends that he had now received “the best gift which God has given to men.”
On April 21, 1891, a three day auction began to sell a collection of George Washington relics. Among these was a letter from the former president to his brother, John, dated July 18, 1755. in which he told about his survival of a hail of French musket fire in battle. Describing his peril at that time, he wrote:
“I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets go through my coat and two horses shot under me, yet I escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me.”
The chosen Biblical text for many weddings is Paul’s eloquent description of love found in 1 Corinthians 13. These warm words frequently capture the hearts of lovers and are often chosen to either precede or follow their marriage vows. Why then do these same people often find their love declining? Why has the valentine atmosphere vacated their relationship? What causes love to be lost?
The answer to these questions may be found in the neglect of six words in this popular quote that explain what love is all about: “Love suffers long and is kind.” Without kindness, love loses its meaning and therefore doesn’t last.
I once wrote to a friend to thank him for a comment he made when I visited him shortly after his wife’s death. Reminiscing over their years together, he explained the reason for their long and successful marriage in one simple, yet profound, expression of love: “We were good to each other.”
There had been nothing complicated about their warm and lasting relationship. I doubt that they ever found it necessary to consult a counselor and at the time they were married few ministers gave much attention to premarital advice. Still they enjoyed many happy years together because they were good to each other; they were patient and kind.
An old song says, “You always hurt the one you love, the one you shouldn’t hurt at all.” That once popular tune could be the theme song of many hurting homes.
Looking back on more than twenty years of a good marriage, Jerry Jenkins, co-author of the best-selling “Left Behind” book series, explained how he and his wife kept their home a safe haven for love, writing: “We know each other’s weaknesses, and we don’t exploit them. Long ago, we discussed how unattractive it was to hear spouses bad-mouth
each other, or to find some quirk, some irritating habit, and make a joke of it. That’s not love. Love is building up each other.”
In his book “Love is the Greatest,” George Sweeting says “People are always hungry for kindness” and adds, “Kindness then ought to be a natural part of relating to those we love, but sometimes it’s when we’re with those closest to us that being kind is most difficult.”
Preparing his readers for such times, Sweeting wrote: “A large part of being kind is the patient willingness to put up with the abuse or ridicule that comes our way. Usually that patience is needed most just when it is exhausted.”
If you long to be consistently kind but find your patience running on empty, try Peter Marshall’s well known prayer: “When I am wrong, dear Lord, make me easy to change, and when I’m right make me easy to live with.”
My friend and his wife had discovered how to welcome God into their marriage and He made their mutual kindness possible. They were faithful in the services of their church, prayed together and were eager to help others. The love of God flowed through their marriage and brought an atmosphere of kindness to their home.
Be kind to your valentine today.
You can’t start being kind too soon because you never know when it will be too late.
Poets and preachers have long pointed out the similarities between the seasons of the year and life. In effect, we’re all born in January and immediately start heading toward December. Along the way, we’re initiated into life’s realities by the cold winds of winter, welcomed by the striking colors and flowery fragrances of spring, warmed by the pleasant breezes of summer, made thoughtful by the breathtaking beauty of our sentimental journey through fall and finally, in December, belatedly find ourselves beginning to think seriously about eternity.
We’re also affected by the seasons of the soul. An old hymn said, “Sometimes I’m up; sometimes I’m down, but all the time I’m heaven bound.” The composer, like most
of us, had evidently known both valleys and mountaintops during his journey but had wisely concluded these ups and downs of life had no bearing on the ultimate outcome. Faith provided him a strong anchor when waves were high and assurance that a safe harbor waited after life’s storms.
Answering the knock on our door, I faced a grieving father and mother of a young sailor. “All of our castles have tumbled,” said the father, explaining that their son had been swept overboard while standing fog watch in the north Atlantic and wasn’t found. My responsibility was to comfort them; to give them hope; a seemingly impossible task but their faith rose to the occasion. These brokenhearted parents were confident about their son’s relationship to his Lord and this gave them strength in their season of sorrow.
Friends of ours experienced severe financial reverses. Their formerly thriving business was closed and they lost their home. In spite of these tough trials, however, they found strength through their faith in God to keep them from despair. While out of work, they volunteered for missionary work in the South Pacific, reaching out to needy people with the message of God’s love.
Job had been the wealthy father of seven sons and three daughters. Everything seemed to be going his way. Then trouble came in like a flood. His children died. He lost his wealth and health. His formerly faithful wife became so depressed that she urged him to turn against God and die (Job 2:9). Even during this season of trouble, however, Job’s faith remained strong, enabling him to comfort his grieving wife by telling her this melancholy mood was out of character, proving his love for her was unchanged.
In what season do you find yourself? Are you so down that you wonder if God cares?
Martin Luther once felt as you do today. Then he heard a bird singing its evening song. As he watched, he saw the bird tuck its head under a wing and fall asleep. In writing of this experience, Luther said: “This little bird has had its supper and is now getting ready to go to sleep, quite content, never troubling itself as to what its food will be or where it will lodge on the morrow. Like David, it abides under the shadow of the almighty. It sits on its little twig content and lets God care.”
My conversation with a December man (in his nineties) turned to the subject of heaven. “The days are getting brighter all the time” he said. His faith had been active for so long that he knew it would be sufficient for all seasons…even the final one.
WHY THE WISE MEN ARRIVED LATE FOR CHRISTMAS
The wise men, who came from the east to worship Jesus, are the most mysterious characters of Christmas. No one knows exactly when these wise ones began their journey. Some conclude it may have been as long as two years before their arrival in Jerusalem.
Those who hold to the two year view do so because King Herod had been especially interested in finding out when the wise men first saw the star that guided them on their way and later, in his effort to prevent anyone else from eventually becoming king, executed all the children in that area under two years of age, which Matthew says, was because of the time frame given to him by the wise men (Matthew 2).
Where did these mysterious men come from?
Nobody knows for sure, but the most interesting theory locates their home in the area once occupied by the Babylonian Empire. Daniel, the prophet, had been held captive in Babylon (now Iraq), and some believe the wise men had started their journey as the result of studying his writings about prophecy and his homeland.
We do know the wise men arrived late for Christmas. While often portrayed in manger scenes, the Biblical account says they were not at the manger but, arriving later, found Joseph, Mary and the baby in a house in Bethlehem. There they fell down and
worshipped the one they had been seeking and presented him their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (Matthew 2:10-11)
Why did the wise men arrive late for Christmas?
They made the same mistake millions still make during this sacred season.
When these travelers reached Jerusalem, they stopped following the star and headed for the palace of the king.
After being delayed and interrogated by King Herod, they were told by his advisors that, according to the Scripture bearing on this long anticipated event (Micah 5:2), the prophesied king was to be born in Bethlehem. Heeding then this Biblical advice, the wise men backtracked from Jerusalem, saw the star again and followed it to Bethlehem where they found the one they’d been seeking so long.
The wise men arrived late for Christmas because they stopped following the star that had guided them so far and chose a direction that appealed to their concept of kingly protocol. They were searching for a king so went to a palace. It was only when they
were advised about the prophetic specifics of this amazing plan that they rediscovered the star which then guided them to the one they had traveled so far to find.
These meandering Magi not only presented the newborn king with valuable gifts but have given some to all the generations that followed. One of the most important of these is learning to follow the light given to us. Had the wise men stayed with this principle they would have avoided the detour that caused them to miss the manger, the shepherds and the angelic chorus.
In 1644, the English Parliament outlawed Christmas. No celebrations of any kind were to be tolerated that commemorated the season.
What caused this revolt against celebrating the birth of Christ?
Was there a conspiracy to do away with Christianity? Were political leaders so determined to be inclusive that they feared the wide recognition of one religious holiday might obscure others? Did they think England was getting too religious? Were doubters demanding their rights of privacy from the songs and sounds of Christmas?
Not at all!
What then?
Walter B. Knight, in his book, Knight’s Master Book of Illustrations, says Christmas celebrations were forbidden because they had gotten out of hand. The true meaning of Christmas had become lost in a maelstrom of drunkenness, rioting and depravity. Law abiding people found it necessary to stay indoors for their own safety. And in responding to this crisis, Parliament made celebrating Christmas criminal.
What then brought back the celebration of Christ’s birth in a form that cultivated peace on earth, good will toward men? What enabled people to finally reject carnal cravings that had no reason to be part of the celebration of this historic event?
“Christmas carols,” writes Knight.
Excessive carnal partying gave Christmas a bad name.
Musical expressions of the real meaning of Christmas restored it, ending the restrictions placed on its celebration.
Thirty years after Parliament’s ban on celebrating Christmas was invoked, Isaac Watts was born. He was somewhat frail and only five feet tall, but took to books and poetry as a child, learning Latin at age four, Greek at nine and Hebrew at thirteen. Watts wrote more than six hundred hymns, among them being his enduring Christmas carol, “Joy to the World” with its focus on praise and peace. The pleasing tune was adapted from one found in the masterful work of George Frederick Handel, composer of “The Hallelujah Chorus” which still moves crowds to rise in reverence when played by orchestras or presented by choirs at Christmas and Easter. Handel also had a hand in the music of “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night.”
Other composers kept adding what are now well known Christmas carols: “Silent Night,” “Away in a Manger,” “It Came upon a Midnight Clear,” The First Noel,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” to name some favorites.
Now, every year during the Christmas season, these classic carols with their life- changing lyrics are rediscovered, rehearsed, played over sound systems in malls and legally presented to millions in myriads of media outlets. This is powerful proof that living out the message of Christmas is stronger than laws, bans or boycotts in accomplishing the purposes of what began in a stable in Bethlehem so long ago.
Celebrating Christmas is about more than giving; it’s about living out the inner change made in those who have received the greatest gift of all.
