Where Are You Christmas?

By Grant Gaines

After first being released by Dr. Seuss in 1957, The Grinch has quickly become one of the greatest Christmas stories of our time. Every December, How the Grinch Stole Christmas will be shown on ABC Family and other television networks a countless number of times. The Grinch has grown so much in popularity, in fact, that in 2002 a survey done by TV Guide the Grinch ranked as #5 on its “50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time” list¹. That ranking is even more impressive when you consider that The Grinch beat out the likes of Mickey Mouse, Charlie Brown, and the Flintstones.

What makes How the Grinch Stole Christmas such a compelling story is that the Grinch had the meaning of Christmas all wrong for so long that he had grown to despise the holiday. For the majority of his life, the Grinch thought the meaning of Christmas was all about stuff-new toys, clothes, and gadgets. However, as the story progressed, the Grinch finally learned that the meaning of Christmas went well beyond what Christmas presents were under the tree as he realized that the citizens of Hooville still celebrated the holiday despite the fact that the Grinch had stolen all of their gifts.

For so many years the Grinch had missed Christmas because he didn’t truly grasp the gravity of its meaning. Sadly, I believe the same could be said about millions of people across our world today. To help me explain what I’m talking about, I want to look back at the biblical Christmas story one more time. But instead of focusing on the “stars” of the story-Jesus, Mary, or Joseph-I want to look at Matthew 2:1-18 to see how three unsung characters-Herod, the Magi (also known as “wise men”), and the chief priests-responded to the birth of Christ.

The Magi are the first group the text mentions as we see them coming from the east to Jerusalem following a star (2:1-2). Where did they get the idea to follow this star? We don’t know. But apparently they had heard that if they followed this star it would lead them to Someone special because as soon as the wise men arrived in Jerusalem they wasted no time asking the locals, “Where is the One who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him” (Matthew 2:2, NIV).

Next, the passage shifts its attention momentarily to King Herod who was “disturbed” (Matthew 2:3) to hear that the Magi were looking for “the King of the Jews” in his province. And because of his angst over the situation, Herod called in the third group we’re going to look at today-the chief priests-to ask them, “…where the Christ was to be born” (Matthew 2:4, NIV).

The priests had no problem answering Herod’s question. In fact, they probably had the prophecies memorized when they immediately responded, “‘In Bethlehem in Judea,’ they replied, ‘for this is what the prophet has written: ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd My people Israel'” (Matthew 2:5-6, NIV).

At this point in the story all three groups knew where to find the long-awaited Messiah-in Bethlehem which was conveniently located a short 4.5 miles away from where they were all located. And of the three groups, two of them had incredible motivation to find this Child-the priests and King Herod.

The priests had heard about, read about, and prayed about seeing this precious Savior for their entire lifetime. The promises of this coming Messiah is what woke them up in the mornings and got them through their difficult days. The prophecies and promises about the coming Christ is what filled the Old Testament that they so diligently studied day in and day out. They must have been waiting in breathless anticipation for the arrival of One on whom all their hopes rested.

Equally excited to see this Child was King Herod. However, unlike the priests who wanted to worship and exalt the Messiah, King Herod wanted to kill this so called “King of the Jews” as can be seen from his command to kill every male child under the age of two in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:12-18). Why was Herod so violent in his actions? Because he was threatened by anyone that might share or “overthrow” his power.

So these two groups-King Herod and the priests-had a lot at stake. This could possibly be the promised Messiah that the Jews had been desperately waiting for and this could possibly be a challenging king threatening Herod’s reign. For either group, the reward of going to see the sight for themselves was great…particularly given that it would only cost them a 4.5 mile journey one afternoon.

But as you’ll likely remember from reading the story, neither King Herod nor the priests made the short trek down to Bethlehem to see this sight. Rather, the Bible tells us that only the wise men made the trip to Bethlehem to see the King of the Jews.

The two groups missed the first Christmas because they were concerned with other matters. King Herod didn’t want to see Jesus because he didn’t want to yield his power to anyone else. The priests didn’t go see Christ because they pictured the Messiah coming in a more elegant fashion than being born to a poor couple in a messily barn.

The same sad reality is often true today-so many people still miss Christmas because they are either afraid of the potential of Jesus really being the King which would require them to take a step down off of the throne of their own lives or they don’t believe that Someone as humble, meek, and servant-hearted as Jesus could really be the Savior of the world.

Whatever the reason may be, don’t let this be the year that you fall into the same trap that King Herod and the priests did. Don’t get so busy with the To-Do’s of the season that you miss the reason of the season. Don’t get rocked to sleep by the tradition or familiarity of the season while the greatest Gift of all is being celebrated all around you.

Instead, do what the Magi did and go the extra mile to really seek Jesus this Christmas season. Take some time to read the Christmas story, reflect on what Christ has done for your life, and recreate the loving sacrifice that God made when He sent His Son Jesus to the world by taking the Good News of this Savior to those who desperately need to hear it.

¹https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grinch