A CHRISTMAS MEDITATION)
You are invited to ( participate in this meditation by joining me to imagine something of the sheer magnificence and glory of ‘ The Christmas Story.’May the blessings of this season enrich your life and the life of all you love. This meditation previously appeared under the title” A Mother’s Comfort”. Although recently edited its content is mainly unchanged in word and substance. I offer it to you now as an expression of gratitude for your support of this blog endeavour and as an appreciation for your valued friendship over the Years. May your home glow with the radiance of Christ’s Presence throughout the coming Year
THE KEY NEXT DOOR
Background Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 31: 13 – 17
Scripture Emphasis
Luke 2:7 ” And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”
Hannah, a Jewish woman, living in Bethlehem, finished her half-hearted preparations to observe what remains to be one of the most celebrated Jewish religious observances, The Festival Of Hanukkah or ‘The Festival Of Lights.’
Wrapping her shawl more tightly around her to protect her from the chilly evening wind, she stealthily makes her way down the main street leading out of Bethlehem. Her bowed form against that persistent wind suggests the determination behind her mission.
Tonight, the road through Bethlehem is like a crawling sea. When she dares to lift her eyes to glimpse the faces of the passers-by, she recognizes only a few are familiar. Then, suddenly, she remembers why so many other people are numbered among the local population. It is in response to Emperor Caesar’s decree that all the world should be taxed. Hannah now concludes that many of those on the street tonight will seek shelter from the biting wind, for tomorrow, as disgusting as it is, they will begin to pay the burdensome taxes.
Hannah and her husband, Benjamin, are proprietors of ” THE BETHLEHEM INN.” It was a thriving business for many years until the day the rumour broke that everyone should be taxed. Then the sweet music accompanying their hopes and dreams began to fade.
Suddenly, it dawned on Hannah that many of the strangers she encountered tonight were likely headed for Bethlehem Inn! For a fleeting moment, Hannah’s thoughts flash back to the Inn’s front desk, where poor Benjamin would be frantically trying to satisfy the many demands of the anxious patrons now arriving.
Hannah launches into an angry monologue: “Tonight, of all nights? On the eve of Hanukkah? Despicable taxes! Don’t they know I have to be on the road tonight? Poor Benjamin will have to get along without me as best he can.
Of course! How could these people know, or care if they did, that this is Hannah’s fifth year of strictly following this routine? It is always on the eve of the Hanukkah celebrations. Hanukkah is such a happy time, bringing home family and friends from afar. At sundown today, the festivities will begin. Music will sound throughout the town. There will be daily prayers, and many solemn remembrances will occur. But, there will be laughter and rejoicing everywhere and rich foods in plenty. But Hannah won’t be there! With determination, she hastens on her way, hoping with every step that this will be the year this might be the memorable night anticipated for five long years!
Benjamin, after four years, is familiar with this routine; he knows what forces his wife to journey, through winds and weather, on the Eve of Hanukkah.
Benjamin also knows Hannah’s first words to him upon her return. He will hear the same pathetic inquiry for the fifth time this very night:
” Is he here yet? I see you have kept the promise we made to him five years ago that on the Eve of Hanukkah, every year we will light a candle in his bedroom window until the day he returns! Benjamin, did he come home tonight for the holidays? ”
Five years ago, Mark, Hannah and Benjamin’s only son, on his twenty-first birthday, went away to war. There was but one letter from him since that time. Rumour has it that Mark and a number in his company died in battle honourably, defending their country. However, Hannah refuses to accept that to this day.
This is Mark’s twenty-sixth birthday. This year Hanukkah falls on December twenty-fifth.
Tonight, Hannah’s destination, as it has been for four years, is the ‘Tomb Of Rachael’, the Jewish matriarch. The site, considered holy by the Jews, lies about six kilometres from Bethlehem and is Rachael’s burial site. According to the history of the Jewish people, Rachael came to represent all mothers who lost their children during captivity and war. Therefore, it was a common belief “that Rachael could be heard weeping beside her tomb and would not be comforted because her children were no more.” (see Matthew 2: 18) The Prophet Jeremiah enlightens us further concerning the mystery surrounding Hannah’s annual journey:
Thus says the LORD: “Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your future, declares the LORD, and your children shall come back to their own country.” [Jeremiah 31:16-17]
Thus, Hannah’s determination all the ensuing years was to meet and talk with the messenger who kept the key to this critical mystery.
As she disappears into the shadows surrounding Rachael’s Tomb, Hannah whispers words of comfort. ” This will be the night Mark will return;! This will be the night he will see for himself the love that has kept the Light burning in his bedroom window, just as we promised”. Her expressions of Faith before Rachel’s tomb were punctuated with sobs and tears. More than an hour passes before Hannah makes ready to leave the site. Hope springs eternal in her breast. This will yet be the night when comfort from on high will come to her and Benjamin.
Hannah’s lips move in silent prayer as she rounds a slight bend in Bethlehem Road and searches the starlight sky over Bethlehem’s Inn. ” She whispers,” That candlelight in his window is brighter than I have ever witnessed it before!”
Before the door fully closes behind her, Hannah inquires:
“Is he here,yet, Benjamin? Has Mark arrived home yet?”
It was approaching midnight when a gentle knock sounded upon the door of ” The Bethlehem Inn.” Following heartfelt prayers for the preservation of their hopes and the renewal of their faith, Hannah and Benjamin were about to retire for the night. Then, another gentle knock upon the door.
Benjamin, in hopeful silence, opens the door. There before him stands a young man! He inquires about shelter from the biting north wind. Benjamin noticed he held a donkey’s tether in his hand, and there on the donkey sat a young woman.” We are very tired,” the man offers,” And the young woman is going to give birth soon. Could you please make room for us tonight?.” Benjamin could barely breathe.
” No, there’s no more room in the Inn.” he stammers. The words cling to his lips, and refuse to leave. With one more unavoidable look in their direction, he starts to close the door. But he leaves the door ajar, just enough to watch the couple for a moment longer! Through the opening of the unclosed door. Benjamin’s gaze is drawn towards the window where a candle burns. Is it just his eyes, now affected by the bitterly cold wind, or was that candlelight dancing with a brilliance brighter than the evening star?
An inexplicable exuberance floods Benjamin’s soul; peace more beautiful than Benjamin imagined resides in heaven falls upon him. The dancing candlelight transfixes Benjamin; when the next moment arrives, it is with the impact of a divine revelation for him. What if that Baby, to be born tonight, is somehow connected to our never-ending hope for our boy, Mark? Benjamin muses. His thoughts run deeper: Twenty-six years ago this very night, our baby boy was born on t is very spot Coincidence? or was this God’s way of delivering a special message of comfort for him and his heartbroken Hannah? Could this somehow be God’s way of delivering the key to unlock their life’s haunting mystery? ‘Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, says your God,’ whispered Benjamin, quoting his favourite Old Testament prophet, Isaiah. ( Isa 40: 1)
The weary couple slowly departs when Benjamin quickly pulls the door open again and calls to them. ” Look, there’s no room in the Inn right tonight, but there’s a stable right over there; you may go there to shelter for the night. It is not the most comfortable place, but it will be better than enduring this night’s discomfort! The man smiled the most pleasant smile that Benjamin had ever experienced. The man’s look confirmed a deep conviction in Benjamin’s mind. That night he discovered an eternal truth. And as Mary and Joseph moved toward the stable, they were enveloped in the brilliant glow of Heaven’s promise already being fulfilled. And Benjamin knew this was God’s way of saying, “I am with you here on earth. No great gulf separates heaven and earth; Heaven is just ‘next door. This is all you need to know. In life, in death, and in life beyond death, you are not alone; I am with you. In sorrow, I am your comfort; in joy, I am your stay. The Key that unlocks every mystery opens the door to supply every earthly need and, at the end of our life’s journey, will open the door so that we may be with those we have loved long since and lost a while. Benjamin hastens to greet his beloved Hannah to inform her that her prayers at Rachael’s Tomb are answered. The key to all is just next door.
A PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION
O Light Of The World
Shine upon us now!
May we become transformed like the stable that changed on that first Christmas Eve, from a shelter housing earthly beasts of burden to a place more splendid than the palace of King Herod, made fit now to house the King of Heaven. Yet, You glorified the everyday earthly things and included them all in a genuinely Heavenly event.
In the Light that shone from Heaven that night, ordinary things of earth were made o glow with splendour!
The stable, the manger, the hay, the donkey, the sheep, the shepherds and the wise men; each revealed a radiant beauty unseen since the day of their creation when it was declared that ” God saw it, and said that it was good”. All Created things that night were for God’s use in welcoming Heaven’s Baby, come to earth!
In mercy, bring all things, animate and inanimate, together again to declare the sovereign ownership of God and for Heaven’s purposes.
May we, the members of the human family, stand within the radiance of Heaven’s Glory; that we may learn to live with respect in creation, And gain such beauty of character, as to be made ready to ‘ be of Service” in the Welcoming of Heaven’s Gift, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
HYMN: O Holy Night – Josh Groban
https://youtu.be/4Zh-yR0pbmU
