Matthew 2:3-6
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘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.’”
There are many descriptions of Jesus in the Christmas carols, most of them very sweet, nice or pleasant. I’ve never come across a carol extolling Jesus for being disturbing! But this was and is what Jesus is all about, disturbing how things are, turning things upside down so that we might see things for how they really are. God’s Son born in the least of towns of the nation, the creator come to suffer, bringing life to that which is dead. I suspect that if our picture of Jesus doesn’t disturb us, either we’ve got our picture wrong, or we aren’t honest to ourselves about ourselves and our lives.
Spirit, disturb me so I may live a better life, a life more aligned to yours.
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