One of my favourite comedy sketches is from Father Ted when he tries to explain ‘perspective’ to Dougal. He puts his fingers close together and says “this is small”, and then points to something in the distance and says “and that’s far away”.  Dougal does not get it at all.

The full name ‘Bethlehem Ephrathah’ was probably used to distinguish it from another town of the same name in Zebulun. All names in Hebrew have meaning, so Bethlehem means “house of bread” and Ephrathah means “fruitfulness”.  As a town, in size terms, Bethlehem was totally insignificant with likely only a thousand inhabitants.

However, Bethlehem was where Israel’s great King David was born, and Micah identifies it as the place where the Messiah would also be born, the ruler who would come from David’s descendants but whose origin was before David. 

In God’s kingdom, He often chooses what (or who) seems small and unimportant and uses it (or them) to demonstrate His power and His glory. A baby in a manger in a town that barely made it onto the map is just about as small and insignificant as you could possibly get in human terms.  However, we know that it was one of the most significant events in human history and was part of God’s plan for the salvation of the world.

What is our perspective this Christmas? Is our God small? Or perhaps not small but far away? Or, is He Immanuel, God with us, the One who is intimately close, glorious and majestic, and whose greatness reaches the ends of the earth?  

John M