Whatchamacallme: I do not own any part of the Bible, nor do I want to. I really can't believe that we have to say that sigh.
I really didn't mean for it to be so long, and I meant it to be just a Christmas story. Didn't mean for it to extend all the way to include His death, but God had other plans obviously. So here it is. All four pages... Well, four pages in Microsoft Word... I don't own it either...
Read, Relax, and please Review! Merry Christmas!
A man on a hill waved his arms trying to get the attention of a couple walking by, they glanced in his direction and tried to ignore him.
The man came up to them, "Hello! I want to te—"
"Look, guy, I don't want any trouble. Leave us alone. Scat!" said one of the couple, who was a big bulky man of thirty-five years and who had interrupted the man from the hill.
The smaller man looked dejected and walked slowly away back to his hill. He sat down on a large stone and waited for the next person to walk by. His ears caught the sound of a wagon making its way slowly to the town. Getting up, the man made his way down the hill to meet the wagon.
When it had rolled around the bend, he saw a young man sitting up behind a mule that was pulling the wagon full of goods.
Taking off his hat, he stepped forward into the street. "Excuse me sir, may I tell you something?"
Warily, the man in the wagon replied, "Yes, I suppose you may; what is it?" The man from the hill could see his hand reaching down beside him.
"Well, I wanted to tell you something amazing that happened to me forty years ago on that very hill." At this, he turned around and pointed to his hill with the stone.
Humoring him, the young man said, "Seeing that you are in the middle of the road risking your neck and hoping that I won't run you over, I do grant that it might be something worth listening to. So, elder, what is it?" He had called him 'elder' for he was over fifty years old and was using a staff to walk.
"Well, I want to tell you a story. A story that happened on my hill," he looked at him expectantly, checking to see if he wanted him to go on; he nodded.
"Forty or more years ago, when I was ten years old, I was finally allowed to accompany my brothers in tending the sheep at night. I was very excited, for I love sheep and I'd do anything just to look after them.
"So me and my brothers went off and we set them on the hill there," he pointed again. "The sun had set quite a while before and all the sheep were asleep and I was trying not to nod off. Then suddenly a star appeared in the sky over the town.
"It was the brightest star I had ever seen! Brighter than the moon! I noticed it first and I tugged on my oldest brother's tunic and said, 'Brother! Look it that! Wonder what it means, for it just appeared and I've never seen it before!'
"My brother thought that I just had the jitters because it was my first watch and I didn't know any better apparently. But he looked and was rather shocked; I saw it on his face, then he called my three other brothers and they all looked. They discussed a bit about what it might mean, but no one knew for sure, so they just shrugged it off and went back to tending sheep.
"Then suddenly—much more suddenly than the appearance of the star—we heard wonderful music that didn't come from nowhere but everywhere all at once! We were looking around trying to find the source when we all looked at the sky.
"I swear, I was scared out of my skin when I saw that man floating in the sky. He wore bright shining clothes and was terrifying! I hid behind that rock, along with one of my other brothers. All the others tried to hide behind sleeping sheep. We were all hiding to the best of our abilities, when the men in the sky spoke!
"'Fear not!' he said.
"Right, I thought, how can I not be scared of you? You look intimidating floating there in the sky! And there's music all around, and you expect me not to be scared?
"But he went on, "I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah the Lord. This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying gin a manger.'
"Then a whole bunch of men in shining clothes joined him and started singing to the music. 'Glory to God in the Highest!' they said. 'And on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.' They said much more, but my memory is not quite like it was, please forgive me. But after they were done singing, they vanished, as if they had never been. That was the most upsetting; you would think there'd be some trace of those strange men.
"My second oldest brother was the first to recover. 'Brothers!' he said, 'Let's go into Bethlehem and see this thing that the Lord has granted us knowledge about!' Actually, he wasn't that eloquent, but it sounds better that way than what he really said; he has a lisp you know.
"So we ran to Bethlehem following the star. We figured that the star and the strange men were connected, and thus if we followed the star, we would find the Messiah. It worked, and we found him easily.
"He was really there, lying in an animal's manger. Can you believe that? A manger? For the Messiah? The Lord has strange ideas." He shrugged and continued, "He was wrapped up and slightly red faced. But His mother! Oh, she looked so tired. But so did my wife after she gave birth to our children, so I suppose she had a right to be tired! She gave birth to the Holy One Himself! Amazing isn't it? Well, we asked His name; Jesus, she said. Believe that! The Lord saves! Looking back, that name makes much more sense, but at the time, we didn't think anything of it. We asked His mother and father's name, Joseph and Mary. Lovely couple they were. But that's all we asked, we were too overjoyed to stay long. So we ran out into the streets telling everyone we saw. Some houses we banged upon the doors to wake them up so we could tell them. Everyone thought we were drunk! Drunk! Pah, not likely. It was real." Here he lapsed into a kind of revere, thinking about that tiny babe on that warm night.
The wagon rider had stopped the mule and was absorbed by the story, "Please sir, what happened after that?"
The old man shook his head to clear it, "Oh, oh, right. For three years our family popped by now and then to visit His family. We felt so lucky to be allowed to be the first to know who He really was, because I'm sure you know that us shepherds aren't really liked that much." The young man nodded his head before the old man continued, "Well, three years passed and he grew like a weed, but then a hundreds of men poured into the city, looking for the one that the star indicated! Hundreds I say! They covered our grazing hill trampling the grass to nothing. Least, nothing fit for our sheep to eat.
"They found Him easily enough, since almost everyone in their area remembered what we told them. These men said they came from the Far East seeking this child. They brought gold and myrrh and frankincense! I never like the smell of frankincense; it stinks horribly and it bothers the sheep. #
"But they left in a hurry, going in a completely different direction than from where they came. We didn't know what it meant, but perhaps they were going to do some trading in a larger city." He shrugged, and then his face became very sad, "The very day the troupe left, Joseph said that he was moving his family to Egypt right away. An angel had come to him to tell him of the evil deed that King Harod was going to do. They were gone before the sun had set that day.
"True to the angel's word, not two days later soldiers came from Harod to kill any child between the ages of three and five."
The young man sucked in a breath,"Poor souls..."
The old man nodded his head miserably, "Yes, I had a sister who was killed. She was the mother to a four year old boy; she stood in their way and they cut her down without a thought." He wiped a tear away from his eye, "We were really close..."
He then gave a sigh and continued with the story, "We didn't hear anything from them until we started hearing rumors about a man who was causing dissention among the Jewish leaders. But they were mixed rumors. Some said that he was the devil or possessed by a demon. Others said he was deranged. But others said that he was the Messiah and we believed them. The next thing we heard about him was that he had been crucified. This struck us hard. Our dear Messiah was no more..."
The young man cried out, "I have heard of this man whom you call Messiah, I have been to some of his teachings. He was a great teacher! But elder, have you not heard the other rumors?"
The older man smiled broadly, "Indeed I have, lad, indeed I have. Have you? Appears so. Isn't our Savior great? That he would let himself be crucified? He bore our sins, so we can be pure." The old man smiled at the younger man some more, "Tell me, do you believe?"
The younger man looked down, "I'm not sure, sir, I know what he said and what he did... But that's not how the Messiah was going to do things. He was going to come and overthrow Rome! He was going to come and be a great king to a kingdom that would last forever! But he died! He must not be the real Messiah, sir. He did not accomplish what he set out to do."
The older man's smile vanished, "Shame on you for saying what the Messiah was going to or not going to do! The Messiah is God. He does what He deems necessary! Son, look. He lived a pure life! He never sinned; not once. He allowed Himself to be crucified. Then He rose from the dead. Listen, you know how Jews must be forgiven of sins, correct?"
He nodded, "yes, sir, I'm a Jew myself.
"Good! Jesus was a perfect lamb; He had no blemish. He let himself be led to the altar to be killed. The blood that was spilt covered our sins. He rose again to show that death has no mastery over Him. He is the perfect sacrifice for our sins that we should no longer have the need to do more sacrifices."
The young man smiled largely, "I understand sir, and I think I do believe! What must I do now?"
The older man gave a whoop of joy, "Come, son! Come and be baptized!"
Luke 2:10-12 NIV; Modified to fit the story. Where it says 'Messiah' the NIV says 'Christ'. 'Christ' is Greek and 'Messiah' is Hebrew; the two men are speaking Hebrew and thus would say 'Messiah'.
Luke 2:14 NIV; Direct quote
Luke 2:15 NIV; Modified to fit the story
# No clue if this is true; shrugs it just sounded good.
Whatchamacallme: Well, thanks for the patience it takes to read something so long. Please review. If you say you like it, tell me why, instead of just saying you like it. I'd appreciate it.