Today as I sit in my living room, I am determined to once again tell the Christmas story from another of the many players that stared in this wondrous event. I am going to comment from the perspective of the three different sets of Priest involved. God has set the stage with a priest named Zacharias in Luke 1:5. He was the one chosen by God to set in motion the Christmas story we have heard all our lives. Zacharias was of the lineage of Aaron as was his wife. He was of the course of Abihu, the second born son of Aaron, 1 Chronicles 24:10.
Zacharias and Elizabeth lived in Judea, the suburbs of Jerusalem, probably in Hebron. No one knows for sure, but Hebron was a priestly town. According to Mosaic law a priest was not required to marry someone from the Levite tribe, but Elizabeth was, and this was a double honor among the Jews. But, this honor was dimmed by her barrenness. Both he and her were at least in their 60s, as the age of 60 was considered aged, and they had no children but always prayed to have one.
For most of their lives they lived in their hill country village they called home, except when Zacharias was on duty in the Temple for a week. The priest were divided into 24 groups ( 1 Chronicles 24:7-8), and Zacharias’ Division was the eighth in rotation. Twice each year the priest would arrive in Jerusalem to do their duties in the Temple. Everyday about 50 priest would have been on duty. Zacharias’ Division cast lots to see who would be the priest that had the duty and honor of burning incense, which represented the prayers of the people.This week that honor was given to him. Little did he know how special that honor was to be.
Proverbs 16:33 explains the drawing of lots as: “ the lot is cast into the lap, but it’s every decision is from the Lord”. So we can see that God was even in control of this minor function of a lottery system to see who God wanted in each position or job. We can now see that Zacharias was being directed by God as he goes about his duties on this very special day that will change his life dramatically.
This function of burning incense on the altar of incense was so rare in the life of each priest, that when chosen they were blessed, as it rarely happened at all or only rarely in each priest lifetime.Their job was to burn incense on the altar of incense before morning sacrifice and again in the evening.
Suddenly, there is someone in the room with him! No one was supposed to be in this area except the priest. This shook him up and he became frightened. But this was no ordinary intruder, it was Gabriel, the messenger of God. Gabriel sees he has frightened him and says “fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.” The angel speaks more about this but l will let you read it for yourself, Luke 1:13-17.
Here was an angel speaking to him about his prayer of being childless and did Zacharias believe it and get excited? Nope! He stared at this angel with disbelief and asked a very foolish question. How do I know you are from God, and telling me the truth? Gabriel was not pleased with his lack of faith and told him the sign he asked for would be that he would not be able to speak until the child, John, was born. Then the angel left him to his thoughts. After he got over his shock of this angelic visit he finished putting the incense on the coals and came back outside to the people.The people had become concerned because of the amount of time he had been inside and as he tried to explain he realized he could not speak anymore and it would be more than 9 months before he could.
Nine months passed and Elizabeth had her baby boy as the angel had informed them, and they named him John. This cousin of Jesus would play a very important part in the life of Jesus in the years to come. God had allowed Zacharias and Elizabeth to have the messenger that would go before the people and renew their hope of the Messiah being revealed to them in their lifetime. John was the forerunner that opened the door for Jesus to be revealed as the one to whom they were waiting for to deliver them from their oppressor and set them free. This has been the short story of the first priest that was to be the one to set the stage for the completion of Gods plan and will for mankind to be set free from their captor, the devil.
Now that the stage has been set and act one is over, we look to the second priest who stars in this wonderful Christmas story as we look at Luke 2:21-39. Brother Luke tells us that this little family gets Jesus circumcised on the eight day as prescribed by Mosiac law (Numbers 12:3). If you look at Luke 1:59 you will see that this part of the law is carried out by a priest or rabbi at the home of the family, so we can safely conclude that the same thing happened in the life of Jesus as it happened to his cousin John. The baby is given his rightful name in the same ceremony.
Luke then takes us into the future thirty two more days as Mary is now considered ritually clean and allowed to go into the temple again and offer up to God the purification sacrifice as required (Leviticus 12:6-8) by law, and present her first born son back to God (Numbers 3:13). Mary’s sacrifice for her purification was two doves, as this was all she could afford (Leviticus 12:8) as they were not wealthy.
After the birth of a child the woman was considered unclean and was not allowed out in public nor in the temple of God, until the days of her purification were completed. This was to be forty days for a boy child and eighty days for a girl child. Very hard for us modern day Christians to understand, but this was the law they lived under as given to them but Moses from God.
As they enter the temple they are met by a man to whom the early church fathers’ believed to be a priest. I also tend to agree with them as it reads in Luke 2:27-28 like he is doing what a priest would do, as he presented the child to God. This man was Simeon, and he was there because the Lord had informed him that the Messiah was in the temple.
Who was this Simeon, and was he an old man? Not necessarily so. This Simeon could have been of the house of the Hasmonean family, of which King Herod had slaughtered most of them, so he could have been a much younger man who was marked by the King. I am not a scholar and I have to depend on those who are wiser than I. Not everyone agrees with each other on this matter. But it seems most logical for this person to be a priest, the son of Hillel, and the future father of Gamaliel, who is spoken of in Acts 5.
Can you just for a moment put yourself in this man’s shoes. He was told by God that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ, verse 26. Now that day had arrived and here he was, face to face with the promised one of Israel, who would deliver the Jews. What an honor to see the promised Messiah and be able to speak blessings over him as directed by Holy Spirit.
Simeon takes the baby Jesus from his mother into his arms and looks into the face of God, and blesses God for allowing him to see this holy child, the Messiah of Israel. Then he says something that causes the parents to marvel over his words. “For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” Then he blesses Joseph and Mary and gives them a prophesy.
1. This child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel.
2. And for a sign which shall be spoken against.
3. Yes a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also, that the thoughts of many may be revealed.
This was a lot for Joseph and Mary to take in and wonder what it all meant, even though they knew God was at work in their lives and baby Jesus.
Then if that was not enough, there enters another player in this marvelous stage set before us the prophetess Anna appears before them. She was also directed by God to come and prophesy over Jesus. The Bible does not yell us what she spoke over him except to say she gave thanks unto God for allowing her to see the long promised Messiah. But it does say she spoke about him to all them that did look for redemption in Israel. After all these words were spoken over him they were just amazed and marveled greatly.
They leave the temple and return to their home in Bethlehem, until their lives would once again be interrupted in the very near future. Much was at stake as they tried to believe God and follow his leading just as you and I do each day, wondering what our future holds as his children.
Brother Luke ends his story by saying they went back to their home in Nazareth, and this has caused much confusion in peoples minds, as Matthew gives us a different story of their immediate future. No conflict or different story, just one man not aware of all the facts the other knew about the birth of Jesus and what transpired in his young life so long ago. This concludes the second act.
Now we will look at the third set of priest in this Christmas story as given to us by Matthew 2:1-6, as King Herod is surprised by the arrival of this royal procession from the East showing up at his palace in Jerusalem. These wise men as the Bible calls them, come before the King to ask him where this new born Child King, has been born in his kingdom. He is shook up and angry by this question and immediately calls for his own wise men to come before him.
Verse 4 says he gathered all his chief priest and scribes together and demanded of them where this Christ should be born. Just who were these chief priest? Surely they were representatives of the 24 courses or divisions as I explained earlier as I wrote about Zacharias. This is just an educated guess on part of us commentators.
Did this catch then unprepared? No, they knew instantly where this Christ was to be born. They told the King that he would be born in Bethlehem of Judaea. The King had his answer and dismissed his chief priest and scribes. Did they know about the Magoi who had asked this question? I believe so, as verse 3 gives us a hint that everyone in Jerusalem knew the Magoi were there. Remember Bethlehem was only about 6 miles from Jerusalem.
Did the King invite the wise men into his conference room to ask the chief priest any questions? Nope, he went and called the Magoi to him after his advisors were gone. He did this in secret by the way. He told them where they could find this child in Bethlehem and asked them to return and tell him so he could go and pay homage to this Royal Child. The Magoi then leave the King’s palace to go and find this King of the Jews. As they leave this Star that guided them reappeared and led them to the right home where Jesus was.
I will now end this lengthy story of the birth of Jesus as our King from the perspective of the priest involved. You can read my other Christmas blogs on this subject and also Matthew and Luke’s account in the Bible. I want to wish each of you a Merry Christmas and hope this rendition of the birth of Jesus helps you understand that there were many people involved in this miraculous event of our Savior. I love all of you and hope in 2024 to be writing a weekly blog once again.
Remember, you will make it, just don’t give up.
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The Kilted Priest 