POP QUIZ

Pop quiz – Does the Holy Bible provide its readers with the precise date of Jesus Christ’s birth?  Is said date important, or vital or otherwise critical to living the Christian life?  How about the person Jesus Christ, is the baby Jesus, more important than the boy, or man Jesus?

Recently someone made a comment to me about a song which contained some lyrics “…man from Galilee…” and “… reason for the season…”; their comment went something like this, “ha… shows what they know, Jesus was from Bethlehem NOT (expletive) Galilee!  Bloody idiots…  Sure, Jesus is the Reason for the Season, but ‘man from Galilee, get real!’ ?” 

This exchange got me thinking.  It had me thinking a whole lot about human nature, and our tendencies towards silly-arsed nit-picking.  I mean sure, true story, the Christmas Season is about the birth of Jesus (Yeshua), but is it really specifically and exclusively about the Baby Jesus (born in Bethlehem), or more generally perhaps the Person of Jesus? (And what His life and death means to and for us?)

So just who is “the man from Galilee” anyways?  Well according to:

This Facebook Group - http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Man-from-Galilee/37970972332?sk=wall, [The Man from Galilee] the man from Galilee is quite obviously believed to be none other than Jesus Christ; and

Yourdictionary.com - http://www.yourdictionary.com/man-of-galilee the man from Galilee is defined as Jesus Christ; and

G. Maclellan's song "Put your hand in the hand" - http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060712112153AABZDI6  the man from Galilee here, once again, appears to be understood to be Jesus Christ

But was Jesus actually from Galilee?  “Hey man, doesn’t the Bible say that it was just a bunch of folk who were looking desperately for Jesus after His Resurrection thast were from Galilee, and NOT Jesus Himself, per Acts 1:11?”  “Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven”

Well according to Matthew 3:13 Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan River, thus to those observing His arrival at the Jordan River on that occasion, Jesus was in fact FROM Galilee.  So what?  ‘The “Christmas Season” is about celebrating the birth of Jesus’ you may say… and “DECEMBER 25^th is HIS BIRTHDAY!!!”  Oh really… is it?  According to whom or what?  Tradition?  Fact is folks, the Holy Bible tells us of the general events of the population surrounding Christ’s birth, but not his precise birthdate (not the month, day or even year).

Should we then abandon all celebrations of or at Christmas… I think not.  Although it’s NOT about December 25^th, and over-spending on your personal budgets to the tune of some 35%, 40% or even 60% plus, in well intended attempts at lavishing your loved ones with gifts (many of whom will just be exchanging them [those expensive gifts] on December 26^th anyways) that you really cannot afford to give.   Christmas, at its core, is about recognizing the BIRTH of the Messiah, Jesus and what that means to and for human kind!

To that end, whether our thoughts are turned to Him (God, Jesus Christ, Yeshuah HaMashiach) by way of a reference to His birth in Bethlehem, His travels from Galilee to other areas, or His Wisdom being poured for at the approximate age of 12 (Luke 2:47), the truly important part is that our hearts, and our thoughts, and our faith become FOCUSSED on Him. 

The baby Jesus, the boy Jesus and the man Jesus and individual exploits related thereto, although important in helping us understand more about His life incarnate here on earth roughly 2000 years ago, remain secondary to the simple fact that Jesus Christ, Lived, Died and Rose again.  As many of the Ecumenical Churches refer to it, “The Mystery (or one of the Mysteries) of Faith” – “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again”

Perhaps then, rather than spending time, energy and other resources arguing with one another about whether or not Christmas is about a man from Galilee or a baby from Bethlehem, we might better expend our energies studying the “Aleph Tav” or “את”.  That, along with many other wonderful things relating to Jesus’ Jewishness, the incredible love He showed and continues to show for His creation as outlined in John 3:16 and that He is the only way to Eternal Salvation (John 14:6). 

And once again, that’s DaBauz’s Take.  As always, please don’t take my word for anything, research and read for yourselves.  Discover the incredible message that is Jesus Christ, Yeshuah HaMashiach “חהמשי ועיש”