11. Is everything ready for the birth of Jesus?

THE BABY WILL BE BORN SOON, IS EVERYTHING READY?

No, not everything is like God has planned! He had announced through a prophet that the promised Savior was to be born in Bethlehem, but, remember, Mary and Joseph, lived in Nazareth. So how will God do to make what He has planned come to pass? Well, it’s in Rome, hundreds of miles from Nazareth, that God is going to make things happen. The emperor will decide to take a census. He wants to know the number of inhabitants of his immense empire. And that is how, one day, Roman soldiers have arrived in Nazareth. And they shouted « Here is the Emperor’s decree! Each one of you must go register in his family’s hometown. This is the census! » To go to our family’s hometown would mean for Joseph and Mary, to go to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is the city of their parents. They only see this as an order from the emperor, but actually, you might guess, behind all of this, this is God’s plan. They have no choice! They would get their things ready and they would be on their way to this great journey on foot. When, finally they see the first houses in Bethlehem. What a relief! Now, all they have to do is to find a place to rest. They don’t know what God has planned. Joseph knocked on the door of the inn: « We are full, said the innkeeper, There are no more rooms left, with all this people arriving here due to the census! We can’t greet you! Marie is tired and Joseph is very worried. What can they do? Where to go? There is no other hostel, no hotel. And the baby who will be born very soon. « There is the barn, » said the innkeeper. At least you’ll be safe there. A barn! Is it possible? This baby, the son of God who created everything, to whom everything belongs, is He going to be born in a barn? Isn’t there any other better place on earth to welcome Him? Joseph places Mary as best as possible on fresh straw and in the manger he spreads some clean hay and covers it with a cloth: this will be the baby’s cradle. And that night, in the barn, the first cries of a newborn baby were heard. Jesus was born. He left the glory of heaven and there He is on earth! He came to live among men. Mary is swaddling her baby, she is making him suckle, she is rocking him tenderly and is laying him down the manger while Joseph is looking at them kindly and in a fascinating way. Everything just happened as God said but no one realized it. And nowone in the world knows that Jesus the promised saviour, has just been born. Neither in Rome, nor in Jerusalem, not even in Bethlehem. In our next stories, we will see how God himself, will do, to let people know. He has extraordinary powers no one could ever imagine. So see you soon! 1, 2 3, 4 AND YOU AND ME ! Have you seen any photos or reports about the birth of a royal child? A beautifully dressed baby, surrounded by the best cares, living in the comfort such as in a palace, where everything is magnificent! And in our story… Have you noticed? On the one hand, we speak about the birth of the son of God, of Jesus, the king of kings. And on the other hand, we discovered that this birth did not take place in a palace, not even in an inn, but … yes! In a barn, he is lying on straw! Yes!… Jesus was born into a very ordinary family, and in the simplest possible way, far away from wealth. What do you think of all this? … Yes, this story shows us how simple everything is with God. But, why did God want everything to be so simple? That’s Benji’s question. Well, you got it, if He had come like a prince, no one could have come near Him. You will see, throughout our broadcasts, how He has lived on earth in the greatest simplicity. 4, 3, 2, 1 AND WE PARENTS! Have you noticed the conditions intended by God for the coming of his Son? The family… the place of birth… Isn’t that surprising? The choice of such a family and such a place enlightens us on the very nature of God: He reveals himself as the God accessible to all men, for us, for children, for our children. With God, there are no barriers, no protocol, no tricks, everything is so simple! It is up to each one of us to come close to him and encourage our children to do the same.