The Birth of a True Leader

About 1300 years before Christ there was famine in the land of Judah, and so a man with his wife and two sons left their home town of Bethlehem, and immigrated to the land of Moab. There this family's sons each married a Moabite, thus separating themselves even more from their home country... Later on, the father and his two sons died, leaving their widowed and childless mother alone, both destitute and depressed, to fend for herself in a land not her own.

In the midst of this woman's anguish she heard news that the Lord had visited his people, and given them food... After not being able to convince one of her daughter's in law to stay in Moab, the two of them sojourned to Bethlehem where the Lord provided a kinsman redeemer.

In a major turn of events, this widowed daughter in law remarried and gave birth to a son, thus bringing tremendous joy to herself and her mother in law... It's this tragic yet redemptive story of immigrants and foreigners that serves as the backdrop for the ultimate redemptive story of Christmas.

3 generations later, a shepherd boy from that same town of Bethlehem was God's unlikely choice as the future king of Israel. He was improbable in age and stature, but dead on in integrity and courage... A true shepherd who knew how to look out for his flock, and a courageous warrior who stood up to the scariest of foes. He was a man after God's own heart, who sought God's approval and presence more than anything else.

This king united Israel, conquered Jerusalem, and brought the Ark of the Covenant to it's final resting place. God promised him that his house and his kingdom would endure, and his throne would be established forever - and so it is. To this day this unlikely shepherd boy's kingdom endures because it is through his offspring that the ultimate Shepherd and King was born. 

1000 years later, both kings and shepherds in the town of Bethlehem gathered to behold the ultimate newborn King and Shepherd there before them. He, like his great grandmother from Moab, at a very young age became an immigrant, along with his parents, to find refuge from an insecure and ruthless king. Ironically, this immigrant boy spent part of his years growing up in the "sanctuary country" of Egypt that had formerly enslaved the very people he specifically came to save. The fact that he had been born in Bethlehem was the qualification for his death threat as a baby, and the misunderstanding of thinking that he was from Nazareth, became another qualification for his death threat as an adult. And yet this man's real home was neither Bethlehem, nor Egypt, nor Nazareth but Heaven itself, from which he had immigrated to this Earth to become all that which his ancestors had foreshadowed and foretold. 

Especially one of his great grandfathers from Ur of the Chaldees, the patriarch of patriarchs, who also immigrated all over the place - this man once received a promise from God that he would bless him and his offspring so that his offspring would in turn bless the whole world... That promise was given about 1500 years before its fulfillment, but when it arrived it effectively became valid for everyone who has lived and is living 2000 years since.

And it all came about through this one man: the ultimate foreshadowed and foretold Redeemer, Shepherd, and King born in Bethlehem 2019 years ago.

His name is Jesus.    

Finally in his 30's, this wonderful Jesus called out a terrible ruler who had beheaded his cousin. This ruler was the son of the former tyrant who had tried to kill Jesus as a baby, and was everything a sick and depraved and terrible ruler should be, and therefore, the exact opposite of the true and loving sacrificial leader Jesus is. 

Immediately after making reference to this wretched oppressor as a fox, Jesus then expressed his profound longing to gather and protect everyone linked to his own lineage like the way a hen would gather her chicks, but they were not willing... The irony of the situation is that many of those who were most closely related to Jesus by blood and who lived there in the holiest city of the world where Jesus was standing at the time, failed to accept him as the true leader that he was... 

Much like a hen who sacrifices herself to save the life of her chicks, Jesus sacrificed himself to save all those who would come to him as the ultimate Redeemer, Shepherd, King, and... I suppose we could also say "Hen" of the world.