The popular holiday tune has travelers chuckling to one another "from Atlantic to Pacific, gee the traffic is terrific!" How like the original Christmas story, everyone is on the move.
Joseph and Mary are headed south for the census. The wise men caravan west out of Baghdad. The shepherds, already away from home at night, start off on a side trip to verify what angels had reported. Herod would be travelling, but his GPS is on the fritz and he is awaiting directions. (recalculating...)
After the child is born, they are off again, not home to Galilee, but to Egypt. What a travelogue! How many visas and border crossings would there have been if Messiah had come instead in 2011? Imagine how stressed TSA would be if every April 15 we all had to go home to pay our taxes.
There is so much movement going on in the Christmas story that we gloss right over the most amazing journey that happens. The Prince of Heaven comes to a dark little corner of our planet. (Well, it's not ours really, we just live here. But you get my meaning.) Divinity gets off the throne and visits humanity. Majesty takes on our poverty. That's an amazing journey.
So holiday traffic is nothing new. Drive safely. Have a blessed season. Watch out for angels crossing against the lights. And who knows, if we play our cards right, maybe we'll get to see what Messiah looks like coming in 2011.
Maranatha! Merry Christmas!
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