When You Can’t Have What You Want - Or The Starry Starry Nights Of The Soul

So this is the eve when we celebrate the birth of a Babe.

The parents had traveled under the pressure of a Central Government's edict, in order to be counted under Imperial Rome's demand for a census count of all persons in Judea. When Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem, a town where those of the lineage of King David had to register, no rooms were available at the inn.

What was available to this pair of travelers was a structure offering shelter for some animals belonging to a local herdsman or farmer who has long since been forgotten.

These accommodations were hardly ideal, especially given that Mary was about to give birth.

And then, like parents since the first days when time began, they witnessed their child being born. This first born was healthy and thriving, with all His fingers and toes. (Although most likely not in possession of the visible halo that artists on down through the centuries would show framing His holy head.)

The following parts of the story are mythological in impact, that three kings of distant lands had been following a star, whose light they knew would bring them to the palace of a king.

But the star played a trick upon them, as the inner guiding force of All That Is wished for the three kings to have knowledge of the planned activities of an evil minor king, one King Herod.

So according to the Apostle Luke: The kings followed the star's light to the halls of the Judean king, Herod. But in that king's palace, they neither saw or heard any babe or young child. So when they then presented themselves to Herod, they asked, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

This infuriated Herod, and indeed, his fury was shared by others in positions of power in Jerusalem. For the one thing that is most troubling to those who hold temporal human power is any type of rivalry. The fact that three kings carrying objects of immense value had traipsed hither and yon in search of a prophesied new king meant upheaval and a fall from glory for Herod and those who were his closest associates.

Being a canny character, Herod quite secretly called upon the wise men, to determine from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them on to Bethlehem saying, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”

So the wise men left Herod's court. Then behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

After they left, Joseph settled down to sleep, most likely after securing the home and checking that his wife and Jesus were soundly asleep. But he was then told via the guidance of a powerful dream, that he must take Mary and Jesus and flee, as King Herod was about to ensure that no babies under the age of two survived anywhere in Israel.

So the Holy Family immediately left Judea and headed for Egypt, where it is assumed that they stayed for some time.

Any of us familiar with this part of Baby Jesus' early days feel a pang of despair at considering these things.

New parents usually can count on family, friends and community when they welcome a baby into the world. The circumstances of the birth of Jesus portray an unsettling aspect that perhaps has been experienced by many families across time. Even in our modern era, women have been caught unaware of when "the moment is at hand" and have given birth to the little one, in planes and trains and across the back seats of cabs.

But most women are not forced to flee from an ogre in charge of the kingdom where they live. And few husbands of a wife and baby have to leave the family hearth and move kin out of their country and off to a foreign land, to escape death from the king's soldiers.

This upheaval must have been traumatic. It can be expected that the valuables that the three kings had offered the Holy Family helped them out as they faced such tribulations. Yet in this situation the individuals had to keep their heads down. Better to make the passage to a distant destination on humble donkey or horse, than with an entourage of attendants.

Over the millennia, we have been left with the images of so much of these divine events happening at night. But the Baby Jesus experienced daylight and sunlight as surely as any other baby would.

Our current Christmas celebrations have fancifully changed what was most likely a springtime birth into one that takes place in wooded vistas where pines and aspens are wreathed with snow.

And always, because the birth of Jesus is now celebrated three short days after the shortest day of the year, the star is a major character in the drama.

We witness in the first events of the baby Jesus' life so many things: the scramble that the young couple undertook to find housing regardless of how meager, so their child would be born with a roof overhead.

The parents went on to experience the advent of three people who are described as being wise and of knowledge, even divine knowledge. Their Child is given gifts worthy of a king by this trio of foreigners.

But the Holy Family still can not kick back and relax, but must hit the open road to find a new and safer home.

None of this could have been in their minds when they first left Nazareth for Bethlehem. It was not what they had wished for. Mary had been the handmaid of God, bringing forth His Son, so she must have been expecting a much easier path as being her and her family's destiny.

We humans often do not get what we want. We can only offer up what life throws our way firmly back into God's hands, knowing that somewhere in all of this, there is a plan.

It is important to realize that the Holy Family did not make it on their own, but had to embrace the help of God as well as to gratefully open their hearts and minds to the three wise men and to Joseph's divine dream.

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