Micah 5:2-4

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah.

Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.

3 The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies until the woman in labor gives birth.

Then at last his fellow countrymen will return from exile to their own land.

4 And he will stand to lead his flock with the Lord’s strength, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

Then his people will live there undisturbed, for he will be highly honored around the world.

There are many prophecies in the Old Testament about the Messiah who was to come. The Jews had an expectation that God would one day send a deliverer to end their suffering.

This prophecy is specific about the place the Messiah would come from - Bethlehem, a small village. We know that this passage was understood to predict the birthplace of the Messiah because, when the Magi asked King Herod where the one born to be king of the Jews was, Herod's scholars quoted this passage (Matthew 2:1-6).

Bethlehem means "house of bread". Jesus said that He was "the bread of life" (John 6:35). How appropriate this name is.

Bethlehem had also been the place where King David had lived as a child. It was "the town of David". The prophecies had predicted that the coming Saviour would be a descendent of David. Both Joseph and Mary were descendents of King David which is why they travelled to Bethlehem for the census.

For Reflection

1. Discuss the things that are said in this passage about the one who would come from Bethlehem.

2. What do you udnerstand Jesus to have meant when He called Himself the bread of life?

Christmas Cards

A cheap postal service became a reality in Britain in 1840. In 1843, Sir Henry Cole, a government worker in the Post Office wondered how it could be used more by ordinary people. His friend, John Horsley, designed the card. It had three panels, the outer two depicting peope helping the poor while the middle one showed a famil enjoying a sumptuous meal (and includes a child being given a drink of wine.)

As printing methods improved, Christmas cards became increasingly popular and by the early 1900s the custom had spread over Europe.

The earliest Christmas cards in the USA (in the early 1840s) were too expensive for most people to buy but in 1875, Louis Prang started mass prioducing cards.

The first Christmas cards generally had a picture of Mary, Joseph and Jesus in the stable in Bethlehem. However, in late Voctorian times, robins and winter scenes became popular.

Today, few cards portray the first Christmas. They increasingly picture Santa, presents, winter scenes and the other trappings of Christmas.

But also, Christmas cards are rapidly going out of fashion. With the growth of the internet, emails can be sent free and people were increasingly attaching a letter bringing friends up-to-date on the activities and achievements of the fmily over the past year. But even that seems to be waning with people having less time to write the letter.

Have you written a letter updating people on your family? Maybe you could do that but also ensuring that there is soemthing of the real Christmas in it.

Or, maybe you could revive the practice of sending some actual Christmas cards.

Lord, Your word is accurate even down to details like this. You are a powerful God. You have been at work for centuries working Your purposes out. You are a loving God. We thank You that You have a plan for our salvation; that You want Your people delivered from "exile" and living in a land undisturbed.

In Jesus' name, amen.