Strange Story: The Birth of Jesus Part 16 A Second Confirmation

“Up” arrived home shortly after dark so he did not notice the camels until they made some noise. On hearing the sounds he went over to the fire under the overhang and found camels tied up and resting in a recumbent position. He rushed to the cave-house and entered the door.

First, he reminded himself to not make much noise lest he awaken a sleeping baby. Then he said, “Reb, why are there camels outside? Do we have visitors?”

He could barely see her moving toward him as she answered, “We had visitors, and they left many gifts for the child, including those camels. Let me get a stick from the big fire to use as a torch.” When she brought in the torch, he forgot how tired and hungry he was. In a jumble of words and emotions she showed him one item after another and told him the story of their special visitors. She quickly added that they wanted to come and meet him before he left for work in the morning.

They talked till about midnight.

The thing that impressed “Up” the most was that this was another confirmation that God was indeed in this strange set of circumstances. They had experienced rejection from those closest to them, only to be accepted and blessed by people they did not know, some of whom had come from distant lands. Once again, he was blessed, amazed, and humbled by this God who did things in strange ways, and yet was trustworthy all the same.

After his expression of wonder and awe at how God works, “Reb” became serious. “Up” could tell there was something else she needed to say, and it wasn’t pleasant.

She started like this, “I know that God will take care of us but it concerns me that the king, that ‘Self-proclaimed hero,’ knows that our baby boy exists. The Wise men inquired at the palace first and the king said he wanted to come worship the baby also. The king instructed them to go back to him and tell him how he can find this special child.”

“Up” reacted the same way she had at the mention of “The Hero” but he did not restrain himself the way she had felt compelled to do. He said “He’s no hero. A man who kills his own sons and wives because he is threatened by them is no hero. How could his wives pose any kind of threat to him? He’s a king! But he’s no hero.”

As they finally settled down to get some sleep his mind kept bouncing from the blessing of the wise men’s visit to the threat of a power-hungry king.

To navigate to Part 17 of this story click on The Birth of Jesus Part 17 Take Flight!