I have to admit that this message scared me a little bit. I don't normally preach on David and Bathsheba. It's one of those stories that we tell in Vacation Bible School, that we tell to kids (that's where I learned it) but we have to gloss over the things that really happen. This is, at best, a very uncomfortable story.
Have you ever asked yourself the question, "does Jesus need to be baptized?" It's okay if you haven't because that's the kind of question that we don't think to ask. In some cases, its the kind of question that we don't think is appropriate to ask. Jesus baptism, most often, is something that we have just come to accept as is.
After everything that came down this weekend, I think many of us are still celebrating another snow day today. At the house we measured about 14-15" of snow that we got overall. That's a lot of snow!! So it's no wonder if anyone is still not able to be out doing the things that they want to do right now.
In another time, this would be the place where the Unsolved Mysteries music would start playing in the background, and Robert Stack's voice describing what was going on. It would have been all about men from unknown places coming and giving wildly extravagant gifts to a child with questionable parentage.
Did you know that there is no innkeeper in the Christmas story? There's not. There is no mention of him anywhere. So why do we talk about him so much? What makes his story important?
