¹ After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” ³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. -Matthew 2:1-3

By now, we all know that Christmas has come under assault by those who feel it’s insensitive of us to impose our religious beliefs on the poor unsuspecting shoppers and commuters who might be wounded by the sight of plastic figures of the baby Jesus and His little Bethlehem entourage or the profane utterance, “Merry Christmas” by a Wal-Mart cashier.

So-called progressives have tried, with a great deal of success to remove Christmas from the culture without giving up the holiday.  A couple of years ago executives of “Thomas The Tank” decided to omit religious references from December episodes.  Christmas was rebranded as the Holidays to comply with “politically correct” thinking in its story line. In a show called “Keeping up with James”, the trains compete to carry presents to children against a background with a fir tree decorated with baubles and a choir. But instead of using the word Christmas, the program talks of the “winter holidays” and a “holiday tree.”

What’s particularly upsetting about the “Thomas The Tank” example is that “Thomas The Tank” was created by Rev. A. W. Awdry, a vicar for the Church of England for 30 years.  His daughter, Hillary Fortham wrote in a letter to the editor of the Daily Telegraph of London,”‘He would feel very strongly about this politically correct age and that those who now write his stories should not have taken Christ out of Christmas. Political correctness against Christian beliefs offends,’” She explained that her father, who worked as a vicar for nearly 30 years, “always impressed on reporters and publishers that he was a priest first and a children’s author second.’”

If you go to the gospels and read about the first Christmas you will soon discover that attempts to remove Christ from the public square today are mild compared to that first advent.

Matthew 2:16- When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

Now while I think its really annoying to some of us that the loudest proponents of tolerance can be so intolerant, I want to propose to you that they may understand something that many Christians do not.  They may understand the Jesus came to be King of the world.

Jesus actually tells a story recorded in Luke 19 about a nobleman (Referring to himself of course) who went to establish a kingdom in a far country (Referring to planet earth). It says that Jesus told them this because they were expecting him to go to Jerusalem and set up the new Kingdom. Because Jesus talks about the noblemen giving three servants differing amounts of money to invest in, what most Christians refer to as the “Parable of the Talents,” we miss the main point of the story.  The main point of the story is that the world would realize that God sent Jesus to be people’s King and the majority of people would say, “no, that’s offensive.”

Luke 19:14- But his people hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want him to be our king.”  Think about it for a minute.  Do you like bossy people?  I’ve never heard anyone say, “I just love them; they try to tell everybody what to do.”

I propose to you that the politically correct progressives are more aware than Christian believers that Jesus true intent is to be our boss.  At least every evangelical Christian knows the salvation prayer includes a quotation from Romans 10:9,10, and will necessarily include this line; “I now receive you as my savior and LORD.”

Do you have any idea what the word “Lord” meant to people in the first century.  The supreme Lord was Caesar.  Slave owners were called, “Lord.”  I am not suggesting the Christ is a slave driver or a Caesar but neither is he Santa Claus.  So be more understanding when outsiders bristle at the greeting, “Merry Christmas.”  Just perhaps they understand the power of the day more than you do.