The Prince of Heaven

It was midnight! The city of Bethlehem was fast asleep. That is when the baby was born! The mother was Mary, a young woman. She was visiting the city from a faraway village called Nazareth. It was a long and tiresome journey for her.

Mary could not find a comfortable place to stay because the city was very crowded with the people who had arrived there for a special census. It was nearly time for her baby to be born.  The only place that she could find to sleep in for the night was a cattle-shed. The baby got a manger for a crib and hay for the mattress. Poor Mary didn’t receive the service of a doctor or even a midwife. Only Joseph, the man she was engaged to, was with her. He must have been an amazing man with a lot of courage to stay with Mary and help the baby to be born. The cows and sheep and donkeys stood around and gazed at the baby with wonder.

In spite of this momentous occasion, the city continued to sleep. No one cared for the village girl or her newborn. For them, a baby who was born in a cattle-shed was worth no more than a baby cattle. Who in the city would care for such an insignificant event! Soon the village girl would go back to her home in Nazareth with her baby. It wouldn’t become a news story in the city. No one would talk about it, and it wouldn’t stay in anyone’s memory.  

Although it was such an insignificant event on earth, it was not so in heaven. There was a great celebration in heaven at the birth of this baby. They knew how important this event was because they knew who the baby was. The baby was none other than the prince of heaven who arrived on the earth with a great mission.

There would have been a celebration on earth if a baby had been born in a king’s palace. But who would want to celebrate the birth of a baby in a cattle-shed? How blind the earthlings are! How shortsighted too! Although they have eyes, they do not see! They see only the outside. Their eyes never penetrate the surface to see the reality. They can’t distinguish between important and unimportant.

What a shame that they couldn’t identify the baby! People judge each other according to their color, class, race, age, gender and other outward things. To such people, a baby is less human than an adult, and a poor man is less human than a wealthy one. Such an outlook made it impossible for them to see the real worth and potential of the baby.

The angels in heaven are not blind. They do not judge people based on their color, class, race, age, gender, or any other such superficial things. They see the real worth of a human being as he or she is. They know that a human being is the image of God. They also know that a human being is the dwelling place of God. No one human being is less human than any other one in their sight. They are sad to see human beings judge each other according to what they look like on the outside.

The angels flew all around the heaven to proclaim the good news of this child’s birth. Their celebration was not confined to heaven. Some angels flew down to the earth and shared their joy with some people who were awake at night and were out in the open fields.

The fortunate ones to receive this good news of great joy were none other than a group of poor shepherds who were watching their sheep. They were scared to see some shining beings in the sky looking down on them. An angel said, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you, who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."   

What a vision! Heaven’s messengers upon the earth with the good news of great joy for all! This baby would be the savior of the world. He would save mankind from their blindness so that they would be able to see truth as the angels see it. Human beings would treat one another as human beings irrespective of all their superficial differences. All relationships would be governed by love, and the result would be joy to all people. This baby was appointed by God to undertake this great mission.

He would break down all the walls that separate people from other people. He would break down the walls between the rich and the poor, the Jewish and the non-Jewish, male and female, and children and adults. All people would be able to see God in their fellow human beings.  In short, the prince of heaven would break the huge wall that separates heaven and earth, thus uniting them.

It seems that long time ago the earth used to be a part of heaven. But somehow, the inhabitants of the earth became blind, and lost the power to see the truth. Thus walls emerged separating people from people. A huge wall appeared between heaven and earth. The prince of heaven descended to the earth with the mission of saving mankind from blindness and of breaking all those walls of separation.

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