The Central Focus of Christmas | Matthew 26:57

[00:00:00] Real Truth Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman.

[00:00:07] Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Daily Truths. Well, we're only a couple weeks away from Christmas and a lot of people are making all kinds of plans for the celebration, the parties, the gifts, the food, the gift exchange, all that kind of stuff. And really, their priority and their focus is not on the true meaning of Christmas.

[00:00:23] I can remember years ago, we were at a family gathering and somebody, it was on Christmas Eve, and somebody said, hey, let's get this Jesus stuff out of the way. In other words, going to church so that the real party can begin.

[00:00:40] Matthew 26, verse 57. Now, remember, Jesus was in the garden. He was apprehended. And he's taken first Annas. We'll talk about that here in just a minute.

[00:00:48] Matthew 26, verse 57. Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered.

[00:00:58] Matthew 26, verse 57. Now, first, John tells us that Jesus appeared to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas.

[00:01:05] Matthew 26, verse 58. Now, Annas was the high priest for many, many years, but he fell out of favor with the Roman government.

[00:01:11] The Roman government said, we don't want this guy in charge. Let's put his son-in-law in charge.

[00:01:15] And so Caiaphas was a high priest then for about 18 to 20 years, right? And he was in good favor with the Roman government.

[00:01:23] And so they allowed him to continue to serve in that position. Who also was there? The scribes and the elders.

[00:01:30] Basically, the religious leaders, 70 strong, right? And so they met with Jesus by this time, it was past midnight.

[00:01:37] And they wanted to expedite the trial so that they could listen to this, so that they could go on with their celebration of Passover.

[00:01:45] Jesus basically was an interruption to their impending weekend.

[00:01:51] And the Passover was coming, which was on Saturday at six o'clock.

[00:01:56] And of course it was Passover. And so Jesus was just an interruption.

[00:02:00] Let's get this done as quickly as possible. So they had a meeting that night, like at one o'clock in the morning.

[00:02:06] And then to make it legal, they had another one the next morning because any judicial process had to happen during the day.

[00:02:13] So Jesus basically was in the way, right?

[00:02:16] Let's get this Jesus out of here so that we can continue our celebration of the Passover.

[00:02:22] Let's make sure we get it done before the Sabbath because nobody can die on a cross on the Sabbath who's a Jew.

[00:02:30] Wow. So Jesus basically was an interruption.

[00:02:33] Jesus was basically an inconvenience.

[00:02:37] Hmm. Don't a lot of people look at the Christ of Christmas that way?

[00:02:43] That he's just an inconvenience, kind of an afterthought, kind of an interruption.

[00:02:48] I'm sure some of you are going to get together with family members who only go to church on when Christmas and Easter.

[00:02:55] And basically going to church on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day is just kind of an interruption.

[00:03:01] It's kind of an afterthought. It's kind of a, you know, it's really not important.

[00:03:05] Let's get this Jesus stuff out of the way so that the party can begin.

[00:03:10] I know I'm talking to maybe 99% believers who truly understand what Christmas is all about.

[00:03:20] Elevate and prioritize your time with the Lord Jesus Christ during this most holy season, during this season of Advent.

[00:03:29] Pray fervently. Read the scriptures regularly. Go to church on a regular basis. Set aside time to talk to the Lord during this most holy season of the year.

[00:03:41] Let Jesus not be an afterthought of Christmas, but the primary central focus of Christmas.

[00:03:47] I mean, after all Christmas, the mass, the celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:03:56] Here in this text, Caiaphas and of course, Annas was probably there too.

[00:04:02] And not only Caiaphas and Annaphas, but the whole religious leaders just said, hey, let's just put Jesus out of commission.

[00:04:09] Let's get him out of here because we got other things to do.

[00:04:12] There's other priorities in our life. After all, the Passover is being celebrated and the Sabbath is coming up.

[00:04:18] Let's get this done as quickly as possible.

[00:04:20] My friends, we're going to be around people here in the next couple of weeks that feel the same way about Christmas.

[00:04:27] Let's just get this Jesus stuff. And we really don't believe in him anyway.

[00:04:31] Many of them feel we don't believe in him anyway. It's just an afterthought.

[00:04:34] It's just an interruption. It's just an inconvenience.

[00:04:37] Let's get this Jesus stuff out of the way so the real party can begin.

[00:04:40] Let's use this as an opportunity to let people know straightforwardly what Christmas is all about.

[00:04:49] It's the celebration of the birth of our Savior.

[00:04:53] And let that not ever be an inconvenience and afterthought and interruption,

[00:04:58] but rather may the Christ of Christmas be the central thought of your time during this time of the year, especially.

[00:05:07] We celebrate Christ who is the Savior, the Lord, the King, the Redeemer, the one who was, who is, and who is to come.

[00:05:19] Thanks be to God for the gift of Jesus during Christmas.

[00:05:24] And he is our central focus.

[00:05:28] That is today's Daily Truth.

[00:05:30] Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:05:33] Thank you for tuning in to Daily Truths with Dave Allman.

[00:05:35] Pastor Dave Allman is the pastor of Mount Hope Church in Boulder, Colorado.

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