
It was as if the proverbial "Star of Bethlehem" had literally crashed into planet earth announcing so poignantly that, despite the innocence of His infancy, everything had forever changed. The understated, yet profoundly ceremonious, arrival of the baby Jesus brought to all of humankind His salvation and judgement wrapped in a swaddling cloth of clemency. Haunted, even then, by ancient prophecies that had for centuries foretold of His lineage, His coming, and His plight on behalf of humanity, Jesus was the "Word" that would divide households, shatter all other Messianic myths, destroy and rebuild temples, while compassionately -- yet determinately -- wielding a two-edged sword yielding true spiritual discernment.


