It’s All In The Heart

Recently FBI agents conducted a raid of a psychiatric hospital that 
was under investigation for insurance fraud and some other illegal 
activities with the mob. After hours of reviewing numerous medical 
records among various paperwork the agents worked up quite an 
appetite. The FBI agent in charge called a local pizza shop and this 
is what happened. AGENT: Hello, I would like to order 20 large 
pizzas with the works and 68 cans of cold soda. PIZZA MAN: And 
where would you like to have them delivered? AGENT: We’d like to 
have them delivered over at the psychiatric hospital. PIZZA MAN: At 
the psychiatric hospital you say? AGENT: Yes, that is correct, I am 
an FBI agent. PIZZA MAN: You’re an FBI Agent, hmmmm, and you’re 
at the psychiatric hospital. AGENT: Yes, I am, in fact everybody 
here is an FBI Agent and we’re starving. PIZZA MAN: And you’re at 
the psychiatric hospital? AGENT: That’s correct and make sure you 
don’t come to the front doors because we’ve got them locked. You’ll 
have to go around to the back to the service entrance to deliver the 
pizzas and pop. PIZZA MAN: And you say you’re all FBI agents? 
AGENT: That’s right, we’ve been in here all day and we are starving. 
They’ve got nothing in this psychiatric hospital to eat. PIZZA MAN: 
How are you going to pay for all of this? AGENT: I’ll write a check, 
is that all right with you? PIZZA MAN: And everyone there is an FBI 
agent, and you’re all at the psychiatric hospital? AGENT: Yes, we’re 
all FBI Agents here at the psychiatric hospital and remember to bring 
the pizza and drinks around the back to the service entrance because 
we’ve got the front doors locked. PIZZA MAN: I DON’T THINK SO 
TODAY. CLICK, and then, SILENCE.

I wonder if Mary felt like the pizza man, “YEAH, SURE….” 

Luke 1: 26-38

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God 
to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed 
to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; 
and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel Gabriel 
came to her and said, “Hail, O favored one, the Lord is 
with you!” But Mary was greatly troubled at the saying, 
and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this 
might be. And the angel Gabriel said to Mary, “Do not be
afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God. And 
behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, 
and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and 
will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord 
God will give to him the throne of his father David, and 
he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his 
kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the 
angel, “How can this be since I have no husband?” And 
the angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon 
you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow 
you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy 
and the Son of God. And behold, your kinswoman 
Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and 
this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 
For with God nothing will be impossible.” And Mary said, 
“Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be to me 
according to your word.” And the angel Gabriel departed 
from her. 

There is no question that Mary being troubled would be normal, for 
this situation as anyone would be. But we must remember that God 
knows our fears even if we do not voice them unto the world. We 
must remember that soon we will see terrified shepherds in the 
presence of an angel.

Then there is the question, “And what is this about being called the 
Son of the Most High and the Lord God, giving to him the throne of 
His father David and his reigning over the House of Jacob forever 
with a kingdom of no end? The angel Gabriel said this to fulfill the 
promise that God made to David, who wanted to build a temple for 
God and God, forbade him from doing such and said, “the Lord will 
make you a house,” (2 Samuel 7:11-13). For the full promise was not 
to be found in Solomon, but in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

And what is this about becoming pregnant? How does one get 
pregnant without a husband? It’s not logical for it takes a man and a 
woman to conceive. And can you imagine what must have been going 
through Mary’s mind as she envisioned her elderly kinswoman 
Elizabeth pregnant? 

There is Elizabeth elderly, very pregnant, walking slowly with a walker 
as she looks at her husband and says, “Hey Zechariah,” who is also 
elderly and walks with a cane, “Yes honey what do you want?”
“ZECHARIAH, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?” “WHY YES ELIZABETH 
I AM, WHAT IS IT YOU WANT TO SAY TO ME?” “ZECHARIAH THE 
NEXT TIME YOU GET A VISION YOU STAY AWAY FROM ME!”

Tom Long in his book Shepherds and Bathrobes asks the question:
“Have you ever noticed where God places his treasures on this earth?
The treasure is not gold, but gospel. Not silver, but good news. Not 
hard, cold cash, but grace, love and peace. Long points out that God 
could have left it with the politicians, those who are responsible for 
collecting taxes, building schools and passing laws, but God didn’t. 
God could have left his treasure with Zechariah, the high priest, but 
his unbelief took him out of the picture. God instead left the treasure 
in the least likely of places, in the love, care, and nurture of a first 
century peasant woman chosen as the; ‘handmaiden of the Lord.’ 
God’s treasure was left with the most powerless figure in the world.” 

The problem though, Charlie Brown is that we go running around 
looking for something to fulfill our emptiness instead of finding the 
beauty in what we have. Then all of a sudden that empty feeling hits 
us of; “What’s the use?”

In the words of Billy Graham: “We’re suffering from only one disease 
in the world. Our basic problem is not a race problem. Our basic 
problem is not a poverty problem. Our basic problem is not a war 
problem. Our basic problem is a heart problem. We need to get the 
heart changed, the heart transformed.”

That is what Christmas is all about, a transformed heart and God 
does not pick just anyone. Why else would God have asked? 

Hebrews 1:1-14

In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers 
by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to 
us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, 
through whom he created the world. He reflects the glory 
of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding 
the universe by his word of power. When he has made 
purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the 
Majesty on high, having become as much superior to 
angels as the name he has obtained is much more 
excellent than theirs. For to what angel did God ever say, 
Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee?” Or again, 
“I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son?”
And again when he brings the firstborn into the world he 
says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” Of the angels 
he says, “Thy throne O God is forever and ever, thy 
righteous scepter is the scepter is the scepter of thy 
kingdom. Thou has loved righteousness and hated 
lawlessness; therefore God, thou has anointed thee 
with the oil of gladness beyond thy comrades. And, 
“thou Lord, didst found the earth in the beginning, and 
the heavens are the work of thy hands; they will perish, 
but thou remainest; they will grow old like a garment, 
like a mantle thou will roll them up and thou will be 
changed. But thou art the same, and thy years will 
never end.” But to what angel has God ever said, “Sit 
at my right hand, till I make thy enemies a stool for 
their feet?” Are they not all ministering spirits sent 
forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain 
salvation?

The beginning point of faith is in believing in God’s character for the 
end point is believing in God’s promises: He will do what he says he 
will do for this world is only a resting place that we cannot live in 
forever. That is why the baby Jesus was born, for angels are spirits 
but Jesus is our Lord and Savior. Jesus is God in the flesh. 

Maybe the issue isn’t the bureaucrats and those trying to make a buck 
at Christmas, maybe the issue is what’s in our heart at this very 
moment? Maybe its time to quit wishing for what we want and
to realize the truth. 

In the words of Helen Keller, “The only blind person at Christmastime 
is he who has not Christmas in his heart.”

Maybe its time that we all come to a realization that Christmas is not
what’s under the tree. Christmas, it’s all in the heart, Hope through 
Jesus that gives one an inner Peace and Love that one can receive 
and give unto another for they now have Joy. 

JESUS, OH YES JESUS IS MY LORD AND SAVIOR! And His name 
shall be Emmanuel, which means God is with us.

I HAVE HOPE, PEACE, LOVE AND JOY, FOR GOD IS WITH ME. YES!!

Let us pray,

Father God it was over 2000 years ago that Jesus was born, but may 
we still celebrate His birth and life and remember that it wasn’t 
anything humongous, gold and silver, temples and 
shrines that changed lives. It was a little 
baby boy named Jesus that 
brought us to realize, 
Christmas, it’s 
all in the 
heart. 
Amen 




 
12/18/2005JWM



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