^“Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, “How are we robbing you?” In your tithes and offerings!”–Malachi 3:8

I open the newspaper. I turn on the radio or television. The news is filled with such negativity. Hate spewed words. I don’t know about you but I often feel robbed. Robbed of truth (What exactly is truth these days?). Robbed of my joy. Robbed of happiness. Robbed of peace.

One doesn’t have to look far to see the world robbing one another. Children robbed and stolen from their parents because of where they were born. Outsiders robbed of hope. Individuals robbed because of the color of their skin.

It continually feels like the world is being robbed. But what if we treated each other with love and respect? What if we remembered that Jesus came into the world to turn it upside down? To bring about peace, joy and love in a broken messed up world!

The cries of this holy child who pierces the darkness and the silence. Whose cries proclaim the reign of a king; a king who comes for each and every one of us. This holy one whose cries herald the coming promises of hope, joy and love. This one who is robbed himself and crucified on a cross for our sins.

And on that cross, he breaths his last breath. Three days later, the women come to the tomb and find it empty. A solid reminder that life not death has the final word. Our king, our Messiah, Emmanuel; God with us, has not been robbed away from us. His legacy lives on when we help others to see that honesty, love, joy, peace, patience and kindness are what we are to share with one another.

For a weary world rejoices when this king is born that silent night in a manger in Bethlehem. A king who comes for all the world to proclaim. A king who was an immigrant in his own right. A king who understands what it feels like to not be accepted. A king who overcomes it all and promises to never leave us or forsake us.