Where Is Everyone?

One thing that has amazed me about the birth of Christ is that it was ignored by the multitudes.
I just don't understand why there wasn't a mass of people gathered around the stable waiting to get in to see the Messiah. Today, if someone thinks they can see the face of Jesus on a piece of toast, people will come from miles around. It wasn't like they didn't know it was about to happen. They had the prophecies from the Old Testament that told them a virgin would conceive and bear a child. They had the testimony of Elizabeth, whose son John, leaped in her womb when Mary came and told her that she was with child of the Holy Spirit. They knew that the child would be born in Bethlehem and knew that Mary and Joseph would come there because of the taxation. Then we have the events that took place out on a hillside as the shepherds watched their sheep. In the quietness of the night came an Angel, a messenger from God Himself, telling that the promise had been kept and the prophecies had been fulfilled. There was singing and praising, as the Glory of God shone round about them. With so many people gathered in that tiny town, you would think that someone would have seen that glorious light and wondered what was going on. Even months later, as Joseph has settled his new family into the Bethlehem area, they were visited by the Magi from the East. Why did these Wise men need to ask directions in Jerusalem? Why was there not a constant flow of people making there way to see God incarnate? I guess the problem then is much like the problem today. People are so wrapped up in their own little world that the miss what God is trying to say to them. It isn't as though the evidence is not right before their very eyes. They simply fail to look to see what is so clearly given. Don't miss the joy of Christmas. Far too many line up to see Santa and far too few are concerned with seeing the Saviour.