toward men” (Luke 2:14). This is the most wonderful and the most amazing good news that has ever come to the human race. But the tragedy—and we are aware of it—is that even in its trouble and misery, the world refuses and rejects this Gospel. It turns against it, it will have nothing to do with it, and it does so with scorn and derision. The world is reacting to this message and to this blessed person, the Son of God, in the very way that the members of that Council in Jerusalem reacted more than