The Christmas story is a funny story. For all eternity, God had been planning on sending his Son into the world to save fallen humanity; and yet when we read the story, it seems rather poorly planned (at least, according to what I would have done). Think about. You have shepherds welcoming the Messiah! Shepherds weren’t high on anyone’s social registry. If you thought the shepherds were out of place, wait until you see the magi! They were gentile astrologers. They just did not belong. There was also this major celestial event—a star! And yet, nobody seemed to pay any attention to it except for those pagan astrologers. All Jerusalem certainly wasn’t breaking out their telescopes and wondering what it could mean. And when the magi come into Jerusalem to ask for directions, no one accompanies them to see for themselves this one born king of the Jews. And Bethlehem seems to be a rather backwater town for such a world-changing birth. And wouldn’t it have been easier on Mary if God had announced to everyone in town what the plan was rather than just telling her (and Joseph but only after a long delay)? And if God wanted to move the holy couple to Bethlehem, couldn’t he have done so without involving the whole Roman world to pay a tax? And if anything doesn’t fit, it must be the escape to Egypt. Jesus, we all know, was a Jew who came to redeem Israel, but he was raised in Egypt. No one expect that, but no one expect any of this.
There was one more thing that didn’t fit our preconceived notions. It is that God would be willing to humble himself beyond our wildest expectations. It is the only thing that makes sense of everything that doesn’t fit. Why would God choose such a poor and humble origin for the Messiah’s birth—to be born in a manger? Why would he choose for shepherds and gentiles to greet him—outsiders? It just doesn’t fit unless God was writing across the sky that he was a humble, gracious and compassionate God? See, we would expect the King to be born in a palace, a place of opulence and comfort and ease. But God comes humbly to us in the form of a baby born in a manger. It is unexpected and surprising that the God of the universe, the king of all there is, is so meek and other-centered.
But that’s Christmas. Christmas, if it does anything, turns the world upside down and inside out.
Christmas is nothing but one unexpected event after another because our God is unexpectedly gracious and good.
And if God is so good, then there is one more thing that doesn’t fit: US. But God comes for us while we are sinners, while we are running away from him. While we think we don’t need him and while we think less of him, he thinks more of us. So much more, that he was willing to come to earth and be born one of us so that he could die for us and be raised for us so that we could become God’s dearly loved children. That’s what Christmas is all about—those that don’t fit at all being made God’s treasured sons and daughters.
And no one expected that, but that’s why we call it grace. And that is why we now fit. Thanks be to God.
