On that wintry night in some obscure cave the humble baby Jesus was born. He was naked and helpless; yet he was God—and he allowed US to get close to him –to get to know him intimately. He chose to enter our broken world and limp through life with us. The world was changed by Christ. When he entered human history God shattered all previous conceptions of who God is and also what man is supposed to be like. The Jews envision that the messiah would a great king and leader. He’d fit into the culture and reign in majesty. While, the Greeks envisioned that the messiah would be a great philosopher—greater than Plato! He would lead mean to contemplate order and harmony of the universe.
God had a different plan for Christians. The plan was counter-cultural. God’s plan for Christians is to live a life much like the one Jesus lived. He chose to be born into poverty. In doing so he ignored conventional expectations. Jesus was a stumbling block to many of his contemporaries. The Jews rejected Jesus Christ and the Greeks considered him a fool and laughed at him. They thought that no way could he be the king of the Jews—after all, he dressed in rags and hung out with sinners. That was an insult to the intellectual and law-abiding.
The apostle Paul preached the craziness of the cross—the message of the crucified Christ who is the power and wisdom of God. He said, 1 Corinthians 1:21, the message version: Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb—preaching, of all things!—to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation. And guess what happened? Countless Jews and Greeks laid aside their prejudices in order to be swept up into the power and wisdom of the cross.
When Jesus was born over 2000 years ago—HOPE was his gift to the world and everything else—the meaningless--would fade. Jesus brought light to the world. Jesus brought into the world the Kingdom of Freedom. His love would set millions of people free. I was one of them.
You may or may not be familiar with the biblical story of Isaac’s birth in the OT. Let me recap. Abraham and his wife Sarah had always wanted a baby but had given up because they were well up there in years. Scripture says that God said to Abraham: “I will give Sarah my blessing. You can be sure that I will give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations. Kings of nations will come from her.” Abraham fell with his face to the ground. He laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man who is 100 years old? Will Sarah have a child at the age of 90?” (Gen. 17:15) Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself (Gen 18:11-16)
Well I think God had the last laugh… she had a son whom they named Isaac which means laughter in Hebrew. He was born at the exact time God had promised. This was Sarah’s first baby—so can you imagine the emotions—especially at her age! Not only did her despair turn into laughter, but God promised that her son would the father of nations! So why do I bring this story up on Christmas Day?
Isaac was a prophetic foreshadowing of Jesus Christ. Jesus is God’s last laugh. I don’t say that to be disrespectful. Laughter it is an expression of a number of positive emotional states, such as joy, humor, happiness, relief. It is medicine for our bodies and souls. Laughter is also a reaction to absurdity. Nothing could be more absurd in the Hebrew tradition, as it is in our tradition too, than for a virgin to have a baby. Can you even begin to imagine what it must have been like for Mary? Seeing an angel up close and personal is one thing, but to have that angel tell you you’re going to have a baby when you’ve never been with a man. Boy that would be unsettling. A virgin having a baby . . . and not just your average baby either. The angel told Mary she would be pregnant with a miracle. She would give birth to THE Son of God! Did she laugh like Abraham and Sarah, or did she quake in her sandals?
The question is still asked among us today . . . is this possible? We’ve come to believe that if there isn’t a scientific data to support such an absurdity, then it can’t be true. Despite that fact God’s angel said that nothing is impossible with God! I love Mary’s heart . . . and her example. Though she didn’t understand it . . . she accepted it. Though her future was unsure . . . she chose to believe. When the angel reminded her that with God nothing is impossible, he encouraged her faith. Mary responded, “Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). And so, this precious virgin girl gave birth to a son, and they named him Immanuel, which means “God with us.” And remember, God didn’t choose Mary because she was special. Mary was special because God chose her.
Maybe you need a Christmas miracle. Maybe you want to conceive a baby so badly that you cry yourself to sleep at night? Maybe you need a job desperately. Or are praying for relationships to be restored? To have your dreams restored. Or Hurts healed. Or Hearts comforted. To see God in a real way—you want the hope of the impossible. Mary too contemplated these things in her heart. Never forget that to God you are very special. He is truly with you and wants to birth a miracle in your life. He birthed a couple in my life. I can almost hear Mary saying to us, “blessed is she who has believed!”
A song by Christina Rossetti: 'Love came down at Christmas; Love all lovely, love divine; Love was born at Christmas, Stars and angels gave the sign.'
God entered human history when he came down to us. Jesus’s mission was to save us—yet we can only be saved through faith—to an unwavering connection to the person of Jesus Christ. Think about all the things you do every day by faith. You have faith your car will get you to work and home. You have faith the airline pilot will get the plane to your destination safely. You have faith your child will get to school and back home every day. You have faith your bank is protecting your money. Why do we find it so hard to have faith in the message of Christmas?
Christmas is a faith experience that enables us to see beyond the darkness or tragedy in our lives. It is a reminder that we need the laughter of God to prevent us from taking this world too seriously. When Jesus Christ is born IN ME—hope begins to burn brightly—everything else that seemed so important, starts to fade. A dramatic winter storm may hold us hostage for a few days, our car may get rear-ended, we may not get that anticipated Christmas bonus, maybe our fair weathered friends have decided we’ve gone off the deep end with Jesus and have rejected us—maybe…BUT even so, despite the difficulties and disappointment--the beauty of Christ remains glowing within us.
How we view and experience Christmas is a billboard for how much passion we have for Jesus. The insensitive and superficial will eat, drink, overindulge and drool over all the latest gadgets they receive as gifts. Then there will be the defeated—who will be haunted once again by ghost from Christmas past. We already have everything, but many of us don’ t know it—therefore we don’t experience it.
Everything we NEED has been given to us by God the Father in Jesus Christ. Maybe not everything we DESIRE—but he meets every one of our God-given needs. The best gift we can open this Christmas is to let ourselves be loved by Jesus! When we let him reside in our hearts and minds—like I said before—beauty himself comes to live inside of us. Our attitudes about ourselves—our choices—all begin to change positively—Jesus shines out through our faces and bodies. That’s the definition of beauty!
Jesus represents the gift of hope—it’s an undeserved gift of peace…but it calls us to make a decision—in faith—to trust the giver. Hope says I no longer need to feel defeated, or caught up in the superficialness of the culture. The questions change from: Can I do this? Am I pretty enough? Will I be accepted? TO Is Jesus able? Can my savior revive my sinking spirit and transform me just as he transformed the world through his birth in Bethlehem?
If you want to hear "the rest of the story" or don't want to read this, you can listen to this show: Every Body Matters on BlogTalkRadio, and download the on-demand episode [scroll down the page]. Be blessed!
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