I can’t recall in my three score years and ten plus, a present day Christmas that has ticked so many boxes similar to the events surrounding the time of Jesus’ birth. On one level it’s rather depressing. On another level it underscores the timeless message, the timeless human predicament and the timeless gift of grace from God.
One thing is abundantly clear. No wars, revolutions, education, travel, wealth, ground-breaking discoveries or great advancements have changed the nature of human beings over the past two thousand years. Not in how we think, how we feel, what we desire, where we find meaning, or how we embody the good, the bad, and the ugly. Little has changed in the way we live and interact on this earth that we call home.
Context is everything when we seek to understand.
Jesus was born into a dog-eat-dog tumultuous world. Herod was a ruler obsessed with power and status. He tolerated no challenge. He was paranoid, cruel, and merciless. When rumors of the birth of a boy purporting to be a king reached his ears he wasted no time ordering the death of every male child under one year old. His leadership was autocratic; not to be resisted, questioned, or trifled with. Obedience was demanded beneath the intimidating blade of a sword. All the king’s men were more than willing to oblige. The brutal Roman Empire endorsed such tactics – after all it was they who modelled and set the tone.
Religious leaders were compromised and cowardly. Expediency and self-preservation motivated their alliance with those wielding power. Truth and principle became distorted, morphed into grotesque incarnations with little resemblance to what they once were. Humanity, desiring to be gods, plucked divinity from the heavens to reconfigure the supernatural in their own image. Men and women submitted to no-one greater than themselves. And certainly not from an awe-struck response with hearts filled with worship and gratitude. Love was absent. Fear, astute posturing and corruption forced knees to bend and heads to bow. Eyes wide shut, hearts hardened.
God so loved that he sent his Son into such a world. As non-threatening as a newborn babe, parents unimportant, with no accomplishments or financial assets. It could not have been a more counter-intuitive entrance. No human leader with power, privilege and vast resources could comprehend such sacrifice. Such foolishness.
God is not stupid. He could have unleashed a National Guard of angels to reveal himself and call the Herods and Romans of the world to account – thereby creating one hell of a scene to bring all and sundry to obedience under His godly wrath.
But the 0ne with all the wisdom, all the power, and all the resources in the world chose another way. His motive was not judgement, control, or even obedience. It was compassion. Compassion reaching into a world blindly struggling. The world of haves and the have nots, without hope or direction, scurrying every which way like lemmings totally lost to the plot of life. They were neck deep in understanding violence and survival. But they had no clue about love, forgiveness, sacrifice, or a meaning and purpose greater than themselves. They were wandering lost sheep. White walled buildings presenting well on the outside, while hiding and housing dead bones, cobwebs, and darkness within.
Jesus was no sooner born than his parents fled to Egypt as refugees to escape the wrath of Herod. They remained in exile for seven years. God’s son, born in a stable! No room in the inn, no welcome. No place to grow in the country of his extraordinarily human birth.
So then, why does understanding the context of Jesus’ birth help me to better understand my context?
The message of Jesus is the key. God is alive! He is revealed in Jesus. Jesus who unashamedly announced that He was/is the way, the truth, and the life. God creates, blesses, and releases life with lavish grace and freedom. But He has never relinquished His identity or His purposes into the hands and minds of those whom He created. We, on the other hand, create all manner of intriguing explanations and options seeking to explain life, gods and meaning. This changes nothing. Ideas and perceptions that appear good to us, mean nothing.
God’s being (existence) is like gravity. Learn to live with it and we have a wonderful gift. Ignore it and face death.
God’s love in Jesus presents a revelation to all humanity of every generation – His identity, His reality, His purpose, and His character. Someone, sort of like us, who seeks not to intimidate, overthrow, or beat into submission. His way is invitation, relationship, community, friendship, freedom to choose, questioning, and exploring.
My hope?
Despite the chaos of our world today, and its pervasive corruption, greed, and exploitation, Jesus remains alive and well in the hearts of billions. Herod, Rome, and the religious leaders of his day are no more. While temples and empires have crumbled, it is Jesus who continues to fill hearts with love, heal the broken, and give hope and meaning to those crushed by their human environment.
There’s so much more to Jesus than most of us have imagined or experienced. It’s never too late to begin, or to continue the journey. His way is to stand at the door and knock. And if any of us hear His voice, He is thrilled to come in; even if we tentatively turn the handle and open our heart. He doesn’t much care about what our interior looks like. He has seen it all many times before. If we choose to relegate Him to our stable at the back of our lives then we’ll miss out on the greatest opportunity we’ve ever had. Even worse, we can chase Him as a refugee to another land – as far away from us as possible. Dismiss the gift of God as a nuisance, unwanted, an intrusion, not really my thing.
What a gift of free will! This ability to choose.
It’s embarrassing to contemplate the possibility that when it comes to Jesus, we have the freedom to respond like Herod, the Romans, the religious leaders, the busy, and the indifferent. Or, like Mary and Joseph, with confusion and apprehension, sensing something awesome. Taking a risk and making room in our hearts, our lives and our future to discover the revelation that Jesus brings. Such an unwrapping changed them forever.
And two thousand years later in the unwrapping of this extraordinary event, person, and miracle? This Jesus has given my life meaning, purpose, hope, and context – amidst all the lingering questions and inevitable mystery of it all.
Googling God 
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