9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:9-13
Jesus’s birth should strike us as strange. It certainly caught Jesus’s contemporaries off guard. Jesus was heralded as a king, but by angels, shepherds, and gentiles; not by his own people. Gentiles paid homage to him, but not as conquered enemies, but as willing worshipers. The incarnation of God in Jesus Christ was foretold by the prophets, but it would be wrong for us to assume that it was expected.
Take a moment and view the photos included above. What do you notice?
Like the experience of walking through skyways in Minneapolis or St. Paul, it’s tempting to just put your head down and press on through seasons of life or experiences with the aim of getting from point A to point B. We’ve all been in the kinds of nondescript places pictured in these photos. They aren’t places to “be” but places to pass through. When we think we know where we’re headed, it takes a lot to get our attention.
The Nativity of Jesus disrupted the usual expectations of the relationship between God and Creation. The Word became flesh and dwelled among us. Jesus’s life interrupted the predictable cycle of birth and death, with birth, death, and resurrection. Jesus is the bright inescapable color in the midst of history.
As you celebrate the birth of our Lord this Christmas, how does his life, death, and resurrection impact your expectations of the present and future? Do you remember a specific time when the life of Christ caused you to live with new wonder and see with new eyes?
Christmas Day
Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born this day of a pure virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.