I was out doing some shopping yesterday evening and brought up my purchases to the counter. 'Did I find everything I needed?' I was asked. Remembering how many times I had been bumped into, I said that I hoped so because shopping is a madhouse at this point. We both remarked how people get grumpy and pushy and everybody is rushing around without any joy. "If only people would remember what Christmas is really about", the clerk added, it would be different, better.
Later in the car, I remembered one other late Christmas trip. I was seven months pregnant and on crutches because I had torn stuff up in one of my knees. I was trying hard to get presents for my young sons without their knowledge so they were at home with their dad while I shopped. I couldn't negotiate pushing a cart and walking on crutches (without putting weight on the one leg) so I was trying to carry things under my arm and get to the counter.
Along came someone barging down the aisle, catching one of my crutches with their foot and knocking it out from under me. My things went flying. As they rushed past me, they said, "They shouldn't allow those kind of people in here this time of year."
What kind of people were they talking about? Pregnant? Injured? On crutches? Unable to leap buildings in a single bound?
Whatever kind of people they were talking about, I wasn't on their good list. I was slow, in their way, not like them, what ever the reason, I didn't belong. But as the clerk said yesterday, "If only people would remember what Christmas is really about".
The true message of Christmas is one that does indeed turn the world upside down. God loves the world so much that Jesus is born of Mary, God is here on the earth and nothing is ever the same again. As Mary says in the hymn known as the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), "The mighty one... has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty."
The king that comes rides a donkey into Jerusalem. He is born in a tiny, rural hamlet instead of someplace important. Not only that, but he is born in a barn, a stable with a feed trough for a bed and hay to keep him warm. His parents are common everyday people without power and importance. Later on, the Magi show up with costly gifts, but his beginnings are as humble as they can get. The first people that come to visit are nomadic shepherds living with their herds. Jesus comes to and for people often thought of as "those people".
The true message of Christmas is of God's love for the world just the way it is and for all people. Jesus comes to free the prisoners, heal the sick, comfort the grieving, give sight to the blind, bring love to the forgotten, and to forgive the sinful. Jesus was born in a barn not a palace, for people who were humble and for just plain folk in need to saving. Neither our lives, our hearts, nor our homes need to be tidy, in good order, and beautiful. Jesus doesn't need our gifts, Jesus IS our gift.
When the sun sets on Christmas Eve, set aside all tasks, light the candles, and welcome Jesus the light of the world. If you find some bits of dirt or hay tracked across the floor, it's probably just Jesus - coming in from the barn. Read Luke 2:1-20.
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