We have one more week in 2017 and then it is a new year. If your social media streams are anything like mine, you’ve seen plenty of people eager to move on – they have had enough of 2017.
It’s an understandable notion. Our national leadership (and I’m speaking of way more than one person), has been disappointingly caught up in the tired political game-playing that seems to go on without end. Social media has made us more connected but less friendly. The world is teetering on war, with Russia and North Korea flexing muscle in very frightening ways. Sometimes it seems like we all need a nap, like a too-tired toddler, and when we wake up, everything will be just fine.
But we know that’s not the case. Nothing is ever totally fine.
This is why Christmas is such a big deal. Our world has always needed hope. Whether it’s a swamp that needs draining, or an empire that needs toppling, the world has always been a sinful, sorry place in need of hope. We cry out and God responds by sending his one and only son. If God had sent an army, the weak would still be weak. If God had sent a politician…well, we’d have more of the same. Instead, God sends baby Jesus. He is not what anyone expected, as the apostle Paul so ably points out in 1 Corinthians 1:21-25
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
We live in a confusing world and God has answered that confusion by turning the logic of the world on its head. I don’t know why we assume that God should work according to our plan. God’s plan was to send his son – not in all his glory, but as a humble baby, born in humble circumstances. In so doing, Jesus identifies with us, having been the supreme ruler of the universe now lying in a cattle trough.
We cannot rely on this world to satisfy what we really need. We need God, and the grace and forgiveness that comes only from God. A politician, an army, a good-looking celebrity – these will disappoint.
Only God will satisfy!
Merry Christmas,
Pastor John
