Scandalous Love

Perhaps this has happened to you. You choose a gift for someone. You wrap it, present it to them, and step back and wait for their reaction. You have to wait, because you can never be sure exactly what kind of reaction you will get.

If they are busy or distracted, they may look up from their work for a moment, accept the package, and toss it to the side without missing a beat. Then again, they may be a little more gracious. They may take a moment to thank you; but—and you’re not sure why—it’s seems they have been expecting you to show up and they are more than a little disappointed that it has taken you so long.

Then there are those folks who seem sincerely surprised and honored that you have thought enough to remember them with a gift. You might hear them say, “You shouldn’t have”—and it’s not because they now feel obligated to reciprocate. It’s these occasions that remind us of what Christmas is truly about.

Christmas is the occasion when God gave the gift of his Son to you. Jesus came to live among us, as one of us. The Incarnation is the revelation of God’s scandalous love affair with humanity.

We often fail to understand just how scandalous God’s love for us is, and how radical it is that God would show that love by lowering himself to be born in human form.

The Christmas story exemplifies how God’s ways are not our ways. God works miracles in unexpected places, in unexpected ways.  God loves us with a scandalous love.

To experience a different kind of Christmas means to not only appreciate and accept God’s scandalous love, but also to respond to the challenge to love others in that same way. What are society’s expectations of who you’re supposed to love, and who you’re not supposed to love? What kind of scandal would it create if you were to go out of the way to demonstrate love toward someone who’s not supposed to be loved? How would that be different from the safe, cautious ways we often show Christ’s love in the world?

To whom or in what way can you show “scandalous” love this holiday season because of the great love God has shown you? This is truly what Christmas is about. 

Giving Up on Perfect

The vast majority of Christmas cards that are sent each year feature scenes that depict the beauty and wonder of that silent night. The hills where the shepherds watched their flocks are perfectly manicured and bathed in a heavenly light. The wise men look especially regal as they move effortlessly through the last few miles of their journey to find the newborn king. The holy family looks especially serene as they gaze at the baby who is smiling happily from the finely crafted wooden box lined with golden strands of hay.

While these pictures help put us in the mood for a happy holiday season, they may also keep us from remembering the first Christmas was really quite messy and uncertain. Whether it was a barn or a cave, if it was the place where the animals were kept overnight, it smelled like animals. Even after travelling for a couple of days and spending the night in AAA rated facilities, most people tend to become travel weary—and it shows. I’ve been to Bethlehem—the hillsides around the city have never been at risk of being mistaken for a golf course.

If that is not enough, consider all the messy and uncertain personal and relational struggles that are a part of the story. Mary is still unmarried when she learns she is going to have a child. Joseph is caught in quandary. Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth—who is decades older and now a few months more pregnant than Mary—makes some incredible predictions about their children. On top of all that, everyone in the region has their agenda reordered by the command of the leader of the occupying foreign power.  

The first Christmas was not the neat, tidy event pictured in our nativity scenes and greeting cards. If you want this to be a different kind of Christmas, you need to give up on creating the “perfect” Christmas and remember that God shows up in the middle of the mess to bring us a message of hope.  

The miracle God wants to accomplish through you may start when you focus on helping someone you know who is struggling. Commit to praying for them, ask how you can help, and follow through with help and encouragement.  Or maybe you should consider how God can use your current struggles to help others this holiday season.

Even in the midst of the unexpected, the messy, and the devastating, you can still fully expect God to show up. May God give you eyes to see the Savior’s gracious presence in the midst of our messy, uncertain lives. This is truly what Christmas is about.

Expect a Miracle

It’s a message that is hard to avoid. It seems to be everywhere. Billboards, catalogs, and commercial after commercial on television all promise a better life for you, your spouse, your children, your family, your friends, your coworkers; if you will just give the gift they are offering. Sometimes it’s a new toy. Other times it’s a piece of jewelry. You will even see new cars with red bows parked in some driveway before December is done.

It is tempting to believe this siren’s song: the secret to filling the life of those I love with peace, love and joy can be charged to my credit card. The people in the pictures look so happy. Maybe this is the gadget or game or gem that will make this the Christmas they will always remember.

It is essential that you resist this message if you want to experience a different kind of Christmas. When you focus only on those gifts that come in brightly wrapped packages adorned with ribbons and bows, you risk the danger of failing to recognize the good gifts you have already received . . . and the even better gifts God has prepared for you.

Over the years I have received some pretty great gifts, but I must admit that even the greatest of those gifts pale in comparison to the gift of Immanuel—God with us. When you really begin to grasp the significance of that gift, it fills your heart with a gratitude and a spirit of generosity that makes it possible to celebrate the miracle of God’s gift over the materialism of more and more stuff.

Let me challenge you to consider creating some new traditions this year—traditions that focus on the miracle worker instead of the materialism. Consider some traditions that emphasize the people in your life, rather than the presents you expect to receive. Remember to make space in your schedule and in your heart for the presence of Jesus, too. Once you receive the miracle he has for you, you can become God’s conduit for delivering miracles to others.

A miracle is a unique event in the world that God does through people like you and me. God does miracles through ordinary, simple people like Mary and Joseph. We have the power to do amazing things . . . if we are willing to sacrifice some of our own comfort for the good of others.

What new traditions in your own holiday planning could focus more on Jesus’ presence than on presents? For a truly different kind of Christmas begin to pray about one or two ideas that you feel might be God-initiated dreams for you to pursue in helping change this world for God’s Kingdom.