Christmas: God with us
We are getting close to that time of year when our social media and photo apps will offer up our “Year in Review,” allowing us to see the highlights of one year all in a few minutes. I love being reminded of the good days, the moments of laughter, and of the Lord’s faithfulness stretching out over another year of my life.
But I also recognize that the “highlight reel” is not quite reality. I don’t think I’ve ever included photos depicting suffering, sadness, loneliness, or loss in my yearly review video toned by punched-up cheerful music. Who wants to watch a video about the months I have spent praying for healing that has still not been received, mourning over loss beyond my control, and begging God to fix the brokenness we experience daily?
Our culture excels at celebrating the best of life while frantically hiding and denying our suffering and mess. We love the “highlight reel.”
It’s not very surprising that we also tend to “highlight reel” the Christmas story. We emphasize all of the best parts: God was finally sending the Promised One! Young Mary and Joseph trusted the Lord and persevered through a difficult season. Jesus arrived safely and sweetly. Beautiful angels declared the birth of the Savior and even invited shepherds, some of the lowest in society, to worship Him. And eventually even wise men from the east traveled a great distance to bow before the Promised One and give Him expensive gifts.
In our minds we allow the Christmas story to become something it never was - perfect, painless, and without sorrow.
“We cannot celebrate the arrival of the Promised One without understanding the brokenness of the world into which He arrived.”
We cannot celebrate the arrival of the Promised One without understanding the brokenness of the world into which He arrived. From the moment the original humans turned their backs on their Creator and determined to “live their own truth,” the world has been violently fractured by despair, disease, and death. Throughout scripture, God’s people followed Him imperfectly, often falling to their knees knowing they were simply unable to get it right and held their breath anticipating the arrival of the Promised One. The birth of Christ wasn’t just nice or happy, it was a desperately longed-for promise fulfilled.
The weary world rejoices because it has been groaning for healing and restoration.
When we fail to acknowledge the presence of suffering, loss, brokenness, and fear in the Christmas story, we not only minimize the miraculous, we set ourselves up for failure. The “highlight reel” perpetuates the lie that Christmas is about creating a flawless celebration for those we love, instead of simply celebrating that Jesus was born into this great big, messy, painful world to be with us, and to deliver us back to God.
“When we fail to acknowledge the presence of suffering, loss, brokenness, and fear in the Christmas story, we not only minimize the miraculous, we set ourselves up for failure.”
Mary and Joseph’s faithfulness included an unplanned trip away from home while in the last stages of pregnancy, and giving birth in some kind of animal shelter. The Promised One did not have a nursery with a coordinating theme or a smart sleeper bassinet; He slept in an animal feeding trough. Angels appearing to the shepherds meant that strangers arrived at Mary’s bedside not long after she had given birth. And the arrival of the wise men years later led to a power-hungry king slaughtering innocent baby boys while Mary and Joseph escaped with Jesus to Egypt.
The miracle of Christmas was never about perfection or painlessness.
The miracle is that while we live on earth longing for heaven, loathing suffering and discomfort, and going to great lengths to escape it, Jesus entered into it.
“The miracle is that while we live on earth longing for heaven, loathing suffering and discomfort, and going to great lengths to escape it, Jesus entered into it.”
Jesus left the comfort, stability, and perfection of heaven to dwell in the constricting frailty of humanity, to experience not only the joys of life but also every sorrow. He entered our messiness and our misery to be with us, and to offer us salvation, hope, and life that is impossible apart from Him.
Christmas is “God with us.”
It is not a celebration of God removing us out of our difficulties. Christmas is not the erasing of every hardship or the instant transformation of humanity from broken to redeemed.
We celebrate our God whose love stretches bigger than a simple quick fix but enters into the very depths of our suffering and invites us to draw ever closer to Him.
Jess Proudfoot is an urban missionary in New Bedford, MA. She is part of the church planting team and also serves as the Director of Women’s Ministries at Grace Harbor Church in New Bedford.
