Waiting for Christmas
So easy, at this time of year, to have Christmas just pass me by. There are parties and lights and gifts and carols but none of those things mean that I’m really celebrating Christmas. For me, I need something new each year. I need to work through the story again. See it from a fresh perspective. And then, when I’m touched in a new way by the old truths, I celebrate Christmas.
This year I’ve been thinking about Mary. And not only her really, but the whole world at the time of Christ’s birth.
It was these two old carols that brought me to this place:
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining…
Just think of how long the world had been waiting for this event. Since early in Genesis, probably 4000 years, they had been waiting. Waiting in sin that brought on the flood, sin that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, sin that saw all baby boys murdered throughout a nation…twice.
And yet even in all that darkness, there were those who were watching and ready for the arrival of the Messiah. Even after 4000 years Elizabeth was ready. Simeon and Anna were ready in the temple “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” Mary was ready. She must have been or how else could she speak these words, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word…"
But for me at least, the Christmas celebration can’t begin while I’m still sitting comfortably, perhaps by a fire, maybe even with roasting chestnuts, contemplating the world 2000 years ago. It would be great if it could, but honestly I need the kick of a convicting application before things can really get underway. And here’s what seems to be coming at me this year. Picture this. There’s Mary, a young girl, perhaps not yet the age of my youngest daughter, living in a world waiting 4000 years with only the promise of Jesus, readily stepping up to do the will of the Father. Then enter God’s messenger Gabriel, played in my life once again by Keith Green:
To obey is better than sacrifice
I don't need your money
I want your life
And I hear you say that I'm coming back soon
But you act like I'll never return
Israel waited, ready, for 4000 years for Christ’s first coming. How dare I live my life as if he’ll never come again. Is there anything God could ask of me that would be more inconvenient, more embarrassing, more dangerous than what Mary willing embraced? And even if there is, and that’s the thing God asks of me, why would I not willingly comply?
In spite of what we see around us, the impact of Christ’s life on earth puts our world in a better light than the world that makes up the backdrop for the donkey ride to Bethlehem. The darkness of that Christmas Eve world was torn in two as the light of Christ shone on the earth. We need to take advantage of that light, move into the dark places around us, and reflect Jesus to our world today. We need to do it boldly. And we need to do it now.