One of my favorite authors is Philip Yancey. As far as I can tell, his theology would not at all be charismatic but he has insights into the word and into spiritual things that are fresh, honest and thought provoking. One such insight is found in his book, The Jesus I Never Knew. As Christmas is upon us I want to share a lengthy quote from his book and then make a few observations that come to me as a result of his thoughts.

Sorting through the stack of cards that arrived out our house last Christmas, I note that all kinds of symbols have edged their way into the celebration. Overwhelmingly, the landscape scenes render New England towns, buried in snow, usually with the added touch of a horse-drawn sleigh. On other cards, animals frolic: not only reindeer but chipmunks, raccoons, cardinals, and cute gray mice. One card shows an African lion reclining with a foreleg draped affectionately around a lamb. Angels have made a huge comeback in recent years, and Hallmark and American Greetings now feature them prominently, though as demure, cuddly-looking creatures, not the type that would ever need to announce “Fear not!” The explicitly religious cards focus on the holy family, and you can tell at a glance these folks are different. They seem unruffled and serene. Bright gold halos, like crowns from another world, hover just over their heads. Inside, the cards stress words like love, goodwill, cheer, happiness and warmth. It is a fine thing, I suppose, that we honor a sacred holiday with such homey sentiments. And yet when I turn to the gospel accounts of the first Christmas, I hear a very different tone and sense mainly disruption at work. (Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, p.29; Zondervan)

As I read this chapter again, I am reminded by Yancey and my own thoughts about how intrusive God can be and should be in our lives. Most of us like life to move along at our pace, according our plans and our prayers simply ask God to pave the way for our desires. However, the biblical pattern is somewhat different.

Mary’s world was turned upside down in a moment by an angelic visitation announcing that she would soon be pregnant by the Holy Spirit even though she was only promised to Joseph. Joseph, having decided to divorce his “unfaithful fiancé,” had his plans abruptly reversed by an angelic visit of his own. He would share Mary’s “shame” with her. Sleepy shepherds spending another uneventful night in the fields around Bethlehem were jarred awake in a moment and terrified when the heavens exploded with the glory of God and angels sang. Even wise men from the east were shown a star that somehow compelled them to take a long, difficult journey to find this new king and then to sneak quietly out of the country to avoid Herod’s wrath that had been stirred suddenly by the unexpected announcement of the birth of a new king in Herod’s territory.

Most of us are committed to comfort and doing things for God when the doing is convenient. We like to plan our steps and then enlist God to smooth the way. But in my experience, the big things God wants to do in each life usually require an intrusion that challenges us to drop what we are doing, shelve our plans, and go with God – or simply miss our destiny. Think of how intrusive Jesus was. “Come and follow me!” Leave your boats, your career, even your family on a moment’s notice to take up the call on God has placed on your life. That seems to be God’s approach. A burning bush for Moses. A voice in the night for the boy Samuel. A prophet calling David out of the pastures and pouring oil on his head. A staggering light for Saul of Tarsus at midday. Each was unexpected. Each was intrusive. Each was incredibly inconvenient and in some ways made no earthly sense. Each changed a life and the world forever.

The Christmas story is a series of intrusions that often led to hardship before it led to glory. Here is the question Christmas raises for each of us. Are we open to God’s intrusions or do we turn Him down? Would we be willing to let God have his way in our own lives and at a moment’s notice start down a road never contemplated – even if it is just a five-minute journey to pray for a stranger or to tell someone about Jesus? And before we think about God’s inconvenient intrusions into our own lives, think of God’s own intrusion into the peace and order of heaven when suddenly the Word of God laid aside his glory and his deity and became a small and helpless child who parachuted alone into a world of poverty, danger, disease, sin and persecutions for our sake. That intrusion pointed toward a cross. And yet each of these intrusions led not only to moments or days of hardship but also to world changing encounters orchestrated by the Father.

If we have any hunger for greatness or significance in the kingdom of God we must be open to intrusions – sometimes taking a small bite out of our day and at other times changing the entire course of our lives. My dual nature wants to do something great in the kingdom of God for Jesus while at the same time wants comfort, predictability, and security like a hobbit in the Shire. The question for the day is always which part of me will I follow. Will I embrace God’s surprising intrusions or turn them down as I continue on my own agenda. Christmas dares me to go with God.

Christmas Eve.  Most of us understand that December 25 is, in all probability, not the day on which Jesus was born.  It was a day chosen by the early church for various reasons to remember and celebrate the birth of our Savior. It’s a remarkable thing to consider God slipping on flesh and living among men.  We know that Jesus came to save his people from their sins but Jesus himself told us that he also came to show us the heart of the Father.  In John 14, Jesus told Philip that if we have seen Jesus then we have seen the Father.  So what do we see in the birth of Jesus that reveals the Father to us on this night before Christmas?

First of all, the birth of Jesus reveals a depth of love in the Father than almost borders on desperation.  In one sense, to speak of God as desperate is a contradiction in terms.  How can God be desperate  for anything?  He is all powerful, all knowing, self-sufficient, and glorious. He needs nothing.  This birth of Jesus reveals a want rather than a need.  He loves his children so deeply that he was willing to take the most extreme measures to make it possible for his rebellious children to live with him. The story of Jesus from birth to death is a story of desperate love.

The Christmas story is full of paradox.  The infinite creator of the universe enters the world through a woman’s womb and is immediately confined within the tiny body of an infant. The one who is unapproachable in glory suddenly becomes dependent on a teenage girl and her carpenter husband.  The one who was adored for millennia by myriads of angels is born into obscurity and hardly noticed by the very people he came to save.  Only a handful of people were aware that God had entered into his universe in this remarkable way on the night it happened. Angels had revealed this reality to Mary and Joseph.  Mary’s cousin Elizabeth and her husband had some sense that a remarkable event had occurred. A few days later, Simeon and Anna took notice of him in the temple courts and spoke about the Messiah to the handful of people; who would listen. A few shepherds who tended flocks outside of Bethlehem got the message.  But the rich and powerful, the religious elite, and the scholars of Israel missed it all together.

The only men of standing who noticed the birth of  the King of Israel were from another nation.  They were probably Persian astronomers/astrologers who were familiar with the prophecies of Daniel since Daniel hard served and prophesied in the courses of Babylon and Persia during the Exile.  They had seen his star and had travelled great distances to worship him.  Imagine their surprise when they arrived at Jerusalem to find that no one in high places had a clue that this King and been born. Herod discovered the truth from the Magi and his response was an attempt to kill God in the flesh.  As far as we know, no Jewish historians wrote anything about Jesus, his birth or his death, other than those who wrote the New Testament.

So…what kind of of God is willing to be born into obscurity, to be birthed in a stable rather than a palace, to be entrusted to a little girl with a questionable reputation because of her pregnancy, and to become a political refugee fleeing from Herod to Egypt before he is two years old?  It’s almost hard to put into words.  Because God is love,  we find through Jesus that he is also humble, approachable, vulnerable, and willing to endure hardship and sacrifice for the one’s he loves.  We see Jesus with the same heart as he grows into a man – vulnerable, approachable, humble, gentle, sacrificial.  Those are words we rarely attach to all powerful deity, but that is who our Father in heaven is.

This evening as we attend our Christmas Eve services or as families gather together, remember Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the angelic chorus and the Magi who came later bearing gifts from the East. But more than that, wonder at the heart of a God who loves us so desperately that he would hand himself over to a fallen race to demonstrate his love and to offer himself as a sacrifice some 30 years later so that we might live with him forever.  That is the true wonder of Christmas.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  (Isa.9:6)

I wanted to share some quotes with you this morning out of Graham Cooke’s book, Approaching the Heart of Prophecy.  I really like his prophetic style and what he has to say about many things.  I thought you might be blessed by a few quotes as well.

If we perceive God to be harsh, demanding and prone to judgment, then our experience of Him is not going to grow into any great place of relationship. How do we make friends with a tyrant?  It is impossible because fear governs the relationship – fear of making mistakes, of saying the wrong thing, of doing a wrong act. Paranoia rules and peace is impossible.

         However, if we perceive that the Father has huge wells of compassion and mercy, which never run dry; if we know Him as being the one who is full of grace, rich in love, and abounding in love and truth; if He is slow to anger and incredibly patient toward us; if He is joyfully happy, with a sunny disposition; if His very cheerfulness can cover the world; if He is scandalously forgiving and generous; if He is the very epitome of goodness, so much so that we can only be transformed when we link our repentance with his goodness and kindness, then our whole personality is formed by such values.

         Jesus was always accused of lavishing too much time on sinners (Mt.19:11-13) and always had an answer for religious people.  God desires love and compassion in his people.

         We are called to pray, not condemn.  We are called as Jesus to intercede for a depraved world to the God who cares.  God takes care of His own wrath; He does not need our help.  (Graham Cooke, Approaching the Heart of Prophecy, p. 15)

There is a rising tide of evil in the earth and there is no rising tide of goodness to combat it. “We overcome evil with good” (Rom.12:21). What if the problems in the world are not lawlessness and crime, not poverty and sickness, not greed and selfishness, not drugs or terrorism, not abortion or immorality? What if the biggest problem in the earth is simply the lack of goodness? (Graham Cooke, Approaching the Heart of Prophecy, p.14)

 Joy is who God is, where He lives from, and what he does. He lives in perpetual, everlasting and eternal joy.  In His presence there is fullness of joy. The Father does not give us joy. He gives us Himself. He is absolute joy personified.  The atmosphere surrounding God is always joyful. We need to anchor our souls in the person of God and embrace his uninhibited delight in all things…. Joy is meant to overwhelm every negative emotion.  “Weeping may last for the night but joy comes in the morning” (Ps.30:5).  When joy is present, not negative emotion can flourish. Jesus was acquainted with grief (Is.53:3); it was not a close traveling companion. We need to be restored to the joy of our salvation, the delight and pleasure of our first major contact with the Lord.  Joy keeps all experience in God fresh. …  It is His plan for us to be joyful on a constant basis. “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full”(Jn.15:11). (Graham Cooke, Approaching the Heart of Prophecy, p.87)

These quotes from Cooke remind me that during this season of remembering God’s great gift to us, it would be good to really reflect on the joy of the Lord that comes from Him.  We all know the quip, “Life is hard, and then you die.”  Many believers reflect that sentiment more than the joy of the Lord. Some days I’m wearing the t-shirt.  But joy is a fruit of the Spirit, not somberness or depression or cynicism.

As we reflect on the birth of Christ, we might reflect on the angelic proclamation sent by the Father to us, to you.  “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today, in the town of David a savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.  Suddenly a great company of the heavenly hosts appeared with the angel praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to men on whom his favor rests’” (Lk.2:10-14).

God is joy.  Find Him and we find joy.  Be blessed this Christmas season.

“Sorting through the stack of cards that arrived at our house last Christmas, I note that all kinds of symbols have edged their way into the celebration.  Overwhelmingly, the landscape scenes render New England towns buried in snow, usually with the added touch of a horse-drawn sleigh. On other cards, animals frolic: not only reindeer, but also chipmunks, raccoons, cardinals and cute gray mice. One card shows an African lion reclining with a foreleg draped affectionately around a lamb.

Angels have made a huge comeback in recent years, and Hallmark and American Greetings now feature them prominently, though as demure, cuddly-looking creatures, not the type that would ever have to announce “Fear not!”  The explicitly religious cards (a distinct minority) focus on the holy family, and you can tell at a glance these folks are different. They seem unruffled and serene. Bright gold halos, like crowns from another world, hover just above their heads.

Inside, the cards stress sunny words like love, goodwill, cheer, happiness and warmth. It is a fine thing, I suppose, that we honor a sacred holiday with such homey sentiments.  And yet when I turn to the gospel accounts of the first Christmas, I hear a very different tone and sense mainly disruption at work.” (Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, Zondervan, p.29)

In his book, The Jesus I Never Knew, Yancey reminds us that the first Christmas wasn’t all that serene.  Imagine Mary as a very pregnant teenager and her young husband traveling to Bethlehem to enroll in a census that the Roman government demanded. We’re reminded that Jesus entered this world as a scandal of sorts because no one but Joseph and her cousin Elizabeth believed her story about being impregnated by the Holy Spirit. Joseph had nearly divorced her and, perhaps, wondered from time to time if he had actually been visited by an angel who told him that Mary’s story was true or if he had just imagined the whole thing.  Having been married for eight or nine months, Joseph had never been able to sexually consummate his marriage with his young wife.  He had been “cheated” out of his dreams and traditions of the Jewish wedding feast and wedding night.

Traveling this late in her pregnancy was a severe hardship and risky.  For her to leave her family at such a time suggests that there was still a great deal of tension and embarrassment about this pregnancy. Arriving late and finding no rooms available must have added to the tension as well.  This was not how any little Jewish girl had ever imagined her marriage or the birth of her firstborn.  Not only was she in a strange place bereft of her family, but their only shelter was most likely a damp cave with the smell of animals and animal droppings all around. Perhaps they had found a mid-wife to help Mary through her labor.  Perhaps, they faced that very human ordeal alone with some pain and some fear.  We really don’t know the time of the year that God had chosen for his only begotten to enter this world in the flesh.  It may have been cold or hot or reasonably pleasant but there was no climate-controlled room to welcome the creator of the universe.

Sometime in the night a handful of unknown shepherds smelling of sheep appeared with stories of angelic visitations announcing the birth of this “King of Israel.” To them it had been a terrifying experience more than a joy-filled moment in the serene pastures surrounding Bethlehem.  On this first night, no kings appeared to welcome this child but only dirty, semi-religious shepherds.  Joseph and Mary were not given a commentary of the purposes of God in all of this.  They were left to wonder what God was up to just as we have to wonder when events in our lives are not what we ever anticipated.

Christmas cards and pageants always have the wise men from the east arriving with the shepherds while the star of Bethlehem adorns the sky outside of a nice, clean wooden stable with the baby Jesus lying neat and clean and smiling with his arms stretched out in a welcoming pose. A careful read of the gospels indicate that the wise men came later – perhaps as much as two years later.  Joseph and Mary had chosen not to return to Nazareth with their new son but apparently had remained in Bethlehem, the city of David. Once again, we are reminded that they may not have felt welcome back home.  When the wise men, kings from the east, arrived they went to Herod to see if he knew where this recently born King of the Jews was.  His response was treachery as he asked the kings to alert him to the presence of this child if they found him so that he could worship this “pretender to his throne” as well.  His intention was to kill this child whose very presence threatened him.

The kings brought their valuable gifts and laid them at the feet of Mary and Joseph and worshiped the child.  Mary found the whole thing a little odd and simply stored the moment up in her heart to ponder later.  She would have to because as soon as these kings left, she and Joseph were warned in a dream to pack up, leave quickly, and flee to Egypt to avoid Herod’s death squads. Shortly after their departure, Herod murdered every male child under the age of two years that lived in Bethlehem.  Apparently, the star had first appeared 12 to 24 months earlier indicating the birth of the king.  I’m sure Herod gave himself some margins so that his death squad would not miss this child the prophets had spoken about.

By the time Jesus was two years old he had been driven from his hometown of Nazareth by scandal, born in a dark stable, kept from the nurture of loving Jewish grandparents and had become a political refugee fleeing by foot to Egypt.  There he would live in exile for several years until Herod had died and enough peace was finally made with the families that Joseph and Mary and their young son returned to Nazareth.

The scandal of God, the confusion and anxiety of a young couple, the murder of the innocents in Bethlehem and the flight to Egypt are not depicted on our Christmas cards. Certainly the faith of Joseph and Mary brought some peace in the midst of this.  The kings from the east funded their flight to Egypt.  Angelic choruses brought a sense of wonder and majesty to the birth of the Son of God becoming the Son of Man. But all in all, Christmas should remind us again of the price Jesus paid for our redemption. And not only Jesus but the people attached to him as well. While we were yet sinners, Jesus not only died for us but was born in harsh circumstances for us as well. Jesus, from birth to resurrection, is the expression of God’s amazing love for us – for you.  This Christmas that is worth celebrating.  Be blessed.