Ten Bible Answers to Christmas Gone Bad
Ten possibilities that could ruin Christmas.
What if there had been room in the inn? Our nativity displays on front lawns and coffee tables might look a lot different. Yet even this apparent mishap served as another divine piece of the puzzle that God assembled as the picture-perfect Christmas. After all, we seek to replicate it every year in pageants, in hymns and carols, and all kinds of festivities. When those go bad—and they can, real fast—is Christmas ruined? Or at least tainted?
Consider the following ten possibilities that could have ruined that first Christmas long ago. And rejoice in God’s gracious and guiding hand, along with some faith-filled decisions of pious believers, which prevented Christmas gone bad. Which ones mean the most to you? Which ones might you pass on to a friend?
1. God should have distanced himself from a wicked and worthless world. In the centuries since God created earth and its inhabitants, humanity proved ourselves to be incapable of getting along—with each other, and with God himself. Even God’s chosen nation of Israel rejected him in favor of worshiping idols and signing treaties with powerful allies. Yet the same loving God who stepped out of eternity once to lavish humanity with a lovely creation stepped out of eternity again, this time to save us from ourselves. Not by avoiding our shame or allowing our sin, but by attending to it as one of us, and suffering its curse in our place. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…Through him all things were made…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…He will save his people from their sins” (John 1:1,2,14; Matthew 1:21).
2. The family line of the promised Savior became corrupted by scandal. Oops, this actually did happen. And instead of trying to cover it up, God’s Word features it in the genealogy of Jesus as the “Son of David” in Matthew 1. Genealogies in those days didn’t normally include women. Not only do women appear in the genealogy of Jesus, but these women drag the family name through the dirt. Promiscuous sex with a father-in-law. Prostitution. And even a foreigner whose non-Israelite blood tainted Davidic purity. I guess anyone can get into God’s family. Exactly.
3. Mary wasn’t a virgin. Had this actually been the case, it would have been much more than a PR nightmare for biblical prophecy. God’s sinlessness as Savior depended not only on him rejecting temptation throughout his earthly life, but being born miraculously without the curse of original sin passed on through the normal reproductive process. The slightest possibility that Jesus had a bio dad would cast suspicion on his sinlessness. Thank you, Joseph and Mary, for your faith-filled following of God’s commands that prohibit premarital sex. God knew what he was doing in your case, and in every case of couples hooking up today. Sex and marriage are gifts from God, and he has the right—and the heavenly wisdom—to regulate them. He will bless faith-filled decisions that obey his Word (Matthew 1:18,19; Hebrews13:4).
4. Joseph, stressed out by these new developments, runs away and hides. Not to worry, the angel reassured Joseph, “Son of David, do not be afraid.” Like his ancestor, David, Joseph could trust in God’s words and ways when facing giant-like distress. Sometimes when we face insurmountable circumstances, God delivers us not by changing the circumstances but by changing us. Joseph“did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him” (Matthew 1:20,24).
5. An invasive government wields its power resulting in our cost and inconvenience. The first name we typically hear in the Christmas story belongs not to a pious follower of God but to the pagan empire of the day. “Caesar Augustus issued a decree…” Governments may interfere in our lives, and yet their decrees always serve the higher purpose of the ultimate Authority, God himself. Such was the case when God was born, subjecting himself to the decree of an earthly ruler yet orchestrating this obedience for the eternal good of all. Not to mention the many blessings of safety, order, and provision we enjoy from government authority. Government is always “God’s servant” (Luke 2:1, Romans 13:4).
6. Undesirable travel plans might have threatened Joseph and Mary’s first Christmas, instead, they fulfilled ancient prophecies calling for the Savior to be born in Bethlehem, not Nazareth, not Jerusalem. Off they went to the hustle and bustle of this little town right at the inopportune time of Mary’s due date. How inconvenient! How divinely orchestrated. God knows what he’s doing. Don’t let a little travel adjustment or hustle and bustle of traffic ruin your Christmas (Luke 2:4-7).
7. This year Christmas is lacking its luster. The splendor is fading, especially as we try to keep the cost down with fewer frills. Or maybe it’s just getting old for you, an empty tradition. Consider the mundane night watch of shepherds babysitting their sheep in the fields outside Bethlehem. No splendor there. No Christmas lights. No piles of beautifully wrapped gifts. Instead of scents of pine and cinnamon or roasted chestnuts or turkey it smelled like sweat and manure. Quite ordinary. And this was the target of heaven-sent angels announcing the Savior’s birth, as well as the less-than-spectacular sign of the manger scene. Don’t worry too much about the splendor of Christmas, especially if you can’t afford it or no longer yearn for it with child-like awe. Just find God in your ordinary and everyday. He’s there (Luke 2:8-11).
8. Angels copyright the birth announcement and name themselves the exclusive spokespersons of Christmas. Well, who can say it better than angels? Shepherds, actually. And you. Angels are nice, but they’re not normal. They are supernatural. You are normal. Maybe a little odd, OK, but so am I and so is everyone else. That makes us a top-choice herald for Christmas, because the people we tell are people just like us. No, we don’t have it all together with angelic precision. So we need a Savior, just like those to whom we spread the good news. Go, tell it on the mountain (Luke 2:13-18; Isaiah 52:7).
9. Broken promises. Unattended intentions. Failed dreams. Mary may have scripted different plans for the birth of her firstborn, but after it was all done, she looked back and treasured it all. Invest your meaning and destiny less in human plans and more in the words of God, because he keeps his word. Every time. For all time. It will always happen for you “just as [you’ve] been told” in God’s Word (Luke 2:19,20).
10. Jesus is an acceptable choice among many options that make people right with God now and forever. “I can do it my way” is the call of today’s consumer, a mentality that isn’t so bad until it infects religion. If I invent my own religion or choose a man-made deity and believe “my way,” then what value is such a religion if it’s no bigger or better than the human mind? We’re not capable of saving ourselves. Our sins and shame, our guilt and mistakes, have only one answer for hope. It is full of grace. It embodies absolute truth. “The Word made became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth…No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (John 1:14,18). Jesus Christ is the One and Only Savior. He is born for all. Kneel at his manger and let him be born for you.
PRAYER: Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask you to stay close by me forever, and love me, I pray. Bless all the dear children in your tender care, and take us to heaven to live with you there. Amen.