It’s the week before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature is stirring because I poisoned the mouse! Yes, you read that right: poison. Muwahahahaha! When my eldest was only 6 years old, we had a hamster. Those I can manage to be okay with. They’re more pet than rodent in my head. But a regular old mouse… nope! Stay away from my house! It may have been a rat, I’m not sure. The way I tell the story, it was huge! It had big, pointed teeth and red, bulging eyes… and it growled at me in our showdown! Probably rabid, too… at least it will be when I retell the story. Yeah, I only saw it streak past me in the yard and I hope the poison I put out has done the job – please be dead, please be dead, please be dead.
I’m thinking that, with the rat-thing taken care of (please be dead, please be dead, please be dead), that there’s nothing but smooth sailing for a while. My “a while” lasted two days. I was finishing a brisket it the oven (to get the caramelized/charred edges without the grill *yum*) and my oven threw sparks and almost caught fire! Nine days before Christmas! Other than Thanksgiving, this is my favorite time to cook, bake, and make deliciousness in the kitchen. For the last 4 or 5 years, I’ve made banana bread for my neighbors, to be delivered Christmas morning (or eve). Ugh!
Things don’t always go as planned. I was folding laundry a few days ago (when is there not laundry to fold?) and, lo and behold, I find a chapstick. Hmmm. I check it and find that it did in fact go through the wash. I pick up a shirt and see there are spots all over it. Then I look at a pair of jeans – spots on it. Shirt after shirt…. spots. I called the kiddos into my room (where I was silently screaming and trying not to cry). I held it up and our son claimed it. I went through the *calm* explanation of warning them to check their pockets – money, toys, chapsticks, or trash… if I found it, I would keep it or toss it, but they wouldn’t get it back.
My husband asked what had happened, why I was upset, and I explained that the majority of the clothes hit by the chapstick were the few clothes I had that fit me (babies change bodies and I’ve had 5). A recently purchased pair of blue jeans, a favorite T-shirt from a Life Changers booth in Alaska, and my Elly and Grace sweatshirts. Speckled. And those were just my clothes; other clothes were affected as well. That load of laundry did not go as planned. My brisket did not go as planned. And the tears were not planned.
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:18-21 (NIV)
Me thinks that things did not go as planned for Joseph or Mary, either. More so than me. I have issues with an oven breaking and chapstick staining most of my clothes… yet I’m sure Jesus’ parents had it worse. They were planning to get married, yet there were obvious obstacles to a happily ever after. All marriages start off with great hope and joy, yet they had a very noticeable… challenge. But it was only unplanned for Mary and Joseph – God had it in His plans a long time before that. But they had been told about it, so why didn’t they see it coming?
God, speaking through different prophets in the Old Testament, told the people that the Messiah would be in the lineage of Jesse and David (Isaiah 11:10, Jeremiah 23:5). Both Mary and Joseph were of the lineage of Jesse and David. They should have seen it coming! Are roads easier to walk if you know about them ahead of time? I can’t help but think that it may turn out to be more difficult.
God didn’t choose Mary simply because of her lineage, just like Joseph wasn’t chosen just for his. Just because you’re a member of the family doesn’t mean you are all on the same page. This is especially evident at this time of year when so many families gather together over a shared meal. Having multiple pastors in my family doesn’t automatically make me a Christian just like being Jewish doesn’t automatically make someone kosher. God chose Mary and Joseph because He could see the condition of their heart.
The condition of the heart… that can be a touchy topic. There’s a common spade that can dig into legalism about how you have to do in order to get God to do, but I’m not sure there’s anything farther from the heart of the Christmas story. Or farther from the heart of God towards His Creation.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)
Mary and Joseph (just like everyone else in this world), were sinners. They messed up. They fell short. They weren’t without spots (though probably not from chapstick laundry fiascos). But God was able to work through them because they both chose to trust Him. Did they do it perfectly? Probably not. Prime example: they didn’t consummate their marriage till after Mary recovered from giving birth to Jesus. Most couples have a one-track mind for their wedding night, but Joseph abstained from being with Mary! I’m sure he had moments of doubt and frustrations – not to mention Mary and the hormonal changes she went through during the pregnancy.
Just like Joseph and Mary, we’re not going to do things perfectly. We couldn’t before and we can’t now- that’s why Jesus’ birth, and eventual sacrificial death on the cross, was necessary. We’re called to be faithful, but we can’t even do that right! Notice the “do” in that last sentence. We’re not saved by our faithfulness to Him, but by His faithfulness to us. Jesus’ birth is that faithfulness and love in physical form.
Maybe you’ve gotten caught up in the commercial side of the holiday, maybe you’ve gotten sucked into some family drama, or maybe you’re crying over chapstick splatters and broken ovens (I will not cry over the death of the rabid rat – please be dead, please be dead, please be dead), but God’s not surprised in our failings. He’s not calling us to do – He knows we can’t.
Christmas, like every other day of the year, is a day to choose to trust Him. Trust in His faithfulness instead of boasting in our own feeble attempts. As you trust in Him, you may surprise yourself. The hard things we want to do will naturally come out. Garbage in, garbage out – Jesus in, Jesus out. When we have Jesus, it’s Jesus who comes out in our actions. It’s Jesus who helps steer our thoughts. It’s Jesus who is evident in our heart.
The heart of Christmas is Jesus. Let’s choose to trust Him with the condition of our heart.