Christmas is all about family: Jesus’s earthly family, your family, our broader Church family, and God’s family extended across time. And family is messy. It almost never goes according to plan. Does that sound like your family? It sure sounds like mine.
When Jesus first came into the world that Christmas night, the circumstances weren’t exactly what his parents had in mind either. His mother became pregnant in unusual circumstances, and his dad had thoughts of leaving. The whole thing was further complicated by a forced trip at the end of the pregnancy to keep the government happy. And of course, when they got to Bethlehem, they couldn’t find a room. They didn’t stay in the softly lit, cozy little stable out back that we see on Christmas cards. The Bible doesn’t even say there was a stable, only that Mary laid the God-baby in a feeding trough. If there was a stable, you can bet it wasn’t tidied up for their arrival. That was the very first Christmas—far from perfect.
Maybe you’re exhausted already at the prospect of another Christmas season and all that comes with it. Maybe you’re frustrated by your family and not looking forward to time together, or maybe time together is all you really want and it can’t happen. Maybe you’re thinking the whole crowded-church-on-a-holiday thing might not be worth it this year. Those are very Christmas feelings, and those are the sort of things that God regularly uses to reach us. Jesus is sometimes called Emmanuel, which means God with us. He is Emmanuel in good times and in bad, and he came to accept the less-than-perfect and transform it into something much greater. He wants to do that for you and for your family.
Jesus was born so that he could be close to you. The Bible says Jesus is not “unable to sympathize with our weakness, but […] has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). In other words, Jesus gets you. He knows your struggles, your frustrations, your anxieties, and your deepest, darkest secrets. And he still likes you, loves you in fact, and wants to be near you, to help you overcome your negative tendencies. He wants this so much that he is and always will be fully human.
Arguably the closest people to Jesus while he walked the earth were his parents, his family. How did they get close to Jesus? They just lived with him. Before Jesus performed a miracle, cast out a demon, or preached a sermon, he spent thirty years living with his family, talking with them, wasting time together, making memories together. If Christmas is to be more than just a nostalgic holiday, we have to allow Jesus to live with us, in our families. Even if we do it imperfectly.
God is used to working with the imperfect. Just read a few pages of the Bible and you’ll see what I mean. And yet God calls himself “rich in mercy” (Ephesians 2:4). So, you don’t have it all together. None of us do. So, your Advent season may not be going according to your plan. That sounds like the very first Advent season. In the midst of the potential disappointments and unmet expectations, we have to remember that Jesus is with us in all of it, and that is what really matters. If you’re simply having an imperfect Christmastime, then it’s actually quite perfect.
From one imperfect person to another, here’s wishing you and your family a blessed Advent Season and a very merry Christmas!
