This begins our series of anticipation, looking for the arrival of God both in human form, as a baby, in Jesus, as well as returning again to make all things new. This year I want to draw your attention to the simplistic nature of the birth of Christ, but most specifically the context and the animal life surrounding this earth-shaking, life-changing event.
We’ll look at three specific animals in the context of this humane story but to start, this week we’ll just frame the big picture. It’s in the chaos of life in which God makes the loudest and most consistent proclamation: My presence is the only STABLE thing, and it isn’t what you’d expect.
Jesus was born among animals in a place where livestock would have been kept, a stable.
In the gospel of John, we read about how things started and the state in which the LIGHT of the WORLD broke into the darkness. John records that the darkness can neither apprehend nor comprehend this overpowering light. Jesus IS this light and came to shine INTO the darkness.
This Christ child is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah when he wrote, “The people living in darkness have seen a great light.” (9:2) The darkness refers to all the following: misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness, and insignificance. (Been there? Know anyone living here?) Jesus is also the fulfillment of other promises of God spoken from the Old Testament prophets regarding the savior and coming king of the Jews.
Everything about what was spoken and expected was forceful, powerful, and royal. The punchline came when a teenage, unmarried girl, from Nazareth (a small skid mark on the underpants of Jewish geography) gave birth to a baby in a barn.
It is no coincidence that the circumstances in which God shows up are anything but stable and yet it’s precisely what it is when Jesus is born, among all the animals.
The first week of advent the theme is Hope. We all need hope. And if your hope is fading or non-existent, if your world is out of control, and you are lost or falling fast, hold on, help is on the way, the light is breaking into your darkness; Jesus is about to change your world!
And if you’re living in this glory and already gripping tightly to the promises of God and your hope is firmly planted in Christ, then please, make sure your light is shining brightly because darkness is all around and suffocating those oppressed by it. They need your light, the LIGHT!
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