A lovely mess; this is an apt phrase to describe the birth of Christ. We have lost the imagery of this truth within our lives. When one sees Christmas within modernity, the story of Christ has seemingly become “white noise” within the landscape of a commercialized holiday.
The story is not lost because we fight to keep “Christ” in Christmas or because of the tyranny of those who prefer “Happy Holidays.” But rather, because we have turned the story of Christ’s birth into a “Norman Rockwell” narrative, a story of a pretty birth, pretty people, pretty angels, pretty shepherds and so forth. Too many have cleaned up and/or watered down the story of God’s incarnation.
N.T. Wright states, “Jesus-the Jesus we might discover if we really looked! –is larger, more disturbing, more urgent than we– than the church– had every imagined.” (Simply Jesus, p.4-5) In reality, the lovely mess of Christmas is the truth (and beauty) of our Creator clothing Himself in flesh. It’s a profound story of grace that is counterintuitive to how we think or live.
Truth be told, the birth of Christ was nothing close to resembling today’s sanitized picture of humanity’s Christmas creation. When one reads the gospel accounts, they will find a collision of narratives. Luke transmits Christ’s birth through the eyes of Mary (Luke 1-2), whereas Matthew transmits the birth of Christ through the eyes of Joseph (Matthew 1). Together the two accounts collide as they illumine a most inconceivable thought, “do not be afraid.” Afraid… afraid of what?
Fear is easily draped over the entire situation. The incarnation was indeed a beautiful act of love, but it was messy and Joseph and Mary had the right to be afraid.
Mary was a betrothed young girl who was pregnant and not by Joseph. Our culture does not understand the level of shame associated with such a reality, nor the consequences. Joseph, a righteous man, was clearly not pleased, and was figuring out how to quietly break up with Mary. He loved her enough to not want to see her face shame and punishment, but not enough to buy into the “I’m pregnant, it’s not yours, but from the Holy Spirit” story. However, through angelic intervention, providing divine confirmation, both Mary and Joseph chose the salvific plan of God. They stepped into life with God by saying, “yes” to Jesus.
The birth experience itself was also messy. Joseph and Mary are traveling and she is extremely close to labor, they struggle to find a place to rest for the birth. Ultimately, they are offered a manger and this was not a pretty scene. This was no Midwest glory barn, but more likely a cave, a dirty cave or dwelling full of stink, poop and animals. Keeping the humanity on Christ’s birth allows us to see the story for what it is, a lovely mess.
That faithful night, the Word of God became flesh (John 1:1-18) and love and humility were personified. (Phil. 2:5-11) Jesus Christ embodied the promise of God (John 3:16) because He was the messenger of covenant. (Malachi 3:1) However, even this is a lovely mess.
Christ is born in the days of Herod, an earthly king who had wealth, power, armies and authority via Rome. In the shadow of Herod the Christ child is born, but not in pomp and circumstance via armies, trumpets, processions and thrones as would be expected of the “King of kings.” Instead, in the most imaginative and counterintuitive act, God cloaks Himself with flesh (Romans 9:5), born as a child in complete humility, and into the hands of two ordinary people who said, “yes” to God’s plan.
When one pauses and studies the birth of Christ, they are left with the reality that Jesus was born to die. (Matthew 20:28) In reality the story did not begin, nor does it end at Christ’s birth.
Jesus’ life upon earth was a lovely mess. He challenges us to rethink everything, and in His entrance and subsequent exit, He testified to the truth of covenant relationship with God. Ultimately, Christ awakened humanity to the crux of who we are: lovers of God and lovers of the other. That is, Christ left us with two fundamental axioms: We are to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Matthew 22:37-39)
From the cradle to the cross Jesus invites humanity to participate in the beautiful mess of life. He challenges all humanity to rethink how to live unto God, for such living, as revealed by Christ, is completely counterintuitive.
Ultimately, what we see in the birth of Christ is an invitation to step into His life through the Holy Spirit so as to become incarnational and continue God’s lovely mess.
Much like with Joseph and Mary, we are all given the opportunity to say, “yes” to Jesus. Life is a narrative and God calls us all to participate in His story by “loving God and loving people.”
The story of Christmas reminds us that we are called to live out God’s lovely mess. This will force us to rethink how we live. Life gets messy when we step out of the cultural norms of the Christmas season and opt to step into the incarnational performance of Christ. It is not a “Normal Rockwell” picture. No, it is so much more, for in this lovely mess we experience the beauty of life, the beauty of what it means to be alive.
This Christmas Season I hope and pray we all pause, reflect upon on the birth of Christ and say, “yes” to Jesus. May the presence of God be palpable in our lives, as we love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. I hope we step into incarnational living and find our part in God’s lovely mess.
Andrew Powell-Senior Pastor Grace Church
Andrew Powell is the Senior Pastor at Grace Church in Mahomet, IL. Andrew is married and has three sons and are honored to call Mahomet home. Andrew’s vision for Grace Church is to build a community to reach a community by loving God and loving people.
