Celebrating the Unexpected

Celebrating the Unexpected. By Rebekka Hansel

How many times have you read, listened to, or perhaps even watched the Christmas story? Maybe just a few times, or maybe hundreds? Perhaps, like me, you had parents or grandparents who forced you to endure, I MEAN LISTEN TO, Luke 2:1-19 before any Christmas presents could be opened on Christmas morning. This passage of Scripture may evoke fond memories of Christmas pageants. Or maybe you can’t hear these words read without hearing Linus’s voice telling Charlie Brown, “That’s what Christmas is all about.”

I believe that there are certain passages of Scripture that are so familiar, heard so often, that we begin to take them for granted. The Christmas story certainly could fall into that category. We buy Christmas ornaments that say “Wise Men Still Seek Him”. Well meaning sermons tell us to “make room in our hearts for the Christ child”. As if the real MVP of the  Christmas story was the innkeeper who had a clever plan B and an empty stable just waiting for its moment. And speaking of those three kings….aren’t they the perfect contrast to those stinky rejects that were out in the field herding sheep?

If we’re not careful, we can come away from Luke 2 with the belief that God made some really great lemonade out of some very nasty lemons. Joseph and Mary had to schlep to Bethlehem when she was about to give birth, there was no where to stay once they arrived, and when the Messiah was finally born, the only people there to greet him were some poor, lowly shepherds who didn’t have anything better to do than go see a baby laying in a feeding trough.

And don’t we often see our own stories in the same way?

At the risk of comparing myself to Mary and Joseph (I would never), allow me to share a recent experience involving an inconvenience of my own.

Many of you know that this fall, I was scheduled to lead a breakout session for our church’s women’s conference. My breakout session was about physical healing. Alas, the Tuesday before the conference, I tested positive for Covid. Oh, the irony.

Immediately, our own “plan B” was put into motion. I would join via Zoom and do the session remotely. Not ideal, but better than nothing, after all. Still, I was dissatisfied. This was NOT how I imagined this session going. I had a very specific vision for how it was going to go, and that vision involved me being there in person.

And then, a couple of days into my bad attitude, I felt the Holy Spirit gently remind me that the only person annoyed at this unexpected (to me) turn of events was….me.

At the risk of stating the obvious, God is never surprised. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

In other words, the language of heaven doesn’t include words that mean “Plan B”.

Anyway, back to the Christmas story.

A few years ago, I read a book by Kathie Lee Gifford called “The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi”, which she co-authored with a Messianic Jew who also happens to be….you guessed it….a rabbi. One of the chapters is titled “Bethlehem”, and in it, the rabbi references the Mishnah, which is a collection of oral traditions that were documented and that outline Jewish “rules for living” during the time of the Pharisees.

According to the Mishnah, there should not have been any shepherds living in the fields nearby, because flocks were to be kept in the wilderness, away from the towns. Is this one of those famous inconsistencies in the Bible that people are always going on about?

Not so fast. There WAS an exception to this rule. Sheep that were kept near the towns had one specific purpose. They were identified as sheep being “for the Temple-services”. In fact, many scholars believe that these shepherds weren’t societal rejects at all, but in fact Levitical priests that were specifically tasked with caring for the sheep that were destined to one day be used as sacrifices. But it wasn’t just the sheep and the shepherds that were special. There would have been caves around Bethlehem, and many of them were kept ritually pure because many lambs born in Bethlehem were brought to Jerusalem to be used as Passover sacrifices. (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/bethlehem-little-town-big-significance/)

That is what English teachers like to call, foreshadowing. But for real - HOW COOL IS THAT?

Understanding this should cause us to see the events recorded in Luke differently. Jesus was never going to be born anywhere other than a stable, because He was the ultimate sacrificial Lamb. The stable wasn’t a lucky break, and the innkeeper didn’t save the day. The book of Revelation calls Jesus “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”, meaning that Jesus’s death was ordained before time began. God saw the end from the beginning….including a pregnant teenager looking for a place to give birth to His Son.

So this year, what if we stop focusing on what didn’t go our way? What if we let go of the annoyance of inconvenience? Instead of complaining, what if we celebrated the unexpected?

I’m sure, given the choice, Mary and Joseph would have done it a different way. They may have chosen something easier. More comfortable. Indoors, perhaps. But so much of the beauty of the Christmas story is hidden in these details. The symbolism of the Lamb being born in a place where other lambs had gone before. The last sacrifice, for all time.

This Christmas season, I pray that we have a new revelation of the beauty of surrendering. Our plans, for His purpose.