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This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
– Luke 2:12-14 (NIV)
What was the great sign the angels were singing of? A baby wrapped in cheap cloths and lying in a dirty manger. It seemed so ordinary, yet God uses the ordinary in extraordinary ways. The birth of Jesus Christ shouts to us that the ordinary may not be so ordinary after all; that God had come to earth and associated himself with all that we experience in life. May the Christmas story open our eyes and cause us to look at the ordinary in dynamic new ways. Merry Christmas!
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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.
– Matthew 1:18-19 (NIV)
by Dave Whitehead, Author of Making Sense of the BibleWe can easily turn the Christmas story into a lot of warm fuzzy feelings, but the Biblical narrative has more grit than that. Being engaged at that time was more binding than it is today, so the culturally correct way to end the engagement was with a divorce. But don’t blame Joseph for his reaction, because Mary’s pregnancy was a lifelong mark of shame for her and him. Yet out of their shame would come redemption. God can use the events in our lives that seem scandalous to display His glory to the world.
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