The Star or R-A-T-S

“If spiritual things become a drag and the message of Christmas is dull you can be sure the problem is not in the message but in your loss of awe and wonder at the message.” Dag Hammerskjold 

One pastor of a small church was directing the children’s program on the Sunday night before Christmas. He was especially excited about the final scene of the production in which four children would give recitations using letters that they held up: S-T-A-R which stood for Shepherds, Trees, Angels, and Redeemer. The scene opened with “Silent Night” playing softly in the background as the children filed onstage holding the posters. The narrator solemnly spoke into the microphone, saying, “And now, four of our children are going to tell you how they feel about Christmas.” On that cue, the youngsters turned over their cards, which should have spelled the word STAR. Unfortunately, they had lined up backward, and instead, the letters said…RATS! 

  Sadly, isn’t that the way that many people feel about Christmas? High prices, snarled traffic, rushed trips, long check-out lines, extra chores, more debt, blown diets, countless Christmas parties, and cold weather. Many just want to get it all over with. Yet, if we fall into that thinking we lose the power of that first Christmas – we lose wonder!

  It’s said that “familiarity breeds contempt. More often “familiarity breeds indifference.” The more familiar we become with something the less fascination we have. The newness fades and we lose the wonder.

  That happens with us at Christmas. We’ve heard the nativity account so many times that the wonder of what happened 2,000 years ago begins to dim. We no longer marvel. We’re no longer amazed. The old story has become just an old story. Yet if we stop and truly contemplate that first Christmas, we’ll find that we’re once again filled with awe and wonder.

  God became one of us. Joan Osborne had a hit song, “One of us.” It asked what if God was one of us.   

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make His way home.

That’s one of the wonders of Christmas, the Incarnation. God did become one of us. The Creator of the universe stepped into space and time and became one of us. The eternal Son of God didn’t merely add flesh to His deity, He is not just God in a body. God became flesh, human flesh. He became a creature. He didn’t give up anything, He added humanity. It’s why His disciples saw His glory. They saw grace and truth incarnate.

  What does God look like? Since God is invisible He can’t be seen. In Jesus, though the invisible God became visible.

  What does grace look like? What does truth look like? Because they’re abstract concepts, they’re unseeable. But in Jesus, grace and truth became visible, in His person, His words, and His works.

  At His birth, the shepherds and Magi desired to see Him. Throughout His life, the poor, the vile, the rejected, the disenfranchised, and the oppressed were attracted to Him. Sinners flocked to Him. And today, frightened, ashamed, hurting and guilty people still long to see Him. God’s Son is our hope. He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

  Christmas is the commemoration of the moment when Jesus, the eternal Son of God, was born into this world to be our Savior. He didn’t come for a visit. He made His dwelling on this earth. This world is now His home. After the cross, when the work of redemption was complete, according to the Apostle John, “I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God’” (Revelation 21:3). That’s wonder!

  That first Christmas was filled with wonder. Zacharias wondered how he and his elderly wife could give birth to the forerunner of the Messiah (Luke 1:18). Mary wondered how it would be possible for a virgin to give birth to a baby (Luke 1:34). Joseph wondered why he and Mary were chosen to be the parents of the Messiah (Matthew 1:18–25). The shepherds wondered about the angels that appeared to them and what their message meant (Luke 2:13–15). Those in Bethlehem wondered about the story that the shepherds were spreading through the village (Luke 2:17–18). Mary wondered about everything that was happening at the birth of her son (Luke 2:19). Simeon wondered at the blessing of being able, before he died, to see the child-Messiah (Luke 2:25-32). Mary and Joseph “marveled” at the words prophesied by Simeon about their baby (Luke 2:33–35). Those in the temple wondered about the words of Anna, who spoke of the redemption to come through this child (Luke 2:36–38). The Magi wondered about the newborn King for whom they brought gifts (Matthew 2:1–12). Joseph wondered about his dream warning him to take his young family and flee to Egypt (Matthew 2:13–15).

  Those are the moments of wonder recorded in Scripture. Think of how many more moments of wonder there must have been among those who were witnesses to the first Christmas. It was overwhelming wonder!

  Wonder was the message of one of the great hymns of the 20^th century called “The Wonder of It All.” 

There’s the wonder of sunset at evening,

the wonder as sunrise I see;

But the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul

is the wonder that God loves me.

  That’s the greatest wonder of Christmas – God loves us! It’s why He gave the first Christmas gift. Have you accepted God’s gift? “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” A wonderful God, His wonderful love, and a wonderful gift! Wonder!

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