Christmas Expectations . . . Dashed Again.

It’s beginning to look a lot like . . . COVID. Again. Another COVID Christmas. This is not what we were expecting. And the strategy to deal with the situation seems to keep changing. It’s hard to keep up, it’s exhausting, and it would be so nice if things could just go back to the way they were. 

Two millennia ago things were not as expected. Yes, Mary was expecting, and the Messiah had been expected for a long time, but the expectations of the people and the Romans, were no where near being met. The Jews, as an outlying part of the Roman Empire, “out in the sticks”, felt the pressure of Rome continuously, the central authority. Life was not pleasant. Taxes were high, government intrusion was robust, and it was difficult to eek out an existence in this far corner of the then modern world.  

But God had made a promise to his people, and things were starting to happen—unusual things. God was fulfilling the expectations he had set through prophets of long ago.Babies were born to an old woman and to a virgin who had never slept with a man. Angels from God announced a “sign” to shepherds. One of those babies was born in an animal shelter, and laid in a feeding trough: confirming that unusual sign. More great expectations were being built.

When Jesus was presented by his parents at the templeafter he was born, a devout man named Simeon recognized him as special. Unique. Here was the consolation of God to his people, and also a light to Gentiles. Jesus was someone that Simeon had expected. This aging wise man was waiting for this child. The angels had already confirmed Jesus as a Saviour, the anointed one, the Lord. 

The passing of 2,000 years has not changed the message of Christ’s birth. In uncertain times, when government may be making demands on each person more than they can bear, when the general feeling is one of overwhelm, there is One who brings hope. When our expectations have been dashed by others there is One whose word is faithful and true. God sent Jesus, not just as a babe to Mary and Joseph, but as the angels declared, a Saviour to the world. His branding hasn’t changed and his message remains the same.