This Crazy Plan
Luke 1:29-35 But Mary was very confused about what the angel said. She wondered, “What does this mean?” The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, because God is very pleased with you. Listen! You will become pregnant and have a baby boy. You will name him Jesus. He will be great. People will call him the Son of the Most High God, and the Lord God will make him king like his ancestor David. He will rule over the people of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” Mary said to the angel, “How will this happen? I am still a virgin.” The angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come to you, and the power of the Most High God will cover you. The baby will be holy and will be called the Son of God.
As crazy confusing plans go, this thing we call “Christmas” is right up there. We celebrate it with trees, tinsel and turkeys which in itself is pretty weird. But perhaps we do that because honestly, the whole Christmas thing is hard to make sense of.
My hunch is, that’s why Christmas has drifted into such an incongruously secular celebration because to the average punter, it doesn’t make sense. But that shouldn’t surprise us. It didn’t make sense to Mary either:
Luke 1:29-35 But Mary was very confused about what the angel said. She wondered, “What does this mean?” The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, because God is very pleased with you. Listen! You will become pregnant and have a baby boy. You will name him Jesus. He will be great. People will call him the Son of the Most High God, and the Lord God will make him king like his ancestor David. He will rule over the people of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” Mary said to the angel, “How will this happen? I am still a virgin.” The angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come to you, and the power of the Most High God will cover you. The baby will be holy and will be called the Son of God.
Confusing indeed – but God’s thoughts aren’t our thoughts, His ways aren’t our ways. He does things in unexpected ways, but that’s no reason to retreat into a comfortable, Christ-less Christmas.
The Good News is that Jesus came for you. He came in such an unexpected way to do an unexpected thing: To save you from your sin. To give you the gift of eternal life. Believe in Him.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.