Christmas is a Strangely Wonderful Holiday
By: Tracy Gerhardt-Cooper
Tags: Jesus, Christianity, Bible, Christmas, Spirituality

Christmas is strangely wonderful. It makes no earthly sense, yet we see the miraculous in God’s unlikely way of doing things. Only God could take such unusual circumstances and make something so beautiful.

The story leading up to and including Jesus’ birth can be found in Luke 1 and Luke 2. It’s an amazing story, albeit a strange one. The improbability of it is what draws me in. The people involved thought it was strange and confusing also.

However, the Christmas story really begins with 400 years of silence. When you turn from Malachi 4 to Matthew 1, there are 400 years of silence between those two pages. The Jewish people heard nothing from God for all that time. For those who remained faithful, they must have wondered if He had forgotten His promise of a Messiah King.

You can read more about this long period of silence and what happened during those 400 years HERE.

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God of the impossible

After so many years of silence, God had to do something to get the attention of His people. Some were still believing and praying, but some had stopped listening. He needed to be sure they’d incline their ears to the message.

In Luke 1, we read about Zechariah and Elizabeth’s miracle baby — John. He would later be known as John the Baptist, the one who forged the path for the ministry of Jesus by telling the masses that the Messiah was coming.

How unlikely it is that God would choose an old, childless couple to be parents of the herald of Jesus. I believe that God chooses to do unlikely things like this to emphasize that He alone is responsible.

A God who performs the impossible grabs people’s attention.

The angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah while he was in the temple performing his priestly duties. He announced that Zechariah and his wife would receive an answer to their prayers for a child. Not only would the priest have a child in his old age, but the child would be special.

“He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous — to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:16–17, NIV)

Surely the dream of fatherhood had faded for the old priest. Perhaps he thought Gabriel had the wrong man. The parent of an important messenger? Zechariah couldn’t grasp it. His response confirms it.

“Zechariah asked the angel, ‘How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.’ The angel said to him, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.’” (Luke 1:18–20, NIV)

So there Zechariah was, mute and old as can be with a pregnant wife. The circumstances of John’s birth seem an odd and unlikely prelude to the Messiah’s arrival.

Yet it was so. John was born, Zechariah regained his speech, and people were astonished.

An unlikely evangelist

Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son grew to be a man of God. John, whose name means “Jehovah has been gracious”, wandered around the wilderness, wearing camelhair clothing and eating grasshoppers.

In today’s world, such a person would be labeled crazy. Instead, people flocked to him. Despite his wild appearance and behaviour, he was an effective messenger.

“The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.” (Mark 1:5, NIV)

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Unconventional methods

God often chooses unlikely people and places for His glory to shine. He does not operate according to the world’s expectations. Jesus’ birth is an even better example of this.

Gabriel was again the bearer of strange news when he visited Mary, a teenage virgin. This poor girl must have been frightened. To be pregnant outside of marriage in her day was an offense that called for execution. She, like Zechariah, wondered how such strange news could be true. Gabriel’s assurance was overwhelming and mysterious.

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. (Luke 1:34–38, NIV)

I’m not sure I could have refrained from asking a million more questions. Gabriel’s visit would have conjured up plenty in my mind. Her faith and obedience to God’s will are part of this strangely wonderful story also.

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Humility is power

People were looking for a powerful king. Instead, God delivered a helpless baby. Born in the cold and nestled in a manger instead of a crib, he entered the world humbly.

Lowly and unimportant shepherds were the first to know. No dignitaries, no pomp, no parades, no epic battle to overthrow the sitting king.

A dazzling angelic chorus was the announcement of the first Christmas. Way out in the darkness, the heavenly host glorified God in a spectacle not seen since. Why put on such a show for a marginalized group like the shepherds? Why tell them first?

I believe this was the first of many ways God would impress upon the world that Jesus is for all people. In many of Jesus’ dealings, He spent time with and ministered to those the religious folks of the day considered low or untouchable.

In God’s strange economy, He wants us to know that He is accessible to all. He loves each and every person and does not value people differently based on their status.

I love the Christmas story in all its strangeness. It inspires me to trust God when things seem entirely impossible. A pregnant virgin? An infant king? It’s all so improbable, but this is Christmas. I’m grateful to serve a God who uses unlikely people to work out His plans. Lord, may I be one of them.