Susan Narjala

Keeping it Real

Christmas: The Divine Disruption Part 1

This Christmas, we’re doing a three-part series called “Christmas: The Divine Disruption.”

What is Christmas really about? Yes, we celebrate the birth of the new-born King. But what is the true significance of Christmas?

Today we unpack Part 1 of the series with the idea:

Christmas is God intervening in our story of rebellion

As part of our Christmas tradition every year, we host a decorating party and invite extended family to trim the tree with us. There’s mulled “wine” (aka apple-cranberry juice with brown sugar, spices, and orange segments), Christmasy appetizers that involve slabs of cheese, and plenty of chaos as boxes are opened and decorations unwrapped. A few years ago, I added a dapper ceramic sheep to my Christmas collection. I had picked up “Hastings” from a Christmas market in Europe and carefully bundled him in paper and ziplock bags as he made his way to his new home in India.

 

But there’s something that happens to ceramic things, especially during chaotic tree decorating parties. They kinda break. Hastings who came all the way from Strasbourg, France, injured himself on our end table. Thankfully, my husband was able to glue him back together. So as of now, Hastings won’t need your thoughts and prayers.

But that ceramic sheep dressed in a dapper red-and-white sweater reminded me of us. The human race. The Bible often refers to us as sheep.

In Isaiah 53:6-7, the prophet writes:

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way

Like sheep, we can be near-sighted and helpless. Left to our own devices, we would continue to go astray.

You may have seen this short video on YouTube of a sheep who finds himself stuck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-Wc8vluyp0

On our own, we would have likely continued to fall into ditches.

But the prophet Isaiah goes on to say: We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Christmas is God intervening in our story of rebellion by sending the Good Shepherd into our lives.

Like Hastings, we are broken. We hide the cracks fairly well. We cover up pretty expertly with our version of colorful woolen sweaters. But no amount of dress-up can heal the brokenness inside.

But then, God in His infinite grace writes Himself into our story of rebellion.

Christmas is the scandal of the perfect, holy, all-powerful God entering into our brokenness.

Why? Because God so loved the world. John 3:16—That popular verse that we know so well is the reason for Christmas.

God doesn’t need us. But He loves us so much that He sent His only Son to rescue us. God intervenes in our story of rebellion.

Jesus who is in very nature God became man. But that Christmas morning, He came as a helpless baby so He could identify with our humanity. That how tenderly God approaches to us.

I remember participating in the Nativity Play at our Sunday School when I was in the 5th grade. I’d somehow snagged the lead role of Mary and was pretty pleased with myself. But my co-actor, a 6th grader who played Joseph, was somewhat annoyed with me. Turns out, he had decided that I didn’t look the part because I wore glasses. In an act of defiance, I bravely told the young man that I could wear my glasses and still play Mary, thankyaverymuch.

Friend, maybe we need new glasses when we look at the Nativity this Christmas. We need to see the story with a fresh set of eyes. As we look at the manger, may we understand that that helpless baby is the Messiah who came as the Divine Disruption. He intervened in our story to shake us out of our deadness, out of the stupor of sin.

The Nativity is not merely nostalgia from our Sunday School days. It is the hinge of History. It divides centuries into AD and BC. But more than that, it should disrupt our lives. It should unsettle us. It should churn up the landscape of our hearts.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. Jesus tabernacled with us.

What is your response to that first Christmas? To that divine interruption?

That night, the shepherds left everything behind to run to the stable and bow down at the cradle. The wise men followed a star and traveled for months so they could worship the newborn King.

Is our response that of worship and awe? Can we leave behind the comfortable nostalgia of the Nativity and say, “Lord, I long to bow before You and surrender every area of my life to You. Continue to churn up the landscape of my heart. Continue to disrupt my life with Your Presence. Amen.”

 

 


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MEET SUSAN

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