A Very Matthew ChristmasSample

Dear believer,

As you prepare your hearts for Christmas, I want you to travel back with me to a time when the story of the Christ child had yet to be told.

The history of my people, since Adam, was a history of waiting for the Messiah. Over time, God gave us pieces of the puzzle, from the promise of redemption given to Adam and Eve in the Garden, and throughout history through the prophets, up until John the Baptist prepared the way in my day as a disciple.

Over time, the puzzle pieces began to fall into place as the oral traditions were shared: stories, prophecies, words given to Israel, words scribes wrote down.

The promise of the Messiah became clearer through Israel’s history, as the nation lived and sinned, repented and sinned some more.

Our whole history was one of waiting.

Understandably, not many realized the fullness of time had come, even when Jesus stared us right in the eyes. When the promise took on flesh and breath and life in the person of Jesus, please have sympathy for the unimpressed.

Thousands of years of waiting, then suddenly the Messiah was a moving, kicking fetus in a teenage girl’s womb? A girl not yet married, by the way!

Thousands of years of waiting, and all of a sudden God was running down the street with the other neighborhood boys? I don’t think so.

A history of longing and needing a Savior and now he is buying spices in the market for his mother?

A lifetime of praying for God’s deliverance, and then God is walking throughout Judea with fishermen, a few zealots, and a tax collector? It was ridiculous. It seemed impossible!

It definitely wasn’t what any of us expected.

Imagine my shock when I first heard the story of the Messiah. The one who showed this great power from heaven was a mere man. The one who was supposed to finally establish God’s kingdom was an illegitimate child, adopted by a carpenter from Nazareth.

And so, as I write to you, as you try to make sense of Christmas all these years after those strange and astonishing events – events which I first wrote about all those years ago–I want to remind you that our Gospel, this good news, is a “Gospel of Surprise.”

If you feel a bit baffled that the plan of God to save humanity was delivered in the form of a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, then you’re in good company.

And you’re not the first to be dazzled by the Gospel of Surprise.

May the surprise of his coming, how it happened, and what it means for you, me, and for all humanity, stir in your heart a fresh sensation of worship and wonder this Christmas.

The peace of God be with you,

Your brother in Christ, Matthew

Light the candle of Advent

As we prepare our hearts for Christmas by lighting the candle today, may God create room in our hearts and homes for the surprise of His purposes and plan.