From the Pulpit: ‘The mess is the place where God was born’

This season often comes with pictures of matching pajamas, perfectly wrapped gifts, and gorgeous decorations. As we near Christmas day, maybe you are thinking ahead to family gatherings and the characters that appear. These seasons are filled with higher expectations, loaded emotions and more family dynamics than anyone cares to face. We all want to have beautiful, uncomplicated stories and memories so that when friends ask how our holiday was we don’t feel like we have to lie. 

But the truth is, we all have messiness, don’t we? Inevitably there’s crisis, death, disagreements, and more. It’s just part of being human. 

Christianity is not without its messiness either. It’s always been important to the Christian faith story that the lineage of Jesus the Messiah can be traced back through the prophets, kings, and heroes of the faith. These characters in Jesus’ story are incredibly important to the story of his birth and ministry. That’s why the writer of the Gospel of Matthew starts the book by recounting the lineage for 17 verses.

We often skip these verses because we don’t know most of those names but when we look most closely at who is in Jesus’ lineage, we discover something interesting. There in the list of prophets and kings is one who sold his brother into slavery and faked his murder; a king who married 700 women for political gain; one who built idols and convinced others to bow to the idols; and a king who had a political enemy killed so his affair with the enemy’s wife wouldn’t be exposed. 

“How interesting that God, who could have seemingly chosen any genealogy for Jesus, chose a long line of brokenness, imperfection, dishonor, and scandal” (Debie Thomas).

The beauty of Jesus’ birth is that no matter how messy the lineage, no matter how dirty the stable, no matter how politically charged the situation, God found a way to enter in. 

We all have stories of hard stuff and complication in our lives. And it takes courage to show up in it.  

But we are not alone in this mess. 

For the mess is the place where God is born.