A Disappointing Christmas

What were you hoping for this Christmas? Whatever it was, I doubt it was this. This has been a year of disappointments. So many hopes, big and small, have been dashed. So many plans have been thwarted. So many people are suffering. So many people have died. Our todays and tomorrows have been rearranged without our consent. Nothing in our world is what we expected, and we sense too keenly that our lives are not entirely in our own hands. Now Christmas is here, threatening for many of us at least as much disappointment as joy.

The book of Matthew begins with a genealogy, a disappointing beginning, perhaps, to the modern reader, but not to his original audience. Genealogies, for the Jews, were the tributaries through which the promises of God flowed. From Adam to Abraham and through Judah they coursed. From Judah would come King David, and through the line of David would come the Messiah, the ultimate fulfillment of all of God’s promises:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness’” (Jer. 33:14-16).

By the time “those days” arrived the Jews had been living under foreign rule without a king of their own for nearly 500 years. The lineage of David was reduced to a trickle. Then Jesus came. According to Matthew’s genealogy he had the credentials of the long-awaited Messiah. He was, indeed, the Son of David. God had kept his promise.

But Jesus was not the kind of king the Jews were hoping for. The Messiah they wanted would free them from the rule of the Romans; but this Jesus came to “save his people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21). When they wanted power, Christ came in weakness. God presented them the greatest of all gifts, and they were disappointed.

Are you feeling especially disappointed this Christmas? Then this is the perfect time to reevaluate your expectations. Consider the manger; consider the cross; and take a look at yourself. Is your sin your greatest grief? Is separation from God your greatest dread? Is peace with God your greatest hope? Is his love the greatest longing of your heart? If so, then Christ is the greatest gift you will ever receive, and in your moments of weakness you will be able to say, along with the apostle Paul, without a hint of disappointment:

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor. 12:9).

There is no better time than this Christmas to rejoice.