Welcome to another Covid-contaminated Christmas!

Despite all of our fervent hopes––

or, perhaps, our wishful thinking––

sadly, the pandemic is still with us.

Indeed, in many respects, we’re worse off than we were this time last year.

The virus is now spreading rapidly through our community;

and it’s a far more infectious strain than the one that we were worried about last year.

And now…

with our borders seemingly locked open…

and lockdowns seemingly “so last year”…

there are many reports that people are scaling back their Christmas celebrations.

Wisely, perhaps, they are revising their plans:

reducing numbers and avoiding large gatherings…

eating outdoors…

wearing masks.

Of course, it’s not how we want to celebrate Christmas.

It’s not how we expect to celebrate Christmas.

And, I mean…

is there any other day of the year that is so wrapped in tradition and expectation?

Unless we sing our favourite carols at the Christmas Day service…

unless we have all of the family together…

unless we stuff ourselves on turkey, ham, plum pudding, and mince pies… 

then it’s not really Christmas.

But our Christmas expectations don’t just end there.

In a news article a few days ago––

describing why some people are finding it hard to “embrace” the Christmas season––

one woman responded:

“A lot of nieces, nephews and friends’ kids just expect so much and are never happy with what they have. I have had my nieces chuck stuff on the floor and look at me like they wanted to say, ‘You suck as an aunty’”.

And yet…

before we let out a sanctimonious “tut-tut”…

and make some derisive comments about “children these days”…

or the lack of proper parenting…

let’s just stop…

and think.

Many of us have probably done that too, this year––

figuratively speaking.

The hissy-fits and dummy-spits…

from people who don’t think that they should have to wear a face mask…

or get tested…

or stay at home…

or close their businesses…

in order to keep others safe…

has been truly disturbing.

And many of us…

with our newly-minted degrees in virology, immunology, and epidemiology…

from Google University and Newscorp College…

have been full of expectations––

and suggestions–– 

about what our various governments and health departments…

ought to be doing to deal with this pandemic.

And––

leaving aside the right-wing religious fruitcakes…

holding up their puerile protest placards proclaiming “Jesus is my vaccine”––

there have probably been more than a few… 

who have waxed lyrically about what God ought to be doing about all of this… 

as well.

 

And yet…

in many ways…

that’s been happening since time immemorial.

It was certainly happening in and around the year four bce––

around the time when most scholars estimate that Jesus was actually born.

Back then…

there was no shortage of people who thought that their world was a mess as well.

After all, they were living under the bondage and brutality of Roman rule…

and a psychotic puppet-king by the name of Herod.

They had endured about sixty years of occupation and oppression.

Their own political leaders were incompetent…

negligent…

or down-right criminal…

as they sought to placate and pander to Herod and the Romans.

And their religious leaders really weren’t much better––

they were supercilious and self-absorbed…

apathetic to the plight of ordinary folk…

whom they were meant to sustain and serve.

Meanwhile the people of Israel suffered through droughts and famines…

crippling taxes…

and a series of small-scale rebellions that were crushed ruthlessly––

setting in motion vicious cycles of protest, rebellion, and reprisal––

which only further fostered hopes and dreams of One who would come…

who would set them free and set everything right.

 

It’s against all of that sense of frustration––

and all of that expectation–– 

that the Christmas story is set.

And yet…

as an answer to those frustrations…

those hopes…

and those expectations…

the Christmas story is an abject failure.

As it stands…

Luke’s Christmas story deliberately subverts their collective expectations––

about what they thought that their world needed… 

and what God ought to do about it.

They expected God to be a deus ex machina––

miraculously intervening in the national narrative to sort it all out.

Instead…

what they got… 

was a baby born in poverty, obscurity, and infamy.

They expected a great military leader…

who would drive out the Romans…

purge them of their corrupt and incompetent leaders…

set them free and save them.

Instead…

what they got… 

was a so-called “Prince of Peace”;

one who would grow up with an unshakeable commitment to love… 

non-violence…

and non-retaliation.

They expected someone who would challenge and confront the powers-that-be…

and bring about lasting change.

Instead…

what they got…

was one who would confront and challenge all of their own assumptions and expectations…

and their unwillingness to be the change that they wanted to see.

Luke’s story of Jesus…

beginning with, and encapsulated in, his Christmas story… 

deliberately subverts our collective expectations…

about what we think our world needs… 

and what we think God ought to do about it.

Because…

let’s face it…

in this regard, we’re really not that different from them, are we?

 

We may not expect a great military leader––

far from it––

but we, too, crave a competent and inspiring leader…

someone who will sort out the mess of our society;

and we continue to venerate power and privilege––

and enable it––

as a means of achieving that.

Instead…

the Christmas story points us towards a baby born far from the corridors of power…

who would embrace love and peace––

not politics as usual.

All too often we worship a God who…

we expect…

will make our lives better:

offering us a sense of satisfaction…

security and safety…

and…

of course…

“salvation”––

however we choose to define it.

Instead…

the Christmas story confronts us with a poor, underprivileged family…

demanding our help…

and confronting us with the heartlessness of how we think about…

treat––

and acquiesce in the treatment of––

our own homeless, poor, and “inappropriately” progenitive.

All too often we expect a God who will bless our values…

our beliefs…

our structures…

and our practices.

Instead…

the Christmas story paints a picture of a God working outside those structures…

and working to undermine them.

So often…

we think of Jesus as the solution to the world’s problems.

Instead…

the Christmas story offers Jesus as a problem to the world’s solutions.

Subtly…

symbolically…

Luke’s Christmas story deliberately subverts the traditions…

and expectations…

that we unconsciously invest it with.

Luke’s Christmas story confronts us with the conundrum that…

whatever it is that we’re celebrating––

or think that we’re celebrating––

it often isn’t Christ.