NOT WHAT YOU EXPECTED
Have you ever gotten something for Christmas that was totally unexpected? It could’ve been a special gift or a visit from someone. On the flip side have you ever expected a certain gift or visit from someone and ended up being disappointed? I was looking at this online forum titled, “Did anyone get something for Christmas they didn’t expect.” The best one was someone got a ticket to Hawaii. Then on the other end of the spectrum someone received a toothbrush, toothpaste and some breath mints for Christmas-and I don’t think they weren’t expecting that. This person probably needed these items but he wasn’t too pleased to get them. There were some things that happened on that first Christmas that were quite unexpected.
1) The pregnancy was unexpected. Matt. 1:18-25.
First of all, in the pregnancy itself we see God doing something that would be unexpected. Yes, it was foretold in the book of Isaiah but this idea of God becoming a human-God lowering himself; emptying himself to become like one of us sounds so undignified; it goes against his deity. The Creator and sustainer of the universe was willing to become a little, helpless baby? The holy and omniscient one was willing to take on flesh and blood and become subject to human frailties? It sounds absurd that God would be willing to make such a drastic transformation and lower himself to that level. It seems unbelievable that God would humble himself to such a degree. It seems preposterous that God would make such an extreme sacrifice. From what I understand that’s one of the biggest things that trips muslims up-the idea that God would become human is unfathomable to them.
But, God does things that are unexpected. Not only is this true in that God was willing to become one of us, it’s also true in the way it was brought about. Mary becoming pregnant by the Holy Spirit would be hard to accept; it sounds immoral. Sure, if you look at it the wrong way. This pregnancy didn’t happen the conventional way. God didn’t have sex with Mary. That’s why it highlights that the virgin will be with child and will give birth.
But we see that this unconventional pregnancy caused some commotion. Joseph was no doubt a hot mess over the whole thing. He’s dealing with the fact that his fiancé is pregnant and it’s not his. His heart is being torn out because of the supposed betrayal and humiliation. His love for her prevails and he decides not to expose her to public disgrace; he chose not to reveal that she is a cheater and a fornicator-he wanted to spare her life since she would no doubt be stoned to death for it.
Then we think of Mary. She was no doubt shaken by the angel’s unexpected announcement Luke 1:26-38. Vs. 34-Mary asks an expected question. In the angel’s answer, God showed Mary that he was the God of the unexpected by causing her cousin Elizabeth, who was beyond childbearing years and considered barren for life, to become pregnant.
Sometimes when God is revealing something to us that might seem implausible he may show us another example of the unexpected coming to pass. This will help us to become convinced that what seems impossible is actually possible.
And so we see Mary accepting what the angel told her even though she didn’t understand it. Joseph accepted what the angel said and did what was asked of him-even though he didn’t understand all of what was going on. That’s how we need to be. We won’t always understand how the Lord works but because we are his servants we need to accept it, believe it and be obedient.
2) The birthplace was unexpected. Luke 2:1-7.
A smelly stable-is that the suitable place for the creator of the universe to be born? Is a manger (feeding trough) a suitable place to lay the precious son of God? Early tradition suggests the location of the birth of Jesus was actually a cave that was being used as a stable. If this is true then you not only have an environment where there’s smelly animals, feces and insects you also throw into the mix the dark, cold dampness of a cave. Far removed from the comforts of home. Far removed from a more sanitary environment. This is the surroundings of the newborn king. Surely not what would be expected.
Why would God allow this? I’m assuming Joseph and Mary were expecting to get into the Inn. I’m sure they weren’t expecting to have to go into a stable area and make due there. I can see them wondering why God would allow this. Was this a test? Was this an opportunity for Joseph and Mary to trust that everything would be okay despite this setback? I’m sure they were tempted to worry about the delivery and the sanitary conditions and the comfort and protection of the baby. Was this an ideal situation? No. Problematic? Possibly. A situation worth worrying and stressing about? No.
So it is for us. When we find ourselves in unexpected situations we have choices to make. We can do one of three ‘p’s: panic, pout or press on. We can flip out but we know that won’t make it any better. We can sit there and have a bitter disposition about it and we know that won’t solve anything. Or, we can make the best of it and work through the situation. That’s what Joseph and Mary did and that’s what we need to do too when something unexpected happens to us.
There’s another reason God may have had in allowing Jesus’ birth to happen this way. To show Jesus’ humble beginnings. Did he deserve to be born in a castle in the finest conditions with plenty of staff waiting on him and Mary? Absolutely. But his life was not to be about that. Jesus wasn’t rich; he didn’t have the best of everything. He probably didn’t have very many possessions. During his ministry he told someone that he didn’t have a place to lay his head. God allowed the unexpected to happen-the creator of the universe had humble beginnings followed by a humble life.
I believe God was trying to change people’s expectations. People no doubt expected the son of God to be born into a highly prestigious family and live at the finest house in the land and be treated like the royalty he was. But God didn’t do it like that; he didn’t want the focus to be on those things. He wanted the focus to be on humility; not pomp and circumstance.
What about us? Do we as Christians have expectations? Do we expect to be treated better just because we’re God’s children? God may allow us to be impoverished. He may allow us to suffer and be mistreated. Does this mean God is doing us wrong? No. There’s not something wrong with God; there’s something wrong with our expectations. Our expectation should not be that we get whatever we want from God because we are his children.
Instead, we should be like Jesus, who, even though he was royalty, came to serve, not be served. Jesus did the unexpected many times throughout his ministry. He hung around tax collectors and sinners. He talked with women in public and even allowed women to touch him (which was completely unexpected for a rabbi to do). He healed on the Sabbath, he taught others to love their enemies and bless those who persecuted them. He stumped religious leaders with unexpected answers when they tried to trip him up.
Jesus often did not do what others expected him to do but he always did what the Father expected him to do. That’s how we need to be. We’re called to do things that people would not expect us to do. It’s not expected that we would turn the other cheek. It’s not expected that we would tithe. It’s not expected that we would let Jesus run our lives. But if we are going to be followers of Jesus then we need to do the unexpected. And doing the unexpected gets attention. Some people will think we’re crazy but there will be others who will be intrigued and they will want what we have.
3) The Shepherds receiving the birth announcement was unexpected. Luke 2:8-18.
Here we go with God doing the unexpected again. The shepherds would’ve been the last group people would’ve expected to get this announcement. The front runners would’ve been the religious leaders. If anyone would receive the long-awaited announcement that the Savior was born it would’ve been the religious leaders. They were God’s workers; surely they would be first on the list to receive the most important news in the history of mankind. Yet it was not to be.
As the religious leaders would’ve been on the top of the list, the shepherds would’ve been guaranteed to wind up close to the bottom, perhaps just above tax collectors, thieves, prostitutes and beggars. They were a lonely bunch-spending most of their time out in the fields. They were dirty and unkempt and smelled of sheep. They no doubt received the repulsed stares and comments from the townsfolk whenever it was time to come in from the fields.
So, the shepherds would not have been part of high society to say the least. That’s probably a big reason why the townspeople were so amazed at what the shepherds were saying-it wasn’t just the news of Christ’s birth that amazed them, it was the fact that they were the ones sharing it.
God works through people you might least expect. You might not expect a young child or a baby Christian or a non-Christian to say something spiritually deep and profound but it happens. You don’t expect the janitor to have a high IQ-kind of like Good Will Hunting. You don’t expect the handicapped person to be a concert pianist-but it happens.
I remember watching a clip of a Special Olympics race where as they were coming around the final turn one of the runners fell down and hurt himself. The rest of the runners stopped, went over to the injured runner, helped him up and they all crossed the finish line together. That was totally unexpected. I don’t think you would see that in the regular Olympics. It leads me to wonder who the handicapped ones really are. God purposely works through people you’d least expect to show how wonderful he is.
4) God works in unexpected ways. Acts 3:1-10.
He was looking for money but what he received was something of much greater worth. I’m sure this man never expected to be able to walk. But God wanted to give this beggar an unexpected blessing.
It’s interesting that the beggar was placed at the entrance to the gate called Beautiful. This crippled beggar probably wasn’t beautiful by anyone’s standards. But God saw him that way. God chose to do something beautiful for him.
God’s love, forgiveness and mercy towards us are unexpected. God loving us when we didn’t love him is unexpected. God sending his son to take the penalty for our sin is unexpected. Not only forgiving us but allowing us to spend eternity with him is unexpected.
God is unpredictable; he does things that go against logic and reason. He does things that don’t make sense sometimes. But, as we saw in the aspects of the coming of Christ, God knows what he’s doing and he has a reason that is beyond our understanding.
So, before we question God’s mysterious way of doing things we need to remember that his ways are not our ways-they are much higher. It makes sense for God to do the unexpected for if his ways were always predictable he wouldn’t be God. It makes sense that things don’t make sense to us sometimes. We should expect the unexpected from God.
Not everything that happens unexpectedly in our lives is from the hand of God. God allows them but he isn’t always the author of them. Sometimes getting the unexpected is exciting but sometimes it’s scary. But no matter what happens, God wants to use the unexpected to draw us closer to him; thanking him when the unexpected is thrilling and leaning on him when the unexpected is chilling.
