Wrapped in Such an Ordinary Package – A Christmas Story

Wrapped in Such an Ordinary Package

A Christmas Story By BJ Funk

Because God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit always have had complete reign above the earth in a land called heaven, then it is reasonable to assume that the kingdom of heaven was and is where the Trinity lived and reigned. Wherever the Triune God was, then that’s where the Kingdom of heaven was and is. That lasted all throughout time from Genesis through Malachi, and then through four hundred years of silence before the New Testament.

In that land called heaven, the Son, Jesus, stood up one day, gave the Father and the Spirit a temporary hug and good-bye kiss, opened His hand to receive the tiny seed His Father placed in it, and made a bold, gigantic decision, all in obedience to the Father. The Son stepped off of the glittering soft streets, outside of the abundance of rainbow colors that dripped wonderful smells of beauty, became small inside the womb of a young woman, and moved into the sin, dirt and humanity of earth. Upon first opening his eyes, he saw darkness. He took his first breath and smelled stench. He opened his ears and heard animals oinking and braying and screeching. This was His temporary new home. He already knew the length would be thirty three years.

And, so on an ordinary night in an ordinary town in an ordinary and rough cave used for a stable, surrounded by ordinary animals, and two very ordinary parents, God became man and this world of ours would never be the same again.

Before the shepherds were given this celestial message by the angels, those very ordinary shepherds stood on a very ordinary hillside, dressed in quite ordinary clothes and would now be sent to find a baby that was anything but ordinary. These shepherds reeked with strong, offensive odors, carrying always on their person the smells of their job. Smells of sheep. But on that night, they were the ordinary wrapped in royalty. Later, when Jesus began His public ministry, He selected as His disciples several who carried on their person the smells of their job. Fishermen, whose clothes reeked with the smells of raw fish. But, when Jesus chose them, they were the ordinary wrapped in royalty. It’s a trademark of God, accepting those others feel are unacceptable. He does the same for us. Aren’t we glad you and I don’t have to clean up before He invites us into kingdom?

God seldom does what we expect Him to do. And so it was to ordinary shepherds that God assigned the job of locating this extraordinary baby boy who was God Incarnate.

Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical situations. On this very ordinary day in this ordinary world, God has a message for ordinary people like you and like me. His message is “I love you. No matter what your sins or transgressions in 2016 or before that, I love you and I forgive you. I reach out especially to the poor, the hurting, the lonely, the unsuccessful, and I say, “Come unto me all ye who are burdened and heavy laden. I have come to bring you peace.”

Today, because of God’s extraordinary reach to ordinary people, you and I are caught up in the wonder of seeing royalty wrapped in ordinary humanity, lying in a manger and saying to you tonight, “I came for the ordinary. I died for the ordinary. Never let anyone make you feel that you are not worthy of my love.”

Thanks be to God. Because of Jesus, ordinary people like us will forever be wrapped in royalty. AMEN