The reality of Christmas is just plain crazy. Over the top crazy. Beyond any possible connection with reality crazy. Some people think about this for a moment then dismiss it out of hand. One can certainly understand why. Other people go about accepting it as in “Sure. What’s the problem?” But, when you pause and really reflect, I think there are only two possible conclusions. One, it’s just plain dumb. Kind of on the scale of the moon is made out of green cheese. Not worth any time and energy to speak of. Or, two, it’s so mind blowing that it turns everything upside down. Nothing is as it seems. I’m certainly not in Kansas anymore. Permanently.

When I think about this thing that some believe actually happened, I’m close to speechless. I get images as my mind tries to process and cope. Before I KNEW what I now know (when God speaks so clearly and it can only be God as I’m not schizophrenic or tilting after windmills, only one conclusion remains) I sort of thought there may be some plausibility but the magnitude didn’t register as it now does. And it now does. My only response is to shake my head in wonder and that’s just the beginning.

I was reading an article yesterday and the author mentioned a quote by David Ben-Gurion, the primary founder of the modern state of Israel and its first prime minister, their George Washington. He said, “In Israel, in order to be a realist, you have to believe in miracles.” Perfect.

So, let’s get this straight. The God. Yes, that God. The One who is both alpha and omega, omniscient and omnipresent, creator of everything, completely outside of time and space … that one. Decides (wrap your head around that) to become a human being. Just once.

We’ll pause here for a sec and come back shortly. Now, many people (most commonly those who believe in polytheism, as the Hindus do … unlike those who believe in monotheism as do Jews, Muslims and Christians) accept incarnations as somewhat routine. They call these people “avatars,” or human manifestations of the divine who have come to teach us. There was a period in my life when I was attracted to this. At that time, I couldn’t escape the belief that there was some sort of supernatural force and even though I was pretty much a classic realist or pragmatist, this idea bore some merit (which I won’t go into right now). And, there wasn’t a great leap to think that this force could coalesce or manifest in some sort of holy person to act as guide. This especially made sense in the context of reincarnation, another place I won’t go right now. My point is this: the human concept that there is a super-natural or outside-of-nature force that intersects with we sentient humanoids is not an aberration. It’s been around a long time. It is either grounded somewhat in reality or it’s just plain ditzy.

Well, something happened about 2000 years ago that upended everything. This thirty-ish itinerant preacher and rabbi (Jewish scholar/teacher) from the most backwater place in a most backwater region, says he is HE. And, not only is he HE, but he came to take away the sins of the world and fulfill God’s promise to redeem all of mankind.

I could list a significant number of claims made by this man about who he really was and why he came. Maybe some time I will but that’s not the primary point of today’s piece.

Back to wrapping my head around that Decision. The one where God chooses to become a zygote which is a diploid cell that results when two haploid cells (single sets of unpaired chromosomes) fuse together to create human life. Except there was only one haploid, Mary’s. This reality, to be believed, is the miracle that begins to set Jesus apart from all other claims of human/divine coalescence. There is no other claim like this in human history. a virgin conception and birth.

Now, seven hundred years before this, the prophet Isaiah said

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel (God with us). Isaiah 7:14

The skeptic will argue that Jesus’ claims and the claims of his followers (who were well aware of Isaiah’s prediction) were merely wish fulfillment and a buy-in to the fantasy. They have a valid argument but I’ll push back with the mountain of evidence that supports the alternative.

And, that mountain begins here.

No one could make this up. God was born helpless in the most impoverished of circumstances. This was no King riding in with Glory. He became the least among us. An abbreviated lifetime later, he again was the least among us. Scourged, tortured and mocked (similarly, prophesied hundreds of years before) he died horribly, penniless, abandoned by all but a few. This was Emmanuel? Doesn’t even rise up to the level of ridiculous.

Unless.

Unless it makes perfect sense. Perfect sense. “And many who are first shall be last and the last shall be first.” Matthew 19:30, quoting Jesus.

In this reality, the strong surrender and the weak are made strong. In this reality, those who judge are judged and those without standing to judge are set free. In this reality those who wear the trappings of royalty are stripped of their adornments in the honest harsh light of day while those who are in rags are pulled from the darkness and covered with the robe of royalty. In this reality, the steel grip of sin loses its power and  the captives are released. In this reality, the power, instead, is in something called Grace … a gift, undeserved, but freely given. The entire concept of power and authority is turned on its head. It is never about us and what we want or feel that we deserve. It is always about love, manifested as grace, making beautiful things out of the dust.

Beautiful things out of the dust. Out of the dust of that most lowly place we now lovingly call a manger and back into the dust on that horrible hillside at Calvary, goes the one true God. And, in between he showed us what it is like to be fully human and to live according to our true purpose.

Many people who have heard the word “gospel” immediately go to the first four books of the New Testament, which we collectively refer to as the Gospels. In fact, the word is really rather simple. It means “Good News.” The essence of Christianity rests in the knowledge that the main work has already been accomplished. This is the good news. When God broke through on that night of nights, that work began in earnest, finishing when the grave was found to be empty and that itinerant preacher and rabbi walked wholly among his followers. In the middle, we are given a first row seat into the nature of the true reality. Soup to nuts, as they might say. Miracles are only the window dressing … little pieces of evidence, not to be confused with the main attraction. They serve as direction signs, helping us to refocus away from habituated assumptions born out of culture and circumstance and towards the one thing that matters above all else.

Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection turned the world upside down and made it right. This is the most important thing there is. Outside of what this means, the “reality” of this world and this life pales in comparison.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all of the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:8-14.

It is easy to dismiss this as myth, as fantasy, as the kind of things that superstitious pre-scientific peoples concoct. But, what if it really is true? What if the reality of this thing that by definition has more power than all of the supernovas in the history of our universe is the real deal? What if all of the teachings, miracles and parables that are nearly endless in their wisdom actually upend us so what is dismissed as having minimal practical consequence is actually the prime thing? The last shall be first and the first last.

Begun as a decision, initiated as a zygote, bursting forth with the cry of an infant and blossoming with eternal beauty into Emmanuel. Now, that’s something to celebrate. Merry Christmas.

Lord, all we’re left with is a kind of thank you. Received grace is a wonder. We can’t help but sing praises in adoration. You turned everything upside down and now we can breathe fully. Just as your actions were not easy, neither do we expect our lives to be smooth and absent of suffering. However, we can always remind ourselves that there really is a heavenly host to join with us and that you so love us you became one of us. Hallelujah! Amen.