Christmas is a time of surprises.
We get to open presents that, sometimes, are just what we wanted, and while there may be some predictable presents, it’s always good to get a surprise.
As a child I used to spend a lot of time wrapping presents in such a way that no matter how much you looked at it under the Christmas tree, or felt it or shook it, you still couldn’t guess what it was.
Christmas is a time when families get together and sometimes that produces surprises. Look how much the baby has grown … when did the children turn into teenagers? … Isn’t Aunty May looking old?
There are a whole lot of surprises in the Christmas story as it’s told in the Bible.
It was a massive surprise to a young teenage girl, by the name of Mary when an angel popped into her little village of Nazareth and told her that she would have a child who would be the saviour of the world.
It was one mighty surprise for a group of shepherds in the paddocks outside Bethlehem, when a whole band of angels appeared and told them about the birth of a baby.
The wise men, or astrologers, who travelled from Iran, or even as far as China, would have been very surprised that their search for a king led them to a baby in a manger.
And, to be honest, it’s a huge surprise to me that almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth, should consider little old me worthy of his love, such that he would send his son to earth so that I could be made right with him.
That’s the message of Christmas, and that’s a surprise that doesn’t need to be disguised by fancy wrapping.
INSPIRE NEWSCAST 