Day 1:
I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God (Isaiah 61:10)
"Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And He chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God" (1 Corinthians 1:26-29, NLT)
I was in serious trouble. “Uncharacteristic-for-me” type of trouble. “Call-in-the-parents” type of trouble. “Suspension-from-school” type of trouble. The details are probably best left in the past, but that day I learned some hard lessons about guile and simplicity; deceit and integrity; trust and betrayal. But that wasn’t all I learned. I also learned that day about loyalty, and advocacy, and courage, and wisdom.
It was to my aunt I was sent home in disgrace, a river of tears marking my 15-minute trail from school. “Don’t come back without a parent,” I had been warned. But my mother was away for three months, and my father was “on the road” with his sales job, so my aunt would have to unpack and sort through the whole mess.
She wasted no time in getting to the murky bottom. And wasted no time jumping into action as soon as she did. It was amazing, really, her immediate grasp of all the less-than-straightforward pieces. I marveled at her ability to cut through the tangle of claims and counterclaims, and understand all the levels of culpability, including mine.
My aunt had almost no formal education, but she had a shrewdness and a “people-wisdom” that had been hard-earned in the “school of hard knocks” where she had been a lifelong student. Living with us my entire young life, she had always been a solid part of my existence, adding reinforcement, and stability, and comfort to all the background spaces.
I relied on her for many of the largely unnoticed things in everyday life—it was she who washed and braided our hair, fixed our lunch, took care of our clothes, while my parents worked outside the home. But my parents had always been the primary source of authority and decision making in my life.
That day, though, my aunt stepped out of the shadows into fearless advocacy and no-nonsense negotiation, challenging the school administration to fairness, and common sense, and “equal justice.” She did not defend my wrongs, but she made sure the guilt of others did not fall on me. In the end, my initial “sentence” was reduced, and I returned to school in a day and a half.
My aunt’s giant step from the background and into action reminds me of the many characters in Scripture who stepped out of the shadows into God’s sovereign design for humanity. David was taken “from the sheep pens,” first to defeat the giant, Goliath, and then to “shepherd [God’s] people…Israel” (Psalm 78:70-71).
Abraham was called from obscurity to form a nation (Genesis 12:1-3), Moses from “the far side of the wilderness” to rescue that nation from oppression (Exodus 3:1-10). Numerous others included Gideon, Rahab, Ruth, Esther, and much later, certain Galilean fishermen…
So it is no surprise that the Christmas story is full of characters who were thrust from obscurity into service and responsibility. Mary, a young virgin of “humble state” (Luke 1:48) and Joseph a carpenter of limited means—private, and law-abiding, suddenly became central human figures in God’s story of amazing grace.
And then there were the humble shepherds, living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night… (Luke 2:8). And Zechariah and Elizabeth, a childless couple “in the hill country of Judea” (Luke 1:39). And Simeon, and Anna, faithfully serving in the temple, believing, “without wavering” (Hebrews 10:23, NKJV), the promises of God (Luke 2:25-38).
What cause for rejoicing for all humanity as the story of God’s love and kindness unfolded and continues to unfold with its emphasis on grace for all! Unlike the world, that praises prosperity (Psalm 49:18) elevates “authority”, and esteems celebrity, God invites all, showing no partiality (Deuteronomy 10:17).
He chose to send His Son, in the humblest of circumstances, among the humblest of people, with the ultimate plan of “purchasing for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation" (Revelation 5:9). Joy to the World!
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