Christmas and Scandal
Mary and Joseph seem to have a simple Christmas that we would all long for: just the two of them welcoming a newborn babe, in a rustic setting. No chaos of family or stress of hosting. But why is it like this? At the heart of their simple Christmas is scandal: Mary is a virgin, pledged to Joseph - yet expecting a baby any day. Even travelling to their home town, they cannot find a single place to stay! Is it possible they’ve been shunned by their family? Though beautiful, Jesus’ birth is shrouded in scandal. But through this scandal came a saviour, bringing great joy to all people. As Jesus is born into scandal and eventually goes to a scandalous death, we see that God does not recoil from our mess. In fact, he acts to bring us through it. Though we often suspect that we are not good enough for God or that we are a lost cause, Jesus laying in the manger and hanging on the cross assures us: the saviour has come to us and for us.
