Was it reasonable to appoint a teenage girl, never yet known by any man, to wear such unbefitting evidence of unspeakable sin? To explain her protruding belly and her identity as that long-awaited virgin to familiar people who would still struggle to believe her—including the one to whom she is betrothed? To be misunderstood altogether? To live to see the Anointed One she once carried also be largely misunderstood, having to explain His identity to unbelieving scoffers, and His wearing unbefitting evidence of unspeakable sin, especially that which would wrap around His head and pierce His brow?
Was it reasonable for an angel of the Lord to ignore the religious elite, whose job it was to teach Israel holy living, and instead choose shepherds, the most ordinary of everyday people, to be the first ones entrusted with the unprecedented news of the birth of Jesus Christ? To stand before them, the common ones, as a sent one from God? To commission them with “good tidings of great joy which [would] be to all people,” a message far too great for them, the not-so-influential, to contain among themselves alone, and that could change the world forever?
Was it reasonable to include wise men from the East, likely gentile astronomers from Persia and Babylon, in this unfolding story of the arrival of the very Jewish Messiah? To open the door further to the “all people” aspect of the “good tidings of great joy” message already revealed to the shepherds? To hint that Israel, “the apple of God’s eye,” would somehow have to imagine itself as just one tree in the orchard?
No, none of this seems reasonable, fair, logical, or even in the same room as common sense, and neither does God’s plan for our redemption. That God would plan the only way to salvation to be the sacrificial death of the just for the unjust, while the unjust ones continue in sin, is unfathomable. We serve the One whose ways are higher than our ways, whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and who refuses to fit into our limited understanding.
This season, as we contemplate the pillars of Advent: hope, love, joy, and peace, let’s remember the well-orchestrated plan that put them in place, and the One Who was and is at the helm. Who else would cause us to picture a baby in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, and think: “Everlasting Father, Wonderful Counselor,” or “Mighty God.” Is that reasonable?
