Wood and Stone: How Christmas Expectations Never Live Up to The Hype
Almost every church in America has some type of manger scene on display, depicting baby Jesus nestled in his wooden feeding trough between Mary and Joseph, who look down adoringly at the child. The family of three are huddled under a wooden construction called a stable.
Having grown up seeing these displays at Christmas-time, it feels right, and based on our culture and our typical methods of construction for such things, it is. In this region of the world, we have readily available wood supplies from which to build many of our homes, stables, and barns.
But, as a friend recently shared from her study, in the region where Jesus was born wood was a scarce commodity. She shared that in all likelihood the nativity scene was of a carved stone façade and a stone feeding trough for little Jesus’ head.
Context is Everything
Cultural context is important when reading the Bible. Worlds different interpretations are drawn all the time by people who dig deep to understand the cultural context of God’s word and those who measure the words only by the standards of the day. Context tempers our expectations.
The people of Jesus’ day expected a military and political messiah, who would lead the Israelite people into victory over their Roman oppressors. What they got instead was a very real, very vulnerable baby who would one day lead people in a world-changing movement.
We also have expectations for Christmas just like the Israelites had for their long-awaited Messiah all those years ago. The magic of Christmas past, of that time you spent with family growing up, of that one Christmas Eve your parents let you all sleep on bean bags by the lit up tree rains over you like fairy dust off Tinker Bell.
Infused with a dose of Christmas magic, we try to recreate the conditions with the same traditions, homemade caramel popcorn, and classic Christmas movies (It’s A Wonderful Life or White Christmas, anyone?)
The reality is, as hard as we try, we can’t reproduce the magic that made Christmas so special as a child. Of course, Christmas is still a special time when we come together, put arguments on hold, and celebrate the birth of Jesus, but there’s just something missing. We can’t always put our finger on exactly what that something is.
A Tidal Wave of Heightened Emotion
The holidays approach throughout the year with a “tidal wave of heightened emotion, hyping us up for Christmas,” as my pastor said last Sunday. Not only do we invest financially in Christmas with all the gifts, toys, and decorations we buy, we invest much more emotionally in the holiday.
Many people feel conflicted about the holiday, have been hurt or dealt with great disappointment, or carry the weight of their grief along with their casserole dishes to family gatherings. These people know the cost exacted when the emotional investment doesn’t pay off.
There are many who experience holiday hurts who let their disappointment dampen the joy found in Christmas. This is a time of great joy and acute pain for all the people experiencing loss, disappointment, or the reverberating effects of a broken relationship with family or friends. It’s no secret there is no shield around our hearts to protect us from grief, pain, and disappointment when everything tells us we should feel joy and happy and light.
Some set such high expectations they live in perpetual disappointment, their lives never quite living up to the standard they’ve set. Others set the bar so low they can’t help but feel joy, however much they equally expect the sting of disappointment. Living by expectations alone will always leave you wanting something more. Our expectations will always fall short in one way or another, either by expecting too much of people or by never expecting enough.
Rather than spend this Christmas weighing each moment against your expectations of the day, open your heart to what God has for you this Christmas. Whether that’s healing a painful memory or a broken relationship or simply drawing you into closer relationship with Him, let’s walk into this Christmas with a light and open heart, laying down our expectations at the feet of Jesus.
