Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent
While leading a reflection on the birth of Jesus with my first grade CGS students this past weekend, one of them shared a simple but deeply profound observation. As we looked upon Jesus in the manger he said, “Stables are messy, smelly places.” Yes, they are BUT that is where Jesus chose to come to us. I was suddenly struck by the deep and beautiful truth that it was not only on that first Nativity that Jesus came into a messy place, but that Jesus shows up in our mess all the time. Jesus shows up for us amid our chaos, our dirt, our noise, our stink. He doesn’t run from our imperfections and our flaws but rather He helps us transform them.
How many of you, when preparing for company to come over, have simply moved piles from one place to another? We often grab all the cluttered piles and put them all in our bedroom and close the door – out of sight, out of mind. But Jesus shows up when our figurative house is in shambles – clutter everywhere, dirty dishes in the sink, food on the floor. Jesus does not judge us or shame us. He transforms us.
In today’s gospel, we see that Joseph’s life had become messy – he was betrothed to this young woman who then becomes pregnant. The obvious choice at that time would have been to turn her over for punishment. This was a crime punishable by death, but Joseph, as we heard, was a righteous man. Joseph heard the message sent to him in a dream, to take Mary into his home and to not be afraid. The message he received was to welcome Jesus into his mess.
That is the Advent message for us today - Let Jesus enter the mess of your life. Jesus showing up in the mess of my life fills me with a deep hope. I have found that allowing Christ into my mess can have transformative powers. But to do this, we do not merely let Christ see the piles. Allowing Christ to enter the mess means surrendering our will, listening to God and trusting where He guides, just like Joseph did. Amen.
—AJ Grimm