What's all the fuss about? There certainly is a lot of fuss this time of year: battling mall crowds to get the perfect gifts for family and friends, decorating trees, putting up Christmas lights, work Christmas parties, Advent services, play rehearsals, choir concerts; Christmas pageant practices, traveling to relatives for the holidays, Christmas dinner preparations. It's all fuss, fuss, and more fuss. What's the fuss all about? Why suffer through four weeks of Advent waiting and preparing for Christmas? Can't we just celebrate Christmas today? It certainly would save us time, planning, shopping, working, and all the pre-Christmas effort. What's the fuss about?
There was much fuss that first Christmas. At the announcement of Jesus' birth, Mary could have faced the shame and ridicule of being pregnant outside of marriage, but Joseph, by God's direction, married her. Caesar called a census so Mary and Joseph traveled long and hard to reach Bethlehem. But at their journey's end, they discovered there was no room for them in the inn. It was a cold, dark, and musty stable that served as the maternity ward for our Messiah and a feed trough was His first bed. An angel's proclamation sent shepherds running into the dark night to find the one who comes as our Savior. Indeed, there was much fuss that first Christmas, and the fuss continued as the Wise Men arrived and as the family fled to safety in Egypt. Later, the fuss continued on to Calvary and into Joseph's garden on the third day.
Why all the fuss? Who is this whose birth caused such a commotion? Who is this whom the world continues to fuss over in this busy time of Advent? It is Jesus Christ, our Christmas Savior. With His arrival comes the forgiveness of sins-forgiveness for the past, forgiveness for the present, forgiveness for the future, forgiveness all the way to eternity. Jesus Christ comes to bring forgiveness to the worst of sinners, for you and for me! It is our Savior and His forgiveness we celebrate and prepare for. It is Jesus we long to see face to face on the last day. It is our Savior and His forgiveness we fuss over, and that's something to fuss about!
THE PRAYER: Gracious Father, may we in the fuss of this season find hope, joy, and peace in Jesus who gives us full forgiveness for our sins. Amen.
Written by Pastor Joshua Lowe
Trinity Lutheran Church
Blue Hill, Nebraska
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