The despised things that are not (Advent #13)

Here are Jesus' credentials:

- Born to a pregnant teenager, in a tiny, insignificant village.

- Descended from failed and disgraced kings, at least one prostitute, one girl who coerced her father into sleeping with her, a woman from Moab (descended from one of Lot's daughters who coerced him into sleeping with her) and the unnamed "wife of Uriah" - Bathsheba, whom David saw bathing on the roof.

Here are Jesus' heralds:

- Shepherds: dissolute, untrustworthy.

- Magi: pagan, and above all foreign; astrologers, whom the Jewish law condemned.

Here is Jesus' geographical pedigree:

“Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.” (John 7:52)

“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. (John 1:46)

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“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8)

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This is the God of whom Christmas reminds us: He who "chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are" (1 Corinthians 1:28). And, if you're anything like me, and your credentials, your pedigree or your innate qualities are nothing to recommend you to an almighty and righteous God - then this is a very good thing indeed.