Come Thou Unexpected Jesus

It’s wonderful to know what to expect as Christmas traditions begin– our beloved old faux tree, the snowglobes with nativity scenes, the cozy lights hung up. And of course, our advent “calendar.”

We hang a homemade ornament on the tree each night that features two Bible references. First, an Old Testament prophecy. Next, Christ fulfilling it. 

One ornament particularly encouraged me the other night. It features a spear. Festive, I know.

I was reminded that, although we sing “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus,” Jesus’ coming was in many ways not expected.

Think of startled Mary when the angel told her the news. Of Joseph, first learning the news and planning a divorce, then learning he was to be the earthly father of God’s son. Or the religious elite, scrambling to look up an old prophecy for the king about the messiah they were meant to be anxiously awaiting. And what did the shepherds think when they were sent to meet the King of Kings and arrived to find him lying in a feeding trough? 

It wasn’t just Jesus’ coming, or the manner in which He came, that was unexpected. He Himself– His character, His background, His life, were unexpected. The many promises of God He filled and the means by which He fulfilled them proved controversial and shocking. Dying a gruesome death on a cross was not anticipated, even by those closest to Him. Rising from the dead took everyone by surprise, too! 

When we consider Jesus’ story, we can understand why God said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8).

But we must not forget that the unexpected, in God’s hands, is ultimately good news. 

God goes on to declare in Isaiah 55:9, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

It is not just that God does the unexpected, but that He does better than we could have expected.

We read the prophecy of God’s people looking on the one they have pierced, and we see that Jesus was making a way for us to be right with God again. The spear thrust through the Messiah is unexpected – but it is also better than we could have expected, because the spear points us to the one who paid for our sins, the one in whom we can believe for eternity.

If you are also facing difficult circumstances this Christmas, may you take heart in knowing that whatever unexpected things happen, we know what we can expect of God. We know that his ways are higher, his plans are better.

The spears we are shocked to suffer today will be looked back on as simple symbols of what good God was actually accomplishing.

We can celebrate the unexpected this Christmas because we serve a God who is full of surprises, and “every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17).

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