“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33) The amazing thing about Christmas is not just that Jesus, who is God, took the form of a human being in a baby, in a the most lowly and unexpected of places; it is that Jesus’ birth churned into motion a series of events that would fulfill a promise that couldn’t be kept in exchange for a promise between humans and their God, an unbreakable deal. I know we spend a lot of time making deals and breaking deals in life. If you think about it, about 50% of all Americans break their deals on marriages– till death do you part, or rather, until my lawyer sucks the life out of you seems to be more the sentiment these days. Moreover, what about the killing statistic in this country– we sure love killing other people and then ourselves; yes, that’s the sad reality of life. What Connecticut really shows us is that left undeterred people will intrinsically seek to kill the most helpless and then turn on themselves in some crazy animalistic rage. Did we think we could ever hold up our end of the bargain in a covenant with God? I mean, its not a recent precedent either– the most vile of law breakers are in the Bible, as examples for us. It shows us that we could never achieve a life where we never break promises; and at the same time, it shows us that there is a God who makes an unbreakable promise and never will break it, despite what we do and who we are and how we act. This is the amazing, upside down Christmas story we have to remember when we celebrate it giving gifts to other people. There was the ultimate gift presented to you and me two thousand years ago. It was a promise to us that God “will forgive our wickedness and will remember our sins no more (v34). It is because of this promise, we became God’s people, living in the realms of His Kingdom, and so in our struggles with the current events or in our personal lives, we can cry out to the King and remind Him that we are His people. He will undoubtedly then show us with the full force of His hand that He is our God. You will never forget it and you will always remember it. Christmas will signify something different than the horrible Christmas shoppers at the mall. Christmas will make you remember the unbreakable promise of Jesus Christ.
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