Father Nicholas Nelson: Christmas didn’t have to be perfect before Jesus came!

Handing on the Faith 

If you wanted the Son of God to be born into the world, you’d probably imagine that it would be the perfect set up and conditions for his arrival. But that wasn’t the case with Jesus. 

First, consider Jesus’ family tree. For the Christmas eve Mass, the church gives us Matthew’s Gospel of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. You know this one. It goes on and on with different more or less obscure names. You thought it was long having to listen to it. Try having to read it! 

But why do we have that reading? It shows us that Jesus comes from the line of King David. But this genealogy expresses something else that is very important. When we do know a bit about these people, something important comes to light. We realize that these were not perfect people. Many of these people are people we wouldn’t actually call heroes or saints. Jesus didn’t come from a perfect family tree. 

Consider King David himself. “David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah.” The wife of Uriah was Bathsheba. David committed adultery with Bathsheba, tried to cover it up, it didn’t work and so David had Uriah killed. That wasn’t a great event in the family history. 

What about Tamar? Tamar was one of the people we’ve heard of. Well, Tamar was childless so she dressed as a prostitute in order to deceive and seduce her father-in-law Judah so that she could have children by him. Not a whole lot of virtue there. 

Who is this Rahab? Rahab, she didn’t just act like a prostitute, she literally was a prostitute. 

Manasseh. Who’s he? Manasseh was a king, but as Scripture says, “He did evil in the sight of the Lord.” He even built an idol to a false god and put it in the Temple in Jerusalem. He wasn’t a model of fidelity to the God of Israel. 

When we look closely at this family tree, we have the good, the bad, and the ugly. And plenty of the bad and the ugly. Yet God still chose to be born from this family tree. God didn’t create a perfect lineage for Jesus, he didn’t create a perfect family bloodline for his Son to be born from. 

Second, consider the political and religious situation of the time when Jesus was born. It was tenuous at best. The Romans were oppressive in so many ways. Religious leaders imposed heavy burdens and took advantage of faithful Jews. Jews were taken advantage of by their Jewish brothers who worked as tax collectors for the Romans. And the so called “King of the Jews,” King Herod, wanted to kill the baby Jesus. This was not a good time for anyone to be born into history, much less for the Son of God. 

Finally, think about the actual practical circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus. At our homes and churches, we have these beautiful nativity scenes. Yet the first nativity scene was anything but beautiful. Joseph wasn’t able to find an appropriate place for them. There was no room in the inn. It was the back area of the house reserved for the animals. It would have been a bit cold, it would have been dirty, it would have been stinky. It was not the ideal place to spend any amount of time, much less give birth to a baby. 

What does this show us? Just as the conditions weren’t perfect for Jesus’ coming into the world, we don’t have to be perfect, and our lives don’t have to be perfect before Jesus comes to us. I believe all of us can be tempted to believe that we need to figure out all our issues before we can let Jesus into our lives. I may believe that I need to get x, y, and z done — I need to get all this in order and then, finally, I can begin to think about Jesus. I may think that I need to get rid of these sins and doubts, and then I’ll be good enough for Jesus. 

But those are all lies from the evil one. Jesus wants to come to us and wants to come to us now. He wants to be a part of our lives now. He loves us with all our brokenness and failures, and he wants to enter into it all, in order to be with us. Remember, Christ came precisely while the world was broken and messy. He was born from a fallen family tree, during a very tumultuous political and religious time. And he was born in a stable, where animals lived. 

My friends, this Christmas, invite Jesus into your lives, your homes, and your hearts. He wants you and loves you just the way you are. Christmas didn’t have to be perfect before Jesus came! We don’t have to be perfect before Jesus comes to us! He only wants you to let him into your life. He wants to bring his healing, hope, and joy. He wants to be able to love you. He wants to help you with all your cares and concerns and brokenness. He wants to save you, redeem you, just as he saved the world. We just have to invite him, and let him in! 

Father Nick Nelson is pastor of Queen of Peace and Holy Family parishes in Cloquet and vocations director for the Diocese of Duluth. He studied at The Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Rome. Reach him at [email protected].