Multi-colored lights, Christmas music playing on every radio station, classic holiday shows on TV, the hustle and bustle of shopping on steroids-all to celebrate an annual holiday that has its origins over two thousand years ago. Why has Christmas become such a big deal from such an insignificant event?

Sheep were on the verge of extinction due to the sacrifices required for the sins of man. So out of love, God stepped into his creation in the form of his son Jesus. He wasn’t born of the queen of some great city or the relative of a high priest. He came into the world through a poor, insignificant Jewish teenager named Mary. Hie father wasn’t wealthy but a poor carpenter or mason. Jesus wasn’t born in the temple or raised in the palace of a Pharaoh. He was born in an insignificant holding area for stable animals, and laid in what was most likely a feeding trough.

Christ wasn’t born in Rome or even the holy city of Jerusalem, but twenty-five miles away in the insignificant town of Bethlehem, mentioned in Micah as small among the Jewish clans, an unimportant village. His birth wasn’t heralded through the streets by the town crier, but first announced to a band of insignificant shepherds guarding their flocks on the outskirts of the town. There was little if anything significant about the birth of Jesus. And later on in his life, even the prophet Isaiah referred to him as insignificant. Listen to his words in Isaiah 53:3:

”He was despised and rejected by people, one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness. People hid their faces from him; he was despised and we considered him insignificant.”

Do you struggle with self worth? Do you ever question your significance? I know I do. Guess what, we’re in good company. Throughout scripture, God used the lowly, overlooked, insignificant things and people to accomplish history changing events. He uses brokenness to create masterful mosaics. He uses our messes to deliver his message. God uses our weaknesses to exploit his power. Jesus had every right to be born in the palace of a king, raised as a prince and heir to the throne of the king. But Emmanuel, God with us, wanted to be accessible to all people, from the greatest to the least. What better way should one of the most significant events in man’s history transpire but through a series of insignificant circumstances involving seemingly insignificant people.

Thank God for the insignificance of an event that forever changed the world and afforded us salvation and eternal life in a new home where insignificance will be a thing of the past. Merry Christmas.