Film Friday In the Christmas film It’s a Wonderful Life George Bailey feels like he’s lost everything. He’s made a terrible mistake and has nothing left. Then he gets the surprise of his life as others suddenly emerge from the woodwork to help him out, and it’s a wonderful moment of kindness that changes everything.
Jesus was constantly surprising people, people who thought they were no good to anyone, people who’d been rejected, people who were lost or unhappy or unhealthy. He was constantly surprising them with the goodness of God, welcoming them, drawing alongside them and helping them. A woman who had been ill for 12 years and had been constantly rejected (in Mark 5 v 25-34), he drew close beside her and announced to everybody that she was clean and should be accepted and welcomed now. And a tax collector up a tree (in Luke 19 v 1-10), who nobody liked because he’d taken their money, suddenly found he’s the one that Jesus wants to visit and share a feast with. And Zacchaeus is so changed by this that he starts blessing everybody else. Surprising everyone by giving them their money back.
I think surprise is a big part of the life of Jesus, and this is the life that begins at Christmas, and permeates through our being as we are his people of choice, his channels of grace. Maybe there’s a moment today when you’re surprised by someone, or you surprise somebody else with a smile, a hello, a door opened, a gift offered, a text or an email, a wave pf your hand. There are all kinds of different ways we can surprise people with the goodness of God.
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