Jesus was not what the religious expected when He showed up in a manger full of hay in a stable with only Mary and Joseph.

They were looking for a king leading conquering armies into battle. They were looking for a ruler to destroy Rome’s oppression. They were so busy looking for the kind of power that impresses men that they missed the arrival of the One with the authority of the Father they claimed to serve.

They wanted war and He promised peace. The Son of God born to save humanity. Our salvation unexpectedly wrapped in vulnerability.

He challenged their way of thinking. He was from Nazareth, a city despised. He chose fishermen, tax collectors, and women with pasts He had redeemed to follow Him. He ate with people the religious rejected. He healed on the Sabbath and challenged the Pharisees to search their hearts more than just following the rules. He challenged their belief on who God wanted to save by reaching for Samaritans and Gentiles. He was meek where they expected assertiveness, and He reminded them of His authority when they expected Him bow down.

He turned the world upside down in the way that was least expected and in the least expected places.

This Christmas season, I pray I take Christ out of the box I try to put Him in. Instead of trying to fit Him into my idea of what He should be, I want to find Him in the unexpected places, the places that seem hopeless, with the people that seem unreachable.

We all have our own places in our lives that it’s easy to think are too far out of Christ’s way or too hopeless to ask Him to heal. We all know people that others have rejected because they seem too far gone. Christ’s presence in these places and deliverance of these people can seem unlikely, unexpected.

But that’s His specialty. I want to learn to expect Christ where others don’t. I want to learn to trust His character, His mission, His plan for deliverance and salvation. I want to look for Him in places others look away from. Don’t give up on the places that seem hopeless, your Messiah may just show up unexpectedly and change everything.