Growing up as kids, we all remember the nursery rhyme that shared the fatal tale of Humpty Dumpty. Like old television commercial ads that we have never forgotten, all of us can repeat the saga of Humpty Dumpty with our eyes closed: “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.”
Because of the interpretation and commentary of one Lewis Carroll, many of us have pictures of Humpty Dumpty portrayed as a giant egg-shaped man. But Mr. Alice in Wonderland added that illustration some 50 years after the original lyric was created. Not only was Humpty Dumpty not a shell of a man, but he also wasn’t even an intangible being. Humpty Dumpty was a cannon in the military.
In 1648, when the English Civil War was coming to a close, in a last-ditch effort to hold off the Parliamentary army, King Charles I had his men line up several cannons along the walls of Colchester. Just as the men in World War II would name their planes, so these soldiers gave their ammunition nicknames to identify them.
One of the cannons was aptly called Humpty Dumpty. As the nursery rhyme informs us, Humpty Dumpty experienced a huge amount of artillery fire on his section of the wall, making it unable to support the weight of the cannon any longer. As a result, Humpty came tumbling to the ground and was instantly smashed into many smaller pieces.
The king’s men did all they could possibly do to repair the damage, but try as they might, they were not successful, and that was the last of Humpty Dumpty. The king’s army would go on to lose the war the following year, and so they came up absolutely empty in the end. One can only imagine what would have happened if Humpty Dumpty wasn’t broken.
Christmas is all about what happens to us when we can’t fix what is broken in our lives. From the times my children were very young, I remember them coming up to me with tears in their eyes and a non-working toy in their hands, crying out, “Fix it, Daddy! Fix it!” Now I am the first to admit that I am not a wiz with my hands, as I am better with my heart, but if I wasn’t able to bring life back to the presents they held, I made sure that I got it to someone who could.
I even snuck out of the house to buy a brand-new version of their gift to replace the one that was no longer functioning so I could see the smile return to the kids’ faces! I hate seeing tears when the season called for joy.
But there are circumstances that go far beyond our ability to make all the pain go away. The harsh reality of life is that we have no control over putting back together what has been shattered into little bitty shards of what once was.
Relationships that went so wrong when our hopes were so high. Expectations for the future that we believed would be promising but, in the end, pummeled our soul into oblivion. Cancer and physical complications that snuffed out our health in a matter of moments. Divorce, abuse, injustice and unwelcome enemies dressed in black that changed the attire of celebratory red and green.
Who feels like singing when you sense your whole world is falling apart? If the best our culture can offer is Christmas cookies and eggnog when the ache is unbearable, then it is prime time to admit our need to be rescued. If we don’t come clean about the lack of bullets we own to shoot back the nightmare, we will end up lonely, lost and losing the battle.
I remember the night I was invited to be part of an anniversary celebration. As many of you know, I don’t always dress appropriately for the cold weather, and this night boasted single-digit temperatures. I parked my car and raced for the house as fast as I could. Unfortunately, I was totally ignorant of the icy skating rink their driveway had become.
I went flying, all 250 pounds of me high into the air with all the weight coming down on my right shoulder. As I came crashing down, a sharp sword-like branch didn’t miss as it pierced my left leg with a bullseye. Blood was covering my jeans as I limped into the house in serious pain.
Everyone in the house was partying. There was music, lots of food and games, and the participants were all having a good time. But not me! I needed first aid. I felt like I was tossed out of an airplane without a parachute and whatever was left over was seeking relief. The good time around me was not enough to remove the horror that I felt within me. It was quickly clear that I didn’t need a piece of cake but an emergency room. Before the evening was over, I discovered that I fractured my shoulder and needed stitches to sew up my torn-up leg.
Christmas is not a medicine trying to anesthetize the reality that we need spiritual heart surgery. Our world is broken, and we can’t make it whole no matter how many activities we become involved in. And who feels like dancing when you can’t feel your legs?
Jesus didn’t stay a baby in a manger. Even Joseph and Mary had their fill of trouble and tribulation while obeying God’s will. The hope of Christmas was not to create a pseudo-heaven here on Earth. Our Lord had bigger fish to fry. If we trusted Him, He would do what all the king’s men and all the soldiers could not do. He would restore us to our original pristine classic condition.
In one of the early messages that Jesus preached, He quoted the prophet Isaiah and promised that He would be the One to deliver the missing medication that would heal us through and through. In Nazareth, Jesus opened the scroll and declared, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness the prisoners.”
Jesus knew the state of our reality. When we were unable to fix it, our Heavenly Father sent His Son to do the job! Christmas is not for those who have it all together! Christmas is for those of us who are willing to reveal that all the duct tape on Earth won’t redeem our busted hearts!
It’s not the gifts under the tree that will satisfy the hole in your soul. It’s the Gift of the One who sacrificed His life upon the tree that guarantees our journey won’t end in defeat or death. Anyone who believes will receive by grace eternal life. And that is not living forever in the state we are presently in. It’s moving on up to live, move and have our being with the One who gave us life in the first place!
When my kids were little, I bought them a Nativity set that they could play with and not have to fear any statues losing their arms, legs or wings, for that matter. Many nights, by the lights of the tree, I like to stare at the creche and reflect what it must have been like for all those who were the prime players in God’s remarkable story.
One night I noticed that all around the kids’ manger was a collection of dolls missing their heads and action figures with no arms or legs. These were toys that had seen better days, and I couldn’t understand what the connection was. If you have ever watched the classic TV Special “Rudolph,” all these in the congregation would have been inhabitants of the “Island of Misfit Toys.”
When I asked, “What is going on?” my daughter offered this nugget of gold. “Daddy, you said Jesus came to fix the broken, and so we collected all our toys that need to be made better because that’s what Jesus does!” Out of the mouth of babes, I thought. They got it.
Christmas isn’t a destination as much as it is a necessary stop that must be made so that we can arrive at our final home in one piece! When we can’t fix it, God did! And God didn’t use super glue. God used amazing love, and when we are in way over our heads, His grace and mercy lifts us up out of the yuck and muck and gives us a place to stand where we can see that someday soon, we will never be in disarray again!
This Christmas, please allow your Heavenly Daddy to fix what nobody else can. I don’t sing for what is, but for what will be because the best is yet to come!
