The Fullness of Time

What to do when Christmas is over at 12:35 AM on December 25

The first “after-Christmas” promotional email in my inbox has a timestamp of 12:35 AM, December 25. There are at least a dozen more from Christmas Day, then even more on the 26th when the messages shift to end-of-the-year sales and a focus on starting the New Year fresh. We’re still eating leftovers from Christmas dinner; I’m enjoying Christmas cookies with my coffee each morning for breakfast; the kids are still barely learning the new game console they received as their joint present. But the world has moved on: Christmas is clearly over. 

My inbox, the promoted posts in my social media feeds, the news channels - they’re all telling me that it’s time to focus on the New Year. So, wrap up those last-minute charitable donations to include them in your end-of-year giving statements, make a nice Instagram Recap Reel to show off your top 15 social media worthy moments, and organize all those photos you took yesterday to take advantage of the free shipping deal that runs out today. 

Here’s a coupon so you can order yourself that new piece of exercise equipment that will make all the difference and really keep you on track to meet your fitness goals this time around. 

Here’s a top ten list of home organizing hacks, so you won’t be overwhelmed by paperwork and everyday chores in the coming year. 

Here’s an invitation to sign up for that new Scripture reading plan because this time, you’ll really be able to say you’ve read through the whole Bible in a year.

Our society doesn’t like to linger in the moment… to pause and reflect. Maybe if we did, we would start to realize that our drive to move on so quickly to the next thing is partly to blame when we find ourselves right back where we started, with all the same challenges and problems as the last time we hung up a new calendar. 

But here’s the beauty of Christmas: it’s not over, no matter what your inbox tells you. Welcome to the third day of the season of Christmas! 

Late in time, behold Him come

“...when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the lawn to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5 ESV)

Think about that phrase, “the fullness of time.” This is a different sense of time than just marking dates on a calendar or watching minutes tick by on a clock, where everything comes back around again, same as it ever was. That ticking of a clock is chronos time. What Paul is talking about here is kairos time. The phrase carries with it a sense of filling up to completeness. It’s the steady rise of a loaf of sourdough proofing in your warm kitchen; the filling of a wine glass to the brim; the nine-month gestation of a baby inside his mother’s womb. 

In some ways, God’s kairos timing seems extravagantly wasteful. Why send this helpless little baby? Not only is there a nine month wait before he’s born, but then there’s the wait until he’s grown to adulthood and beyond for him to begin his ministry on earth. And then there’s still three more years before we get to the three holy days of Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection. Where’s my instant gratification option - the kind that would timestamp “It is finished” at 12:35 AM on Christmas morning? 

In some ways, God’s kairos timing seems extravagantly wasteful. Why send this helpless little baby?… Where’s my instant gratification option - the kind that would timestamp “It is finished” at 12:35 AM on Christmas morning? 

But here’s the beauty of Christmas: it’s not over. We will go on celebrating the infant King until Epiphany on January 6. And because of that infant Jesus, the Son of God born in the fullness of time, all of those failures that weigh you down and make you feel like this past year wasn’t enough, or that the coming New Year will be too much no matter how many lists and plans you make - all of that is finished. Christmas teaches us that Jesus Christ is God for you. And because of him, you are redeemed. 

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Of the Father’s love begotten

Ere the worlds began to be,

He is Alpha and Omega,

He the source, the ending He,

Of the things that are, that have been,

And that future years shall see

Evermore and evermore.

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This is he whom seers in old time

Chanted of with one accord,

Whom the voices of the prophets

Promised in their faithful word;

Now he shines, the long-expected;

Let creation praise its Lord

Evermore and evermore. (LSB 384, verses 1 & 3)

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