A while back, I was traveling on business. It was one of those late Friday flights. Everyone was tired and not too engaged. As the passengers settled in their seats, everyone withdrew into their little bubble. Some pulled out their phone, laptop, books, or magazines. Some just leaned back and tried to fall asleep (like the huge guy sitting next to me). Although the plane was crowded, most everyone was in their private cocoon, sitting in isolation in their lonely world.
One of the last passengers to board the plane was a mom with a two-year-old toddler in tow. She had the numerous bags and accessories a mom needs to travel alone with a young child. If it were just the mom, about half the plane would think, “How long will it take her to get settled?” With her arms loaded with stuff, she had the toddler lead the way down the narrow aisle. She must have told the toddler that if we bump into anyone, say “Excuse me.” As the mom staggered down the aisle, the child said in a loud voice, repeatedly, “Excuse me!”
It was precious. With the child, everyone in the plane stopped what they were doing, and looked with wonder at the child garnering smiles on their faces. Instantly, the two hundred bubbles enclosing all the passengers on the plane popped. For a moment, their loneliness and isolation disappeared. The simple, endearing words from a young child’s mouth, “Excuse me”, reunited the human family on the plane.
If one ordinary child can change the community in the plane, think about how the Son of God can change the human community.
Christmas is our celebration of the God of the universe breaking into our world of loneliness, selfishness, and division and saying, “Excuse me!”