So tomorrow is Christmas, hard to believe. I remember as a kid being really excited about it, but now, with how commercial everything has become it kind of feels like just another day to me. I honestly don't know the last time I really felt the Christmas spirit around the holiday. But maybe that's the problem. Maybe the problem is that we look for a feeling in the few weeks leading up to December 25. When instead Christmas is part of the story we live, or rather are called to live, everyday.
The reason for Christmas is the birth of Jesus Christ. That is why we celebrate tomorrow, but it is a celebration that is to continue. But I wonder how much of life is lived from holiday to holiday. How often do we reflect on the birth of Christ after December? How often do we think about the death and resurrection of Christ aside from the few weeks leading up to Easter? And how much have we missed the point of the holidays?
I'll be honest, I'm a little biased toward Easter. It is on that day that we celebrate victory in Christ over sin, death, and Hell. It's a pretty significant day, I've even called it the most important day in history, and I don't think that's out of line. Without Easter we wouldn't celebrate Christmas, if Jesus had never risen, why would we celebrate His birth? But of course when you say that some one always, without fail, has to say, "No Christmas, no Easter. He had to be born first."
As I've thought about that over the past few years I don't think I buy it. Jesus didn't have to show up as a baby. He could have come down as a man one day, died on the cross, rose from the dead, and brought salvation. He could have, but He didn't. Instead, He came as a baby. This time of year we hear the stories that He came as a baby, born in a stable and placed in a manger. Shepherds we the first to welcome Him to the world. We see that Jesus is for everyone, the least of these, the outcasts and social rejects. But what if there is more to it than that?
As I've thought about this over the past few weeks I've started to see Christmas in a different light. Jesus came to earth as a baby, so that He could one day die on the cross to pay for the sins of the world, and then rise from the dead conquering sin, death, and Hell forever. He came to die so that we could have eternal life, He died so that we could have new life. But when He came at Christmas, it was to give us something so much greater than the path to new life. Jesus didn't just give us salvation, He gave us an example to follow.
Jesus came as a baby, so that He could grow up and live life as God would live life. He showed us what it is to live righteously, and in a relationship with God. Jesus' birth was about so much more than His eventual death, it was about the 33 years of life leading up to it. In those 33 years He showed us how to live once we accepted salvation. He showed us what new life looks like. That is what Christmas is about. God became a man so that He could die as the ransom for humanity, but before He got to the cross He showed humanity how to live after the cross.
When we come to Jesus we go through the cross. We die with Him, and then we are born to new life. We grow and live in a righteous relationship with God. Tomorrow is about so much more than a baby born to die. It's about God becoming human to show us how to live life, and then sacrificing Himself to make it possible for us to live the way He did.
So as you celebrate tomorrow, may our focus be on what Christ has done for us. He died to and rose to bring us new life, but first He lived to show us new life. It's really pretty amazing.
Merry Christmas
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
