Missing Christmas
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. - 1 Timothy 1:15
Christmas is usually thought of with happy anticipation. And who wouldn’t want gifts and family and “peace on earth” and decorations and time off from work? And all the Christmas movies with identical storylines of peaceful togetherness and love. And then it’s all interrupted by big problems, but it all works out in the end and we feel good (at least for a second).
The real story of Christmas is not an idealized picture of a warm and snuggly manger scene where everyone has halos and is posing for the portrait. That’s not how this went down. It’s more like, “There’s an impoverished, hungry, and cold fourteen-year-old girl in that filthy and stinky barn over there. And she just gave birth to a baby. Wow, life is going to be tough for them.” And life would be ridiculously tough. This young mother would watch her son be brutalized and butchered because he threatened the prevailing power structure with a call to humility before God. Every evil would be focused on him and he would take it all.
I think this whole thing has been sanitized to make us feel better about the storyline. We don’t want to see reality – it’s not fun. But the angel that appeared the night Jesus was born declared the purpose of it all, “This baby came to save people from their sin (Matt 1:21),” And how would he do that? He would absorb the consequences of our wickedness so we could be forgiven.
I’m not really a Grinch. I love Christmas. But it’s sort of like Memorial Day as we celebrate our freedoms but find it difficult to relate to the cost. And the cost two thousand years ago was beyond imagination.
There is a peace that lasts forever, but it’s not found in Santa Claus.
Jesus, you came to suffer and die for those you love. I’m sorry that I am so shallow. I’m sorry that I rework the story to avoid the truth. Thank you for bearing the cost for me. Please cause me to see this all more clearly.
Song: I Heard the Bells