It is Christmas season once again. The radio stations are playing Christmas music about ‘Frosty, the Snowman,’ ‘Jingle Bells’ and dreams of a ‘White Christmas.’ The myriad of television stations and streaming services are full of Christmas-themed movies and videos, and the commercials are all charged with hyper-enthusiasm, selling everything imaginable. Neighborhoods are lit up with bright lights, reindeer, and sleighs. Of course, none of these things have anything to do with the great mystery that Christians all over the world are preparing to celebrate, that is, the memorial of the birth of Jesus, the God of gods, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, the Prince of Peace, the Messiah, God in all of his fullness, who came among us in human flesh as a frail infant. We are not preparing to celebrate a booming economy, but the beginning of the greatest story ever told.
While the secular world is full of ‘holiday’ cheer, abuzz with Black Friday deals, and careening through crowded malls, maxing out credit cards, caught up in the annual shopping frenzy, all to obtain the latest fads and fashions for gifts to put under the tree, Christians are called upon during this lead up time to Christmas, to take time apart from all of that whirlwind of hyper-activity, to find places of solitude and silence in our days, and to reflect on this great and wonderful mystery that speaks so profoundly of God’s unconditional love for us. In other words, we are challenged to contemplate the real meaning of this ‘holy day’, and to prepare ourselves to receive the Lord of lords, the Prince of Peace, our Messiah, into our hearts, minds, and souls, once again, as fresh and new as he was that day of his birth two millennia ago.
We are preparing to celebrate and remember the greatest gift imaginable, a gift that was given to the whole human race. We are celebrating the beginning (and the promised end) of our salvation story. Though Adam and Eve had turned away from their original innocence, God did not abandon them; he promised them that he would come to set us free from our sinful pride, our brokenness. Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father, knew this through the Holy Spirit when, at his son’s presentation in the Temple, he sang this canticle: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has come to his people and set them free. He has raised up for us a mighty savior, born of the house of his servant David. Through his holy prophets, he promised of old that he would save us from our enemies, from the hands of all who hate us. He promised to show mercy to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant” (Lk. 1:68-72). Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise. The Holy Spirit also revealed to Zechariah that his son, John, would become the prophet of the Most High, preparing the way for the One who, “In the tender compassion of our God [is] the dawn from on high [that has broken] upon us, to shine on those (us) who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Lk. 1:78-79). Yes! This is the reason for our celebration in this season.
At the heart of this story, the reason it came to be, is the reality of our own brokenness and sinfulness that needed, that still needs to be healed and redeemed. Jesus, who knows our hearts and the weight of our daily burdens, who loves us even in our brokenness, says to each one of us even now: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28). Jesus remains with us still, right here and right now. He remains as present to us as he was to his mother, Mary, at the moment he was conceived in her womb, and to Joseph at the moment of his birth, to John the Baptist, to the Apostles and disciples, and to all whom he encountered in his own time on earth. And he says to us, right here and right now, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light” (vs. 29-30). This is what we celebrate in this season.
To prepare ourselves for this holy day that we call Christmas, we are called upon to remember that it was because of our sins that Jesus came into the world as a fragile infant, needing milk and love just like each one of us does. He took on our human flesh and condition and suffered and died to free us from the ancient wound that separated us from him and our home in Paradise so long ago. Though we are still sinners, we know that our God “Pardons all our iniquities, heals us from all of our ills. He redeems us from destruction, and crowns us with kindness and compassion” (Ps. 103:3-4). This is why we say that Jesus is the reason for this season. He is the reason for our joy. He is the reason for our hope. Let us take time out in the midst of all of the secular hoopla to remember what the real reason for our celebrations is. It is in Jesus that we live and move and have our being. Joy to the world!!
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