by Mrs. Anastasia Rebello
As I penned the title of this message, it seemed as if I was unnecessarily stating what should be obvious. Christmas by its very definition, that is the birth of our Lord Jesus had to be obviously centered on Him. And yet sadly I had to admit that a message on a Christ-centered Christmas had become “Xmas”, the celebration of the birthday without the birthday boy!
What really do we celebrate at Christmas?
Christmas is not about just celebrating just the birthday but the birth of our Lord Jesus – yes, there is a difference. When we think of birthday, there is a tendency to focus on the celebration of the day just like we celebrate our birthdays. However, when we celebrate His birth we are celebrating the amazing wonder of the Lord’s incarnation.
It is interesting to note that when we remember the birthday’s of historic leaders, like Mahatma Gandhi, we don’t think of Gandhi as a little baby, but rather remember him for whatever he accomplished in his life as an adult.
When we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we focus on baby Jesus and rightly so. As we see the baby in our cribs this Christmas, it should cause us to fall down on our knees in worship of the omnipotent, almighty, eternal, infinite, everlasting God who had left all the glory of heaven to be born in human form as a helpless defenseless baby with human limitations just because he loves us (Phil 2:6-8).
A story is told of a man who was watching a flock of sparrows eat grain. As a man took a step towards the birds they became uneasy. Another step and their nervousness increased and when he was almost upon them they suddenly flew away. The man reflecting on what had happened asked himself “why did those sparrows fly away when I meant no harm to them? He realized that it was because he was too big. Another question came to his mind. How could he walk among the birds without frightening them with his size? Only if it were possible to become a sparrow and fly down among them?
This is just what the Lord did for us but only more. The man and the sparrow are both creatures. However, the Lord Jesus is our Creator God and He emptied himself to be born as one of us – fully man and fully God out of his great love (John 3:16).
It is this great love that we celebrate at Christmas. At the same time let us not get so sentimental about the cute little baby Jesus forgetting what the incarnation means to us and moreover forgetting that this baby Jesus grew up to be the only perfect man who lived and died in our place for our sins and is today our risen Lord and Saviour.
God is not opposed to Celebrations
Our Lord is not a sadist or killjoy who is opposed to celebrations in themselves. In Luke 15 we read about the prodigal son returning home to his father who lavishes his love on him accepts him back and then says “Get the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate for this son of mine was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:23). Here, Jesus portrays the heavenly Father celebrating the return of his son.
At Christmas we have celebrations, but are we celebrating Jesus and his birth? Do our celebrations speak of his love? Is anyone drawn closer to Jesus through our Christmas celebrations? Does the Christmas season bring us closer to Jesus? If your answer is NO, then your Christmas is not Christ centered but a Christmas without Jesus.
Luke 2:20 – “ And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen as it had been told them”. The shepherds left their pastures to go and encounter Jesus and worship him on that first Christmas, and they returned back praising and glorifying God.
The Christmas season is often for us a time when we take leave from work or where there are family get-togethers, parties, weddings, dances and celebrations of various kinds. Like the shepherds, after the season is over we return to our normal routine. But do we return praising God as the shepherds did or do we find ourselves having to repent for having taken a spiritual break from Jesus in order to celebrate his birthday!
Preparing for Christmas
There is so much that we do to prepare for Christmas materially by way of house cleaning, making sweets, getting new clothes stitched, etc. However, our true preparation needs to be spiritual! Here are some practical ways we can make sure we have a Christ centered Christmas.
Preparing our hearts: Is there still a “no vacancy” sign at the door of our hearts like it was at the first Christmas. Jesus desires to be born in our hearts and he deserves nothing but the first place.
Give Jesus the gift that he wants and not what you want to give him: Very often we give Jesus many good things and even spiritual things. However, we need to spend time in his presence and allow him to show us what he wants of us and remember that good things always cost.
Follow the star like the wise men did in Matthew. 2:2 that leads to Jesus. The wise men did not just gaze at the star but walked in obedience to its leading, which led to an encounter with Jesus. What is the star that God has placed in your life to lead you to him? It could be a problem, a failure or a joy. The Lord speaks to us in and through our circumstances. Follow and don’t resist his leading.
Plan ahead times of fellowship and extended personal prayer with Jesus during the Christmas season.
During family get-togethers and celebrations acknowledge Jesus and let all those around know the purpose of Christmas.
Share the Gospel message with those who come to the door asking for a Christmas bonus and with the non-Christian friends that visit us.
Read Luke 14:12-14. Invite someone who cannot invite you back or repay you back.
Reach out to someone with the love of Christ this Christmas.
Christmas – a message of Hope to all
Christmas is also for those who are rejected, forsaken, going through hardships, etc. These were the very circumstances in which our Lord was born. “He came to what was his own and his own people did not accept him” John1:11. The king of the universe was not born in a palace but in a cattle shed. Even then his life was in danger and Joseph had to take the mother and child and flee into Egypt.
No matter what our circumstances, we can still hear the angels say “be not afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all people – for to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord” Luke 2:10.
Jesus is born in our hearts. He is the source of our joy. A couple who lost their new born baby just before Christmas so touchingly said “It is not only our arms that are empty, the Heavenly Father’s arms are empty too as he gave his only son”. Christmas for them was not merry, but meaningful.
Let us celebrate this Christmas with Jesus and may our Christmas be a meaningful one this year – Amen.