Unwrapping Christmas

“There must be something wrong with me, Linus,” Charlie Brown says to his friend in the classic program “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, “Christmas is coming, but I’m not happy.  I don’t feel the way I’m supposed to feel.  I just don’t understand Christmas, I guess.”  If I were a betting man (and I’m not), I’d wager that many, in the quietness of their hearts, can resonate with Charlie.  Or perhaps you relate with Lois Lane; in a Christmas episode of the TV show “Lois and Clark” she said, “For once, I’d like to feel Christmas.  Discover it.  Unwrap it and be surprised by how wonderful it is; instead of having it relentlessly shoved in my face like half-off coupons at a swap meet.”

 

The truth of the matter is Christmas is wonderful.  But the essence of Christmas – what makes it so amazing – has been buried under an avalanche of added cultural layers that can easily depress and confuse us. For example, consider the film “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”.  A reindeer is ostracized by his peers because of his abnormal feature of having a red nose.  But when a foggy Christmas Eve hits, Santa Claus puts Rudolph in the front of his sleigh to let his red nose act as a beacon to lead them through the fog.  Rudolph is cheered as a hero.  This is a good movie.  The underdog triumphs over adversity.  But, the reality is, this film has nothing to do with the essence of Christmas.  One has to keep digging.

Another factor of this topic is the gift giving element.  We run at mach speed to find the best gift for all of our family, friends, and everyone else on our list.  Is it wrong to do this?  Certainly not.  It’s good to give.  But this hustle and bustle thoroughly exhausts us (and probably puts us into credit card debt too); worst of all, this tradition is only a shadow of why we celebrate this season in the first place.

Further, there is pain in many hearts during the Christmas season.  I know as surely as I know my own name that someone is reading this and you are facing this Christmas without your parent, spouse, sibling, or best friend.  This person passed away and now you are walking around with immense pain in your heart; a pain that you almost feel guilty to bring up due to the expectation that you are supposed to be having “a holly jolly Christmas” because “it’s the best time of the year”.  I know all about this one.  This is my third Christmas season without my dad since he passed away, and the pain can still be visceral and intense.  I love Christmas, but his absence makes December a much more difficult month.

So what, then, is the conclusion to all this?  Why do we celebrate Christmas?  The sad truth is many celebrate it because that’s just what they have always done since childhood.  But there is so more to Christmas.  As a matter of fact, my dad once wrote about this in one of his songs.  Perhaps one day I will share the lyrics, but for today, it’s sufficient to state that Dad focused on how Christmas has many fun elements (Christmas lights, parties, Santa Claus, mistletoe, gifts under the tree, etc.), but they are not what Christmas is about; Christmas is, in his words, “a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus.”

 

Someone is thinking, “OK. I can concede that.  But why does Jesus’ birth have any relevance to my life today?”  That is the question that I want tackle in the next blog.  But let me leave you with this: it has been my prayer that you would, as Lois Lane put it, unwrap Christmas and see just how wonderful it truly is.  Not because of Santa, or elves, Rudolph, or Frosty the Snowman, but because of Jesus Christ’s arrival into this world.

To be continued!

Kevin

Blogs of Christmas past #4 (of 4)

Today I want to wrap up this collection of blogs from the past I’ve been sharing.  Here is one I wrote last year.

‘It has always seemed rather odd to me that there is a song about Santa Claus with this lyric: “He sees you when you’re sleeping; he knows when you’re awake.  He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!”  The song I’m referencing is called “Santa Claus is coming to Town”.  The implication is that Santa is some sort of all-knowing being.  Such a notion is, of course, preposterous.  But I want you to think about this assertion with me for a moment anyway.

If such an idea were true, it’s interesting how people seem to intuitively know that they haven’t been good; they have only warranted a lump of coal in their stocking.  This was recently evidenced to me when I was shopping at a retail store.  Two Christmas shirts caught my attention.  They are humorous, but also illuminating.  One said, “Dear Santa, I can explain.”  Another read: “Dear Santa, define good.”  Rather than parading their own goodness, they are offering excuses.  I think it’s an accurate assessment of the human heart.

 

The fact of the matter is this: even though Santa Claus isn’t an all-knowing omniscient deity, the God of the universe has perfect knowledge of everyone.  In Psalm 139, the writer says to God, “You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.”  God knows.  And, make no mistake about it: He sees that we are not “good for goodness sake.”  He sees that we fail, falter, and sin.  God knows the worst part of your heart and mine.

Greg Grandchamp, in his book “In Pursuit of Truth” writes, “In the eye of the Lord, none are good, not even one.  All are deserving the wrath of God…However, He already knows precisely who are you and what you’ve done.  And He sacrificed [Himself] anyway because He loves you.”  Amen to that!  Later on in the book, Grandchamp writes, “Christianity is a person.  It is a relationship with that person…our sin has caused a cavernous gap, one that we cannot – in our own effort – cross.  Christ is the bridge that reconciles us with God.  All we need to do is choose it.”  It’s my prayer that, if you’ve never done that, you would do it today.’

To conclude, as I’ve been looking back at blogs I’ve written, I realize just how different my life is now compared to when I started this blog back in 2011.  So much has changed.  I look back at some of those words from the past, and I don’t even feel like I am the same person as I was back then.  But one thing hasn’t changed: my zeal for someone to give up the fight and yield their heart and life to Jesus Christ.  On Christmas 2011, I ended that blog by saying, ‘It would be the privilege of my life if just one person saw their need for Jesus, and through simple words in a blog, someone chose to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.  That’s my earnest hope and my sincere prayer.’  That remains my heart’s sentiment today.

Kevin

Blogs of Christmas past #3 - Jesus' destiny

I am continuing on in my presentation of what I’m calling ‘blogs of Christmas past’.  This next installment was written in 2015.

‘One of the interesting aspects of the superhero genre for me is the origin story.  The origin story is almost like the prologue before the main event.  For example, a young Bruce Wayne witnesses his parents brutally murdered right before him.  This forever changes the course of his life.  He wants to pursue justice.  It takes him decades, but he ultimately puts on a cape and cowl and becomes Batman.  But that’s only his origin story.  Any superhero has a story of their humble origins, but it’s only the beginning act.  Many battles are still going to be fought.

In a similar way, the account of Christmas is really just an origin story.  So many seem to believe that the entire saga ends with Jesus in a manger; this is simply not the case.  This was only the beginning, the prologue, the origin story.  Jesus grew up and lived out His destiny.  What was Jesus’ destiny?  From the moment Jesus was born in that manger, it was His destiny to give His life on a cross to pay the penalty of the sin of mankind. 

Why would His death accomplish this?  Because Jesus is God incarnate, or to put it in simpler terms, God in human flesh.  Every Christmas we hear these words, and it’s easy for us to gloss over them, but listen to this again.  “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin shall be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means, “God with us.”” (Matthew 1:22).

Jesus was fully man, He was also fully God.  Immanuel – God with us.  That’s why His sacrifice on the cross is so important.  Only Jesus, the God-man, could take on the role of sin-bearer for mankind’s sin.  This Christmas season, I’m remembering Jesus’ sacrifice made for you and me, out of pure love.  Let me illustrate this:

I was so intrigued by a storyline in a recent episode of “The Flash”.  Two villains teamed up and hatched a near perfect plan.  They placed one hundred bombs throughout the city.  They threatened to detonate them and murder thousands of innocent people.  But what they actually wanted to do was destroy The Flash.  Check out this choice they give to the hero.

“Here’s how it’s going to be: you are going to stand there, and let me end you, very publicly and very painfully, and I’ll let everybody live.  But if I see if a little flicker of electricity on you [in other words, if he attempts to run], casket makers in this town are going to have a very merry Christmas.  So, Flash, what’s it going to be?”  Selflessly and heroically, The Flash concedes and lets the villains pummel him.  Blow after blow hits him, and even though he has the power to fight back or flee, he doesn’t. 

As I watched this unfold, I was thinking, “He intends to give his life as savior for the city.”  Ultimately, The Flash doesn’t die.  Thanks to the quick thinking of his friends, the bombs were diffused; the crisis was averted.  But I hesitate to even mention that detail.  The fact is, he was ready to give his life for the citizens he loves.  This is a Christ-like scene.  Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrated His love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us.”  1 John 2:2 says that Jesus is “the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world.”  I am so thankful for Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross for my sin.  Without that, I would have no hope.’

Kevin

Blogs of Christmas past #2 - Joseph's righteousness

Last time, I began sharing Christmas themed blogs that I’ve written over the years.  Today, I want to look at a blog that I wrote in 2014 about Joseph.  I began by describing how Mary might have told Joseph the news that she was pregnant.

‘“An angel from Heaven came to me,” Mary remarks.  “I was told that the Holy Spirit was going to “overshadow” me.  God has chosen me for a special privilege: to give birth to the Son of God.”  What was Joseph’s initial reaction to all this?  First of all, the law in that day stated that the consequence for infidelity was death (Deuteronomy 22:20-24).  But Joseph, we are told, didn’t want to bring shame and disgrace to her.  Joseph was simply going to, “Divorce her quietly” (Matthew 1:19).  The betrothal was more binding than being engaged is today; it required much more than to simply call off the wedding.  A divorce was necessary to break the betrothal.

The overarching point here is that Joseph was gracious.  He could have been vindictive, cruel, and unkind toward Mary upon her announcement that she was pregnant by someone (or better stated ‘Someone’; capital S) other than Joseph.  But he didn’t go that route.  He was sympathetic, kind, and civil with her.  He wasn’t going to marry her anymore, but what a gesture by Joseph here!  He simply was going to “divorce her quietly” and move on with his life.

 

But that’s when God intervened.  To summarize Matthew 1:20-22, an angel speaks to him in a dream.  He tells Joseph that Mary is speaking the truth, the baby is indeed from the Holy Spirit; he is to go ahead with his original plan and marry her.  Notice Joseph’s response in verse 24; it says, “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.”  Joseph obeyed.

Consider what God was asking him here.  To go back to that situation was to endure scorn, ridicule, and condemnation from everyone in town.  Once again, it’s not like our day where a couple might have a baby and then get married.  It was a very different world back then.  But Joseph said, though his actions, “I’m in.  Sign me up.  I’m going with God’s plan.”  Well done, Joseph!  By the way, God communicated with Joseph by dream on three other occasions.  Each time, the text says that Joseph was obedient to what God revealed to him.

Matthew 1:25 highlights something else regarding Joseph’s character; check this out: “But he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son” (NASB).  Wow!  It’s one thing to practice sexual abstinence before marriage, but it’s an incredible thing for me to contemplate being sexually pure and chaste after marriage.  What restraint and self-control Joseph had to resist his natural, God-given urge to have sex with his new wife until Jesus was born!

 

In conclusion, Joseph is an unsung hero in the Christmas story.  Mary had an incredible privilege of being the virgin that God chose to give birth to Jesus.  Her faith and trust in God is commendable.  But Mary was not alone; God chose a special man too.  Joseph had an important part to play as well.  He displays several admirable characteristics for us.  Joseph truly was, as it says in Matthew 1, “a righteous man” (verse 19).’

Kevin