That word sparks a thousand images in our minds, some of them good, some of them... less than pleasant. As a child, I (tried) to patiently wait the agonizingly long month between Thanksgiving and Christmas and by the Christmas Eve service at church, all I wanted to do was go to sleep so I could wake up and it would be Christmas.
And then I grew up.
And that terrible thing that happens to children when they turn into adults (that all children swear won't happen to them) happened to me. I saw suffering on one side of the globe and disgusting excess on the other. I heard people who love each other tear each other down with their words because of the stress of "the holidays." There was no "peace on earth" and very little "goodwill toward men" going around. People were still acting like people, just dressed up in fancy holiday clothes.
And it made me cynical.
I know, I know. I'm 23 years old and I just called myself cynical. But its true. "What's the point?" I asked myself. "Why do we do this every year!"
The point is this: Jesus.
The woman in the sparkly, red Christmas dress needs Jesus. The exhausted Wal-Mart employee who has dealt with the sparkly, red Christmas dress need Jesus. The 5-year old son of the Wal-Mart employee needs Jesus. The 5-year old son's teacher needs Jesus. The teacher's husband needs Jesus.
You need Jesus.
I need Jesus.
When you look around you and see the fighting and cold shoulders and stress induced outbursts that everyone makes jokes of for the rest of the year, you're looking at the reason we have Christmas at all.
Because that's human nature. That's why we need Jesus. To save us from ourselves, and for that He gave Himself. He took on our flesh so we could take on His nature.
Sometimes people call Christmas Jesus' birthday, and, I suppose, that's true. But it's so much more than that. The Christmas Jesus is a sweet, tiny baby. The bloody Jesus on the cross is for Easter. It would be more comfortable to keep Him there- to not get the manger dirty with blood. But that's impossible, for they are one and the same Jesus. Because of Christmas, Easter happened. Because of Christmas Pentecost happened. And because of Christmas Revelation 21 and 22 will happen. Christmas day it all began.
It's that day that the great divide between men and God was breached. The day the Champion entered the ring. The day heaven and earth kissed. The day hope was renewed in tired, watchful souls. The day light came into darkness. The day of the Bridegroom. The day that promises made in the Garden of Eden were kept.
Jesus said, "Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." Let's follow Abraham's example and rejoice this Christmastime. Be happy and enjoy the festivities and uniquely Christmas activities, yes. But most of all, rejoice that salvation came to you. Revel in who Jesus is, both baby and man, and what He did in the manger and on the cross.
