When you think about what the “Christmas season” means what are some of the images that come to the forefront of your mind? Are they images of Christmas trees covered with decorations, an infant surrounded by farm animals and two young parents, family gettogethers, presents galore? Or maybe all that you can see is red and green everything and can't wait for the season to be done. I am pretty sure that all of those things that we think about are good and wonderful things, but I want you to think about something else with me for just a moment. I want you to think about the cross. The cross where Jesus, that little infant baby now a grown up man, was crucified roughly 33 years after that first “Christmas.” Think about the beaten, bloody crucified Jesus who took all of our suffering and all of our punishment upon himself that day so long ago. Think about it long and good because that is the reason why we celebrate this Christmas season.
Don't get me wrong though. Christmas certainly is a time for celebration and good times with family and friends, but we cannot lose sight of the true meaning behind it. Sometimes I think that we get, I get, so caught up in the “Christmas” spirit that the significance of what we are celebrating gets kind of pushed into the background and not thought about as often as it should be. We sing our little Christmas carols and get the children all dressed up in their donkey and sheep costumes and have them sing about the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay. Which is a fantastic and an amazing thing in and of itself, God wrapped up in a poopy diaper mess, but really, what is the significance behind all of that. Is it just a cute time with the young'uns? I don't think so. I think that what it comes down to is that we are a sinful, screwed up people, that desperately needed God to come down to earth to make a way for us to enter back into a relationship with Him.
Please don't think of me as a scrooge. I absolutely love the Christmas season. I love the lights, the music, the get-togethers, and all the rest, but more than anything, especially this year, I love the Christ who came to rescue me from my sin and bring me back to the God who is crazy in love with me. Crazy enough to send a part of the Godhead into His creation as this little guy who couldn't take care of Himself to the point that the creator became dependent upon the created. Baffling huh? Take some time this Christmas season to think about it and thank the God, who became baby, who became man, who became the sacrifice that we all so desperately need.
As I personally think about Christmas this year and all that is encompassed within it the lyrics from the song "In the Bleak Midwinter" kind of summarize the only good and fitting response that I can think of to give. Here they are:
In the bleak midwinter, frost wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.
Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But his mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshiped the beloved with a kiss.
What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give him: give my heart.
by Justin Kantonen
originally posted December 2008
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