The Christmas Intruder
Interesting
but provocative title! I apologise if I offend anyone
But
what is Christmas?
Christ is its root word, Christmas is the Christian celebration
of the birth of Jesus Christ and is held on 25th December. A bit of
history here, to get a sense of the accuracy of the date. The first chapter of the Gospel of Luke places the
appearance of the Angel Gabriel to Zechariah, while he was worshipping God in the temple during the observance of Yom Kippu, which is celebrated around October. The same chapter tells us that Jesus was conveived six months after John the Baptist, that places the
conception of Jesus around March and hence born in late December.
The
true meaning of Christmas was distorted in the 19th century and had
nothing to do with Christ. It was a shift from a religious to secular culture.
And Santa was created to replace Christ and the true meaning of the advent of
Christ would be replaced with gifts that are given to the poor without
expectation of anything in return and to children.
Santa Claus is the intruder
Santa is supposed to have power like God, transcendent, he is not limited to the physical
laws of the world. He can fly the entire planet in 24hours. Santa is also
omnipresent because he sees you when you are sleeping, he is omniscient because
he knows if you are doing good or bad things. Santa is surrounded with other mystical
beings, the elves who are not constrained by the laws of creation.
Santa
Claus operates in the paradigm of benevolent promises and benign threats. He rewards
you with gifts if you are good and won’t if you are bad. But in reality, everyone
is rewarded with a gift and any naughtiness is forgiven and every year is a
repeat.
In
fact, Santa is a fictional ‘heavenly’ being with a questionable
character, he does not tell the truth. He makes empty threats, demands good works,
rewards the disobedient and only shows up once a year. Those traits fall short
of the true GOD who only speak the truth, keeps all his promises, judges those
who reject Him, gives salvation by grace through faith and not by good works and
is always present.
The
irony of Christmas is that everyone welcomes Santa Claus and thinks of Jesus Christ
to be an unwelcomed intruder. The nativity scene also freezes on Jesus, he is
represented as a helpless new-born babe and nothing more.
The
synoptic gospels tell us that the babe in the manger grew up and he is no
longer an infant. He is Jesus the Messiah, God incarnate, the revelation of God’s
glory and the true image of God: “The
Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being,
sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification
for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in
heaven.” (Hebrew 1:3).
To
understand the true meaning of Christmas, we need to understand the who is the
Person of Christmas: Jesus Christ himself.
Advent is a season that is observed by many Christian churches as a time of preparation to celebrate the true meaning of the birth of Christ and to celebrate the second coming of Jesus Christ. It starts on the 1st of December and ends at midnight on the 24th of December. According to Church traditions, each of the four Sundays before Christmas, reminds us of those who were given the promise for the coming of Christ. The Patriarchs, i.e. Abraham, the father of faith, David the ancestor in whose city Jesus was born. The 2nd Sunday, we remember the prophets who foretold of the coming of the Messiah. On 3rd Sunday, we are reminded of John the Baptist, who proclaimed the Saviour and lastly, but not least, Mary, the mother who bore him in her womb. I pray that during the month of December, we remember the pathway that prepared the birth of Christ so that we can celebrate his birth collectively with families and friends.
Many
people gladly celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas and then choose to
forget or ignore Him for the rest of the year. They adore Him as a baby but forget
to pay homage to Him as the Godman.
Christmas
is not only about the birth of our saviour; it is about His deity. The humble
birth of Jesus Christ was never intended to conceal His authority. Yet God
became a baby and grew to be a man. He was God incarnated among us. Our minds
cannot understand why God was born in a manger, He was infinitely rich and powerful,
and He became poor, he was born in the lowest place on earth.
In
Matthew 1:21, we read: “And she shall bring forth a Son; and thou shalt call
His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin.” 1 John 3:5 says: “And
ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins;” 1 John 4:14 says: “And
we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of
the world”.
Jesus
was fully God – all wise and all powerful. The gospel of John begins with a
clear statement: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being
through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into
being.” (John 1:1-3). Who is the Word spoken in these words? Verse 14 removes
any doubt: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His
glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The
Biblical evidence is overwhelming that this child in the manger was the incarnation
of God. Jesus came to earth to redeem mankind from sins and to accomplish the
redemptive purpose of God.
The
heart of Christmas is this: Christ came into the world to save sinners. Christ
was manifest to take away sin. Luke 1:31, the angel Gabriel said to Mary: “You
shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin”. And the
real beauty of Christmas is to understand the ugliness that it cures. It cures sin.
My
previous blog on Amazing Grace (https://www.biblefootprint.co.uk/2019/09/amazing-grace.html)
speak details on the plan of God to save mankind.
My
friend, how will you respond this Christmas to who it is that we remember and
worship? You can ignore Him and replace Christmas with Santa Claus, the
intruder or you can worship Jesus as God.
The
choice is yours. Choose well my friend.
Joseph Hart (18th century Calvinist Minister in London) wrote,
Come ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore.
Jesus ready stands to save you, full of love and power.
He is able.
He is able.
He is willing.
Doubt no more.
He is able.
He is able.
He is willing.
Doubt no more.
Come ye weary heavy laden, bruised and mangled by the Fall.
If you tarry till you are better, you will never come at all.
Not the righteous, not the righteous, sinners Jesus came to call.
Not the righteous, not the righteous, sinners Jesus came to call.
Shall we pray:
Indeed, oh Lord, we know that this is the truth. This is a trustworthy word and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Yes, that is the beauty of Christmas. That is the glory of Christmas. The wonder, the beauty is not a tree, or a decoration, or lights, or scenery, the beauty is that the ugliness can be cured by the coming of the Saviour.
Our
Father, thank You for this glimpse of deity. We are stunned that the eternally
existing ever-redeeming blessing God lives in us. Oh, what a mystery, what a
joy, and may we realise this Christmas that as we look back at the birth of a
baby, He is the Christ, Messiah, sent to save mankind. And may we never mistake who the child was. And may we
fall in worship of you. We pray in the mighty and glorious name of Jesus
Christ.
Amen.
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