The truth is, most everyone that i know agrees that Christmas is too commercialized; there is too much interest in Santa Claus, too much money spent on gifts, and not enough time spent engaging the "reason for the season." Yep, I agree, I hear that a lot. Great philanthropy takes place during the Christmas holiday and I for one, am grateful, even if its spirit is short-lived. But here's the thing, the challenges that have beset Christmas are not specific to Christmas, but represent a general disinterest in the person of Jesus, His church, and his kingdom, and that is symptomatic of the entire year. I honestly don't think that such cultural cliches that dominate the Christmas landscape represent me or Debbie, nor do they represent my children, or most of the believers I spend time with. I do sense that the increasing demands placed upon us to complete the many tasks associated with Christmas, even valid ones, can rob us of the valuable time we should spend contemplating the Savior, His incarnation, His birth, and the ultimate reasons for it all.
So with that in mind, I wish to focus on the person of Christ and offer some suggestions for our contemplations about him this Christmas. These thoughts came alive in my mind as the Spirit led me to the passage in John 12, where the Greek disciples approached Philip and said, "Sirs, we would see Jesus." Great thought don't you think, especially at Christmas? How about this Christmas... Can we see Jesus? Can we rebuild a theology of Jesus? So, for starters, consider...
We need a God (Jesus) to Save us. Think about the condition of our world. In many very critical aspects, our world is little changed from the complexities and inequalities of life that Joseph faced, or the needs that were up close and personal to him. Forget prosperity, forget a life lived in relative ease, forget even what we should know about God and his world; what we really need, is to know that we are saved, that we have a home in heaven, that our sins are forgiven, and that our eternity is secure. When the Angel told Joseph in Matthew 1:21, " You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins," he was speaking to the needs of people just like us, who all eventually realize the enormity of their future state. You remember the thief on the cross; this man was fresh out of options and hope when he said to Jesus, "Remember us when you get you your kingdom." He knew that money and influence, even mercy, had run its course. And then there was that Roman jailer in Philippi, who, after the the "jailbreak" that wasn't, sought to end it all,only to realize that Paul was still there. What a paradox. All those years in the Roman Army with its expectations of "Pax-Romana" could not free this man from the inner torment associated with his failure and the uncertainty of his own future.
When Joseph heard the angel proclaim that Jesus would "save" his people from their sins, he knew all too well that the angel's comments spoke not to a physical salvation from the Romans, or a salvation from disease or distress; but rather a salvation from the sin that had so ravaged the world; that its answer in Jesus, the Savior made incarnate by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit in Mary's tiny frame, was the only real solution amid a long running series of promises proffered by an number of pseudo- Messiahs. So then, like Joseph, in a world I cannot fully understand or trust, I am drawn to the Savior at Christmas; I trust his counsel, and most importantly, He, like none other, is uniquely qualified to save me; for only He possesses the deity and the desire to be the solution to my most fundamental need of life-- and he delivers it in the most dynamic fashion. MJC
Next time, Sirs, Give us a God (Jesus), who can really help us!
MJC
