The word Christmas can make us think of many different things. Many of our families enjoy long-lasting traditions, such as exchanging gifts, reading the passage about Jesus’ birth, or having a meal with our extended family. As I write this, it’s snowing for the first time this season, and it makes me excited for the coming of Christmas. These things make great memories for us, but do they help us focus our attention upon the real meaning of the season?
I’m sure you have heard this said before. The “true meaning of Christmas” has been defined by many different Christmas movies. They tell you that the true meaning of Christmas is hope, or love, or generous giving. Pagan tradition has taken the celebration of Christ’s birth and made it their own, making the date to land on the winter solstice, which was the celebration of Baal (the sun god)’s birth. It’s important, then, to refocus our attention on Christ’s birth instead of the secular Christmas celebrations.
But what does refocusing our attention really look like?
Even the Merriam-Webster dictionary agrees that Christmas is defined as “a Christian feast…that commemorates the birth of Christ.” Before we had Santa Claus or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Christ was the center of this age-old holiday. His birth was a symbol of the salvation of mankind: Emmanuel, God With Us. Even the wise men’s gifts to baby Jesus were what originated the spirit of generosity in today’s holiday gift-giving traditions. Refocusing on Christ doesn’t mean a dramatic sacrifice of all Christmas gifts or decorations that aren’t about Jesus. It simply means remembering what Christmas is about, and rejoicing in Christ’s coming as the center of our holiday season.
If you look at the book of Luke, you’ll notice that it highlights much of Jesus’ birth and the events leading up to it. Why does Luke spend so much time talking about one event in Jesus’ life, when he hurries through many of Jesus’ miracles and most of his life on earth? Obviously, there’s something very important about this moment in history.
The reason behind why the Bible covers this important event in such detail is simply the miracle that it provided. This was what all of Scripture had been leading up to: the Messiah that God had promised for centuries. Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Micah 5:2 promises that “you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” This wasn’t just any miracle; it was the event that all of history had led up to. This was the Israelites’ promised King.
But it wasn’t just their King. It was our King. As Christians, Christ’s birth should be of great significance to us. If it had never happened, Christ would not have walked with us, died for us, or rose for us. Indeed, the incarnate Christ was the means for our salvation; if he had not lived a perfect life as fully God and fully man, he could not have died a perfect death to take our sins.
As we then consider our mindset this Christmas season, I implore you to take a minute and praise God for what he has done through Jesus Christ. As Mary sings in Luke 1:48-49, “From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me–holy is his name.”
Holy is his name, my friends. He has indeed done great things for us!