So This Is Christmas

We all know what Christmas is. It's hustle and bustle, running around getting double the work done in half the time. It is disappointment and over-anticipation and greed. No, no, that's not it. That's a jaded view. What is Christmas? It is snow and jingling bells. It is good cheer and a warm fire. It is time spent with loving family and good friends. It is trees and lights and decorations. It is giving and getting gifts. It is Nativity scenes and maybe even an annual visit to church. It is peace and love and joy to the world.

I suppose, then, that we've missed it ... almost entirely. Because, while these may be the trappings of Christmas, they are not Christmas.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil 2:5-8)

I find in that text the clearest message of Christmas. "He emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." Christmas is the celebration of God-born-Man, the arrival of the king in the manger. Perhaps we Americans can't even conceive of that collision of ideas--king in a manger. We think of everyone being equal (mostly), so "king" isn't so much. But we're looking at God taking on creature form in the most profound statement of humility this world could ever know.

I find in that text the clearest message of Christmas. "And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." Everybody who is born will die. That's a given. But we are not born for the purpose of dying. Not us. But He was. We spend our lives running from the grave; He came to occupy it. We celebrate on Christmas His arrival, but we do so with His departure in mind because that was His purpose. And this was God's most magnificent gift to us.

We have Christmas trees because someone a long time ago used a pine tree to illustrate that Christ is stronger than any evil. Good to remember. We have lights because Martin Luther thought they reminded him of the glory of God's creation. Right to recall. We give gifts because Christ is God's gift to us and because the wise men gave gifts to the Baby. Excellent to keep in mind. We have a Santa Claus based on an early saint who gave to save children. Don't forget. Mistletoe is a reminder of love. Remember love. Some even use the candy cane as a reminder of the purity of Christ and the blood He shed. These aren't bad. They're all reminders. But they are not Christmas. They're only the finger pointing to the moon. Let's not get caught staring at the finger.

Christmas meets with mixed reviews among the devout. "It's a pagan holiday," some will complain. And I understand why. The popular notion is that the church took over the holiday from the pagans--redeeming the holiday, so to speak. Everyone knows that, right? Maybe. Maybe not. "It's full of blasphemies and pagan celebrations." Perhaps. Others push such concerns aside and simply enjoy the celebration--the lights and tinsel and Nativity scenes. "Sure, it may not be Jesus's actual birthday, but we can still celebrate." I would hope, wherever in that spectrum you fall, that you would take time to celebrate the God who clothed Himself in skin to be born in a manger for the purpose of dying for your sin. Whether or not other impurities have been mixed in to our popular observances, surely that is worth remembering and proclaiming. I know I will.