The Reason for the Season
December 18, 2024
Dr. Paul Cannings
The Christmas season does not erase all the events that may have occurred in our lives this past year. For some people, it may be an added financial burden. For some, the pain of losing a loved one heightens in this season because of all the things that the person did during Christmas that are missed. Christmas may be the culmination of events, but it does not erase them. A reflection on what Christmas was like for those who God used to establish this magnificent act of God in human history may refresh us.
When you reflect on what Christ meant for Joseph, Mary, and all the mothers in Jerusalem who had lost their sons, it was a very stressful time. Joseph, who had to make plans for a year to build a house and prepare for a wedding, is told by his fiancé that she is with a child immaculately conceived from God. This thrusts her life and his as well in a direction they never imagined. Her life has now moved from Bethlehem to a dirty manger on a journey to Egypt. A journey with no rest stops, no hotels, or restroom facilities for anyone can not be pleasant. I can’t imagine that for a pregnant woman. There are some glorious moments of angels, shepherds in the field, and Magi with gifts, but that does not erase what it was like for them day-to-day trying to care for an infant in a distant land with a husband who had to find work each day. They did not become rich because Jesus was given to them. They did not become powerful. They had to move from one place to another, brave the winter, and face several challenges. Mary had to bury her husband (now a single mother with several children) and watch her oldest son wrongfully accused and nailed to a cross. At the cross, she needed a home; Christ provided her protection through John. How could they endure all of this, and Mary and her son eventually accept Him as the Christ, her Savior (Acts 2:14)?
Christmas, then, was about purpose, and it should remain that way. It is about Immanuel, God being with us. It was, therefore, honorable, not just stressful. As a result of the resurrection, He is permanently with us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16). The world cannot say Christ was not born. It is an event in space and time, historical and factual. The only debate that is left is the resurrection. If we lose the purpose, the debate gets more decisive for the doubters. So, like Herod, the world wants to steal it and call it the holidays (the world doesn’t do that for any other religion). It’s about Santa Claus and reindeer. It is about shopping and eating, not worship like the shepherds and Magi. Just like Herod, they try to profit from Christ’s birth rather than be saved by His death and resurrection.
What does Christmas mean to you?