The wonder of Christmas and the greatest gift that was given to us is
often symbolized in the story of a farmer who heard his kitchen window
rattling one cold winter morning. He went to the window and saw tiny
sparrows who were attracted to his warm house, attempting in vain to fly
through the glass.
The farmer went outside and opened the door of his barn, hoping the birds
would fly in and take advantage of the shelter from the storm that it
offered. No luck. So, he spread about some bread crumbs in front of the
barn door and some just inside the barn door. Still no bird flew into the
barn. So he tried waving his arms about in an effort to shoo the birds
into the barn, but the man only succeeded in scattering the birds.
Discouraged, the farmer went back into his house and peered out at the
birds struggling in the storm.
“If I could only become one of them and lead them into the barn,” he
thought wistfully. Then it hit him! He realized that is exactly what God
had done in Jesus Christ! God had become human, so he could lead us out of
the storm of this life and into the shelter God offers us with him! That’s
the wonder of Christmas! It is, in fact, the very thing that many people
either refuse to believe about Christmas – as they have big meals and
celebrate – or what many others have forgotten!
Christmas can quickly and easily turn into a self-centered time of
getting for ourselves — a time when the emphasis is on materialism,
commercialism, parties and overindulgence. The Christmas Season is
supposed to be a time when we celebrate how God, in the person of Jesus,
came into our world to give himself to us and for us. Unfortunately, for
many of us, it turns into an orgy of excess and greed. Like the children
of Israel who had just received the Ten Commandments from God, we quickly
forget the true reason for the season — and begin to fashion our own
golden claves to worship.
Christmas and Easter are special times when our hearts and minds are
challenged to earnestly consider God’s profound love for us — but they are
also times when we are tempted to trivialize, minimize and overlook the
real meaning of the season.
Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers who threatened to turn
the worship of God in the temple into religious commercialism. The service
the money changers offered was not the problem — they were helping
pilgrims from other countries by exchanging foreign currency into coins
that could be used to pay the temple tax. The problem was they exchanged
that money at considerable cost to those using their services, and so
corrupted the worship of God into a commercial venture.
Christmas is not a time to get. It is not a time to try to have bigger
and better light displays than our neighbors. It is not a time for excess
or self-indulgence. It is not a time to turn our children into thankless
monsters who can think of nothing but more, more, more.
A Christ-centered Christmas doesn’t just happen. It takes intentional
planning and direction. It means we will resist the things that may easily
focus the emphasis of the season on ourselves rather than upon Christ.
Christmas is all about Christ — it’s not about us. Christmas presents us
with the challenge of remembering the meaning of Christmas and
communicating that meaning to others while many around us are engaged in
one big chaotic orgy of spending, getting, grasping and indulging.
Jesus’ birth is an opportunity for us to re-focus our lives away from the
vanity, lust, greed, and rat-race of our world. Jesus’ birth is a
wonderful way to direct our hearts and minds to the eternal, lasting
values rather than the cheap and immediate.
Jesus became human so that he might point the way to heaven, not in order
for us to revel on this earth. He became one of us to help us come to know
that this life, with all its trinkets, toys, and baubles, is not all there
is. He came to bring us his presence, which is a more precious gift than
any present money can buy.
Christmas reminds us that Jesus is the reason for the season. Jesus is
not a baby anymore, but wise men (and women) still seek him. Christmas
reminds us of the mystery and majesty of Immanuel — God with us [Matthew
1:23]. We marvel and ponder at the profound truth that Jesus continued to
be God while also becoming a baby. And not just any baby! Even though
Jesus is the Lord of all, The Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, he was not born into a royal family in a castle with lots of pomp
and ceremony — but a baby born into a blue-collar family. The only invited
guests to this one-time event were some blue-collar workers — lowly
shepherds who were on duty that night tending their sheep.
God invites us to stop, slow down, ponder and wonder at this time of the
year. These are great truths we should consider more than once a year, but
the beauty of Christmas is that at least once a year we cannot ignore the
fact that God in the person of Jesus became one of us. He became a baby so
that the cradle would lead to the cross which would lead to the tomb,
which would become empty and remain so, for Christ is risen — and lives
that we might live!
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