“Christmas” or “the Holidays?”
(Jet high over downtown Monroe)
What in America we call “the holidays” has, essentially, nothing to do with what “Christmas” is. It’s important to understand this since, in the minds of many, I think, the Christian idea of Christmas has been lost. Here are some differences.
#1 - Christmas has nothing - literally, NOTHING - to do with shopping. I’m not against shopping. I like to go to the mall with Linda and look around. I like the crowds and the lights and the music and the candy. Yet all these things and more have NOTHING to do with Christmas. What, then, is Christmas about? There’s a big clue in the word itself. Christmas has to do with “Christ.” What does that mean? The word “Christ” means “anointed King.” Jesus is “the Christ,” the anointed King. Time and space do not now allow me to expand on this rich theme.
#2 - Christmas has NOTHING to do with gift-giving. But what about the wise men who brought gifts? They came after Jesus was born. Yes they did bring gifts to honor Jesus’ birth. But they did not go shopping to buy gifts to give one another. But is it wrong to do that? I don’t think so. I love giving gifts to my family. But giving gifts to one another has NOTHING to do with Christmas. Except that, in Jesus, God gave a great gift to all humanity. For that Gift, I remain eternally grateful.
#3 - Christmas has NOTHING to do with tree-decorating. But surely it’s not wrong to have a Christmas tree, is it? I don’t think so. If anything, I think it’s wrong to have a fake tree. It’s clear to me that, had there been a lighted tree next to the cattle feeding trough Jesus was born in, it would have been a real tree, not a fake. I like decorating the tree every year. I really like the smell of pine in the morning when I get up. I very much like the lights, especially the old-fashioned large multi-colored lights. But of course all of this has NOTHING to do with Christmas. Read the original Christmas story in both Matthew and Luke and you won’t find any trees or lighted trees or tinsel and nothing about snow. Which leads me to #4.
#4 -Christmas has NOTHING to do with snow. When first-century Jews hoped for a Messiah (a “Christ”), not one of them was dreaming of a white Christmas. Those ancient people were under great political oppression. They could care less if it snowed or not.
#5 - Christmas has NOTHING to do with the economy. Personally, I have friends who are local retailers, and I hope they do well. I also like a stable American economy. But Christmas has NOTHING to do with a consumer economy. The angels were not rejoicing because Christmas sales were up as a result of the Christ being born. Get this: God’s Son was born into radical poverty. Mary ended up singing about how God would now finally help the poor and the hungry and the marginalized and the oppressed.
I like the holidays. For me, they remind me of times with my parents and brother when I was growing up. And times Linda and I had with our sons. They also remind me and Linda of a son of ours who died, which made one holiday season not so jolly. I like the holidays, but I love Jesus. When I became a follower of Jesus I left a life of drug and alcohol abuse forever. I doubt I’d be alive today if not for Jesus. Jesus still fills my life, now more than ever as I grow older. This time of the year is yet another opportunity to experience and encounter and think about the Christ, my Savior, and your’s too.