Tonight is Christmas Eve – the night before the second most holy day of the Christian year. All across the world, families and friends gather to celebrate and share in various Christmas traditions. It can be easy with all the great food, family visiting, and the games and pageantry to forget the real reason we gather together at this time of the year. The traditional Christmas movies, music, the tree and all its decorations and lights, and the great meal many of us will be enjoying over the next couple of days can easily distract us that we are celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Without Him, there would be no Christmas celebration, no Christmas day dinner, and no Christmas music. Without Christ, there would be no redeemer to bridge the ever-widening gap between God and man.
At the church that I attend, last night our pastor read the story of the Lord Jesus’ birth out of the gospels of Luke and Matthew. As he shared those scriptures that I’ve read many times, I cannot help but to marvel at the way that He first appeared to man as the hope of our eternal redemption. He chose to be born in the way we all are born. He chose to live among us and to experience all that we experience. He chose to enter life as a child so that He would understand the prayers of every child who has ever uttered the prayer, “Lord, my parents just do not understand me…” He chose to live through the teenage years, so He would understand the prayers of the teenager who cries “Lord, I don’t fit in, where do I belong…” and “my parents are being unreasonable…” He chose to live life as an adult and face all the problems faced by us so that He would understand our prayers of “Lord, I don’t know how I am going to pay for this…”, “I feel alone, Lord,” and “I just don’t understand why…” This is one of the reasons there had to be that very first Christmas.
You see, He came to live among us and fashioned like us so that we can take all our cares and worries to Him. I believe that this is the very reason why the apostle Peter wrote, Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you (1 Peter 5:7). No doubt that Peter had experienced what we all do – we share our pain or fears with a family member or a friend and they laugh or make light of what we tell them. Peter understood that Jesus would understand all our fears and concerns; He would not be dismissive of even the smallest of our worries. We have the ability to approach our Lord and Savior with anything without fear of Him not understanding because He has literally “been there too.” When I think of the other religions that mankind places their faith in, there is no other where God has come down to dwell among men.
A while back ago, I was flipping through a hymnal at a used bookstore in Evansville. As I came to the Christmas hymn section of the book, I was interested in the songs selected to see if any of the older, more traditional hymns had been replaced with more modern songs. I was excited to see that my favorite Christmas hymn, What Child is This? had been included in that particular hymnal. As I read over the lyrics, I became horrified as I noticed that the second and third verses did not have their original and respective choruses, but that the song had been “arranged” by one of the editors of the hymnal. Particularly disturbing is that without the second chorus, the entire meaning of the song was changed – “nails, spear, shall pierce him through, the cross he bore for me, for you. Hail, hail, the Word made flesh, the Babe, the Son of Mary.” The song, as sung since the eleventh century, not only celebrates the birth of Jesus, but reminds all who sing and hear it that He came to bear our sins on the cross. Without the cross, there would be no reason for the birth of Jesus.
As you celebrate this Christmas with your family and loved ones, don’t forget the real reason we celebrate this season. From my family and me to yours, Merry Christmas.
