Occasionally the Internet will save us I suppose, and online shopping can sometimes steer the ship into safer waters. But here you run into the same problems: stock shortages, lengthy delivery times, and the usual stress. The venue may change, but the seasonal commercialism stays constant. It is so often all about money.
I remember one season when a local news station ran a story about Black Friday shoppers at a Walmart. The geographic location escapes me now, but I remember well the video showing people rushing over one another to buy up merchandise at discount prices. Small children and the elderly were getting knocked over onto the floor. A mad dash to meet the demand of the Christmas holiday. But honestly, what type of celebration is this? I doubt really that it's for God (not the God of the Bible anyhow).
But rather, our need to acquire things has replaced the spirit of giving, and the dread of having disappointed children or family members on Christmas morning may have replaced reverence and awe for the creator. So the masses will go to any length to acquire the perfect present, and to keep up with other families during the holiday season. We must have our new smart phone or pair of shoes at any cost.
So what does the Bible tell us when we look deeper into the Christmas story? Most of us know about the manger and the wise men. We have heard about the difficulty that Mary and Joseph had to go through in order to find a place to prepare for the arrival of baby Jesus. But let's examine together this passage of Scripture from Matthew 1:23. It says, "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means 'God with us')."
You will note that here Matthew is reproducing a portion of Scripture from the book of Isaiah. We are talking about what it means to have God with us. The arrival of the perfect penitent two thousand years ago meant that we now had the Son of Man with us on earth, event though just for a short time. He was able to eat and talk with us, able to teach us about the Kingdom of Heaven. God with us such that Jesus could show us what it means to love one another, to see and experience God's healing touch ... both to wash away Spiritual sin and physical suffering. His miracles always had layers of meaning.
What a time to be alive for those around him in first century Palestine! What an honor and a privilege to be one of his followers. And how far from this we have come, when I watch video of Black Friday shoppers rolling their carts on top of other people, so they can grab up the perfect gift.
We remember also a Scripture from Matthew 27:50-51: "And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom."
Now what does this have to do with Christmas you might wonder. You see, the temple we are referring to here was the center of religious life in Jerusalem at the time. It housed a thick curtain which separated the inner Holy dwelling place of God from the outside world. Only the high priest was permitted to enter this place once a year to make atonement for Israel's sins. This was serious business - you dare not enter unless you were the priest, and unless you went through the proper cleansing rituals first. It was a matter of life or death.
When Jesus cried out his last breath on the cross, the Bible tells us that this curtain was torn in half by way of a supernatural earthquake. Early traditions maintain the curtain was up to four inches thick! This action both symbolically and figuratively dispensed with the barrier between God and man. Jesus' death on the cross introduced the new covenant ... the idea that we are now saved by faith through grace. God replaced the rule book with the blood offering of his Son, once and for all time.
Now we are talking about a real gift here folks. This is the type of Christmas present that only a faithful and loving God could give to the world I think. You can't buy it on Amazon and you can't race to a store shelf at Walmart for this one.
Friends, this means that God's grace was now available to everyone, from that point forward. Is this a reason to buy gifts and celebrate giving? You bet, but so much more than that. It means 'God with us' ... Emmanuel. It means grace and life everlasting to those who take God up on his promise to accept Jesus as lord and savior. It means ... He desperately desires to welcome us home one day to be with Him. The arrival of Jesus to Joseph and Mary that day changed everything.
This is good news. The fact that God has chosen to be with us also means that you and I can enact His holy will in the world today. We can be obedient and follow His commands to forgive and love each other. You and I can reflect the Christmas story on a daily basis if we so choose. The Bible speaks often about the fact that the Kingdom of Heaven is both coming, and has come. If we are born again friends, we need not wait around for life after death. We get to transact God's goodness to other people here and now on planet earth. Christianity is a living faith - it does something. It gets us up and moving around.
It appears then, that we have the Christmas story, so that we can also have the salvation story! This is what a loving God does for his children. This is what all the Christmas season fuss is about. This is the best gift we could receive from the Father of Lights, wouldn't you agree?
Romans 10:9 is one of my favorite pieces of Scripture in all the Bible because it's just so simple. It says, "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Allow this truth to permeate your family this holiday season. Let the peace and comfort of God welcome you back home and into His open arms. Let this be a welcome home Christmas.
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