Spoiler alert: some of this article will not surprise you, but I believe some of it maybe will. At least some of it will sound a little strange to you at first. I ask you to hang with me and hear me out. So, here goes.
There is just no escape. Christmas comes again with the hydraulic pressure of commercialism. It comes again with the pandemic of consumerism. It comes again with the mountain slide of expectations and deadlines and to-do lists.
That being said, it is heartening to know that at least a reasonable number of people are brought to their senses with a phrase that surfaced in it’s present form not too many years ago. This motto and mantra brings many of us to a place of calm reality amid the chaos of modern Christmas culture. That phrase is “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.” Amen!
Oh that we would not just give lip service to this, but that we would actually live by it and order our lives at Christmas accordingly. Amen!
What this declares, of course, is that the heart of Christmas is in our knowledge that Christmas (it is Christ’s Mass) marks the human birth of Jesus, God’s only Son, who came from heaven to be born into our human race. We know from St. Luke and St. Matthew in Holy Scriptures that he was born of the virgin Mary, with Joseph as His earthly father, and that angels made the announcement to shepherds, and that Wise Men from the East brought Him gifts and worshipped Him.
This is the true meaning of Christmas, and our lives are best lived purposed and focused with this at the center of all we do. Amen!
“Jesus is the Reason for the Season.”
However, a further look and a deeper dive might call for a change in the wording of this great reminder. I admit that we will not change the phrase in any permanent way, but maybe what follows will make us even more mindful of the real and true meaning of this declaration.
A Bible passage that captures the full meaning of the entire Scripture is Galatians 4:4-5 from the New Testament. Much like John 3:16 is “The Gospel in a Nutshell,” so also is this passage.
It reads, from The Message Bible, “But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage.”
So, the fact is that Jesus came down to earth at Christmas, having been sent by God the Father. But the fact also is that, according to Holy Scripture here in Galatians and throughout the Bible, the “Reason” He came, the “Reason” he was born was because we humans, in the words of The Message, had been “kidnapped” and we were in dire need to be rescued, “redeemed.”
We were under the spell and condemnation of our fallen sinful nature, going back to Adam and Eve in the garden. We had fallen from the perfect relationship with God and deserved nothing but His wrath and punishment.
We were lost and condemned with no hope of ever doing enough or being good enough to make things right with God. Our relationship with God was broken. We couldn’t fix it. God had to fix it. So Christ came down for us. We are the reason He was born in Bethlehem
Yes, “We are the Reason for The Season!” Our problem was so bad that Jesus had to come down. “Christmas” had to happen because of us.
So, what does this mean for us now? How does this affect how we spend this Christmas?
Here’s what it means. It reminds us and declares us that Jesus loves us so much that He came to save us. And when we add what we know about His suffering and death on the cross for us, and when we see forward to His glorious resurrection on that first Easter morning, we are absolutely overwhelmed with gratitude and joy and peace and hope and strength. These are all the things we want from Christmas, and we have them because Christ came down for us. For us!
We celebrate Christmas because Jesus did all this for us, and we are now restored to our place as sons and daughters of God Himself, as St. Paul declared to the Galatians.
Here’s your takeaway. Every day and every time life falls heavy upon you, judging you and cheating you and sending you to despair, you know that you meant enough to Jesus that He came down to save you and give you His love and His peace and His strength and His rest. Can it get any better than that?
So, through the remainder of this Christmas season, I ask you to ponder all that I’ve said here. I ask you to look and see the times and events of the season where Jesus’ love for you comes shining through. I ask you to pay particular attention to the words of our Christian Christmas carols. Watch every time our lyrics speak of Jesus breaking through our failures, faults, and shortcomings to bring you His peace.
But please remember this, that when Jesus breaks through and comes to you again and again, as He did that first Christmas, your circumstances do not always change, but your world is different, better, because your life is filled with Jesus.
In the Christmas carol “It Came upon the Midnight Clear,” which is public domain so I can share it here, stanza three says it so well. Please read it here, and when you sing it, simply remember this, “We are the Reason for the Season.” Amen!
“And you, beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow:
Look now, for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing;
Oh, rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing.”
Amen!
