It’s officially 17 days ’til Christmas. Jesus’ birthday is bearing down on us.
That is, if you ignore the whole “wasn’t born on the 25th of December” nonsense, of course.
As we gear up to “celebrate Jesus” (with a celebration that tends to look a whole lot more like it’s celebrating us) the question must be asked – which Jesus are we celebrating?
MIRACLE BABY IN A MANGER
Millions of people around the world will soon be singing that much-loved Christmas carol, ‘Away in a Manger’, with that completely ridiculous line ‘the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes’.
Unless that was the real miracle of the Christmas story? Because you have a baby who is living in a cold and damp stable, surrounded by stinky animals, lying on hay (Have you ever felt hay? It’s sharp and prickly and if you’re sitting or lying on it, it can get itchy). I’m no parent, but if you’re telling me that this baby isn’t screaming his lungs out, at least for a good portion of the time, then this story is really unbelievable.
“But it’s just a song!” Yes, but if we’re singing lines in a song that aren’t true, do we need to be questioning what else about Christmas time we have edited to make it sound and feel good?
TIS THE SEASON TO BE GREEDY
The reality is that Jesus came into the world to swim against the tide. He came to tackle the present Empire and show it to be contrary in almost every way to the kingdom that He came to proclaim.
We see it in His life.
Jesus was constantly reaching out to those who were marginalised – woman and children pushed to the outskirts of the crowd; those of other cultures and those whose sickness literally kept them outside of the town; the poor and the destitute and the social pariah. Jesus called them near, and listened to them, reached out and touched them, invited them to follow Him.
We hear it in His words:
Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets. (Luke 6: 24 – 26)
But also, ‘Love your enemies’ and ‘Turn the other cheek’; ‘Choose between God and money’; ‘Rejoice when you are persecuted’ and ‘Deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow Me’.
We experience it in His death.
As a bloody, bruised and beaten Jesus uses some of His last breath, to speak out the unspeakable: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.
WHICH JESUS IS IT ANYWAY?
Christmas tends to be a time of greed – of selfishness and gluttony. All things that the Jesus we are meant to be celebrating was against.
In the way that we celebrate His birth, can we at least be reminded of His life and His death and all that those were meant to achieve. A connection with God and people that completely supersedes anything we have known or experienced before. One that refuses to spend thousands on our pleasure when there are people living without even their basic needs being met. And those people are right on our doorstep.
Jesus told a story about the rich man and a man named Lazarus in Luke 16. Abraham’s response to the rich man who calls out to him from hell in agony, should be a reminder and watch word for all of us as the season approaches:
Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.
Take a moment and ask yourself – are you celebrating the fictitious baby who doesn’t cry at all when placed upon scratchy, uncomfortable animal food? Or the Man who took off his cloak, got down on His knees and washed the feet of the people who followed Him, reminding us in action as well as word, that the one who is last will be first.
Let’s see if we can find creative ways of celebrating Jesus this Christmas that embrace who He was over who we are. Who are the people you can invite to your dinner table to enjoy the feast with you? Who are the families in need whose lives can be transformed by the gift you are able to give, as opposed to those around you who more than likely could have bought for themselves what you have got for them?
Which Jesus will you be celebrating? And how will you do so.