Who, What, and Why of Christmas
Who What Why of Christmas for paper 23 Rev. Terry Goerz, Redeemer Lutheran Church
“Christmas.” We soften the t when we pronounce it. Spell out C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S, and it is unmistakable. The first six letters form the title “Christ.” That’s Jesus. The promised seed. The avowed offspring. The covenant child.
Some want to take Christ out of Christmas. Some want to Hanukkah-ize (the Jewish festival) or Kwanzaa-ize (the African festival) that are both celebrated very near our Christmas festival. Then also some want to commercialize Christmas, forget the real meaning and just buy gifts and party. It doesn’t matter. The followers of Christ have never followed the world. Christmas will be Christmas for the Church even if all the world calls it by another name. For Christmas is the giving and sending of the Christ.
The Christ (Jesus) is the one God sent. The Christ is the one God gave. For our salvation. That the world might be saved through him. For whoever believes in him is not condemned. God, the loving Father, loves his world. How? In this way: that he gave his only Son. That he sent his only Son. That his sent Son had a purpose. Whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. The Christ of Christmas always will be Jesus of whom it is declared, “He will save his people from their sins”. Matthew 1: 21
We cannot set an exact date. But the nativity of our Lord Jesus, the Christ of God, probably happened between the fall of 5 BC and the spring of 4 BC. But what matters most is that the Christ cannot be taken out of Christmas, nor out of the history of the world. No other worldly figure is more documented than the Christ.
Jesus was born of a woman, the Virgin Mary to be precise, born under the Law to redeem those who were under the Law, another summary of his purpose, to redeem us. That’s you. That’s me. That’s the whole world.
That has been the universal quest since sin entered the world and our first father and mother, Adam and Eve, questioned, debated, doubted, and did not trust or obey the only God. They wanted more. They wanted to be like God. They wanted what the only God had not given because he knew that it would bring them death. Adam and Eve could not be like God and should have been perfectly happy with who they were and with what God gave. But they weren’t.
And neither are we. We are like them. We, too, are often dissatisfied. Youth wants age. Age wants youth. Homely wants beauty. A deformity wants a miracle. Poor wants riches. Small groups want to be bigger groups. A child opening a Christmas gift tonight will want others tomorrow, and parents will be tempted to buy more when the toys in the stores drop to half price. A delicious meal tonight will become leftovers tomorrow, despised because “We had this same food yesterday.”
Why are we dissatisfied? Because we want another Lord instead of the one revealed by the only God. We think we could be happier, prettier, better off, healthier, or wiser if . . . if we did things our way, if we had more control of our lives, if we could choose which way to follow God. It’s bunk. It’s a false, misleading dream. What more, it’s damningly deadly.
No writer of the Bible ever tries to prove God’s existence with a philosophical argument. The writers simply lay out the truth. Sin is real. Death is real. Damnation is real. This is what’s true. This is why the Christ was sent. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
This is the God we worship at Christmas and every day of our lives. Not because we are smart enough to find him or holy enough to deserve him or clever enough to make him want us. We didn’t decide to come to Christ. He came to us. He graced us. He chose us. He loves us. He forgives us. It Is Jesus Who makes Christmas What it is and why it is. He is our gift, given by grace, and who came with the specific purpose to redeem us from our sin.
Blessings.