The Meaning of Christmas

IN THE NAME OF GOD; CREATOR, PAINBEARER AND SPIRIT OF LIFE AND LOVE

Luke 2:1-20 and John 1: 1-14

Let’s be quite honest about this – Christmas, for everyone, means presents! Some gifts are the result of much thought and love, others are bought in a state of panic as the person (usually a man) rushes through the shops on his way home from the office breakup party on Christmas Eve, frantically casting about in the hope of finding something of inspiration to (hopefully) bring happiness to his wife, who has weeks before bought all the gifts for the children and indeed her husband. With a bit of luck the complimentary gift wrapping service will still be operating and he can take home a gift that looks beautiful and appealing even if the size of the underwear is all wrong! It will usually be underwear too - usually the more inappropriate of design or colour and almost certainly the wrong size.

Children who are sometimes impossible to remove from their beds in the mornings are wide awake at the first glimmer of Christmas morning light – about 4.30am! They see with some satisfaction that the glass of whisky left out for Father Christmas is empty and that the reindeer’s carrot has been nibbled. But first priority is the pillow case or pile of prettily wrapped gifts at the end of their bed – somehow placed there in the night by that jolly old bearded gift bearer. Carefully wrapped presents are soon ripped open and with great excitement the parents are roused to see “what Father Christmas has brought me”.

We are all familiar with these aspects of the contemporary Christmas are we not? The capitalist society in which we live ensures that for months leading up to this day the focus of our attention is on gift purchases - the bigger and more extravagant the better of course. It doesn’t matter that our credit card has almost reached its limit – that January might be a bit tight to say the least – all thought of that is put to one side as we ensure our Christmas will be the best our family and ourselves can have. The stores and banks reap another great harvest!

The greatest gift has often been entirely overlooked. It is the gift of a child – and no ordinary child at that. Some 2000 years ago God gave humanity a gift that is unsurpassed. This was a gift that was very well planned and cost the earth – it certainly cost a life!

In our Gospel reading Luke tells us of the birth of Jesus.

The story is beautiful – it contains all the elements of a wonderful and fantastic tale. We are now all familiar with the shepherds in the fields, the choir of angels and the birth in the inn stable – what a romantic turn of phrase has Luke?

I want to compare that scene set by Luke with the setting of Jesus’ advent into the world as told by the Evangelist John. An alternative Gospel for today is John 1: 1-14.

The first verse of John’s gospel defines Jesus as the Logos in terms of:
‘Being’- i.e. he existed ... in terms of relationship -with God, and in terms of identity -was God!? This is not Luke's baby wrapped cosily and lovingly placed in a manger. By the turn of the first century John has defined this baby Jesus as God incarnate.

John goes further however. He relates how this man who was God incarnate born into this world, was totally rejected. Of course the experiences of the fledgling church during that first century had proven this beyond any doubt for John. Not only was Jesus, and his followers, rejected by the Roman authorities (witness the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian and others) but more hurtfully by his own people, the Jews. Whether we like it or not the shadow of the cross looms over the joys of Christmas – there is no Christmas without Easter – we should never forget that!

I read a true story about a legendary used-book shop in America.

The bookstore was owned by a man named "McCosh." McCosh was worse than a curmudgeon; he was a crusty, cynical, peevish man with an amazing collection of used books, if he would only let you look at them. (The books may have hinted that he had a nicer side, but it was well concealed.)

One year in December McCosh topped even himself when he put up a large banner across the front window of the store that said: "Put the X back in Xmas." It's pretty certain that McCosh only meant to be cynical, but in an odd way he said something important. Put the "X" back in Christmas. Put the "cross" back in Christmas. The birth of Jesus by itself never saved anyone. That’s shocking, but true.

Those who come to church only at Christmas and Easter (the old C and E instead of C of E) miss the heart of the gospel—they miss the point –the Son's obedience even unto death—So we must include it also at Christmas, the one Christian festival the world most embraces. (Prof. Marc Kolden, Professor of Systematic Theology, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota)

What did Jesus’ birth achieve then? Why did he come into this world? Who was he really? Was he, as John would tell us, more than just another human man? They are massive questions and can’t be answered in a brief sermon such as this. We can ask though, “What did his life achieve?” “Can it have a meaning for us in a totally different society in this 21st century?”

It is in Christ that we catch a glimpse of the nature of God. It is through Christ that we find a pathway which can lead us deeper into the mystery that is God. It is in Christ that we catch the aura of love and inclusiveness which emanates from God both through the sacrifice of his own life and through the lovely story of his birth.

What do we do when offered an unexpected present at this time? Usually, being of Anglo descent, we embarrassingly murmur things like, “Oh, you shouldn’t have”. “Oh for me – but I have nothing to give you in return?” - “Oh How wonderful and lovely of you - but I don’t deserve that”.

Today we celebrate the gift of God to humanity – The gift of Luke’s baby Jesus of Nazareth – the Cosmic Christ of St John - what are we going to say to God in return? The very least we can do is say “Thank you” and accept the gift with the joy it deserves!

May we all experience the joy, reassurance and deep peace that today can bring?

The Lord be with you.