Christmas with Jesus

A decorated tree, Christmas music, overindulging in festive food and gifts, what does Christmas mean to you? What is the point of it? Is there any value in its religious traditions and church services? Is there anything we can find in Christmas that is of lasting value? Does Jesus have a place in your Christmas?

Christmas means different things to different people. It has become swamped with traditions, with Christmas food and endlessly repeated music. It has become a celebration of consumerism. Some of us cherish seeing family and others dread exactly that! But what does it mean? What is the point of Christmas? To answer that question, we must step back and consider what religion does in people’s lives.

Why do people ‘do’ religion at all?

There is a problem that all religion has. If people worship a god similar to the ancient Greek or Roman gods then they might be relatable with their human-like form and foibles, but none of them is infinitely powerful. Their very human qualities limit them.

If a religion offers an infinite, all powerful, but distant god, then he remains unreachable. How do we relate to such a god in our weakness? The gulf between us and a distant infinite god seems too great for us to reach across.

There is another problem with religion. Religion in most forms is basically about how we as human beings can get something out of god or the gods. It typically follows a formula which in essence is: do this or that to gain favour and thus get what you want. Or, follow these rules and be rewarded with heaven or eternity. This basic formula holds true across an incredible number of religion traditions. Human effort is somehow supposed to appease or win the favour of god or the gods for our benefit, either right now or at some future day of reckoning.

Yet this leaves us with an unresolvable uncertainty. If religion is built on the basis of human effort, then we can never rest and never have certainty that we have done enough. How can we know if we have followed the rules well enough? Will our efforts have worked? There is no way out of that dilemma.

What if rather than starting with us and what we can do, God took the initiative? A different problem then presents itself. How could God who is powerful enough to make everything that exists, make Himself comprehensible to the people He has made?

This is the real story of Christmas; this is the genius of Christianity. God stepped into our world and began to work out the problem of suffering and pain by presenting Himself in human form and living a life like ours.

God's divinity revealed

It might sound too strange to be true, but as the life of Jesus of Nazareth unfolded, the divinity of God was revealed in the life of a man. Here is God who is infinite, now made personal and relatable. The life He lived, the people He healed, and all that He taught amplified what God is really like. Jesus Himself said,

That life culminated in the most cruel and tragic death possible; though innocent He was unjustly executed, in fact crucified, rejected by His own people, abandoned by His friends, rejected by the religious authorities of His day. 

In the life of Jesus, God is no longer distant, stern, unreachable. Now He is close, suffering alongside us. He is still the infinite creator of all that exists, yet He is humble enough to be born in a peasant village to unheard of parents. This is the King of the Universe stepping into the humblest of ordinary lives. He revealed more of Himself as He interacted with ordinary people.

And finally, He showed Himself all powerful, by rising from the dead after His undeserved execution. His promise to give a new eternal life to those who trust Him is then credible. If death cannot hold Him, then He is powerful enough to help you.

This is the miracle and wonder of Christmas. God did what we cannot do, He bridged the gap between the divine and the human. He took the initiative. Jesus is Immanuel, which means 'God with us'.

The real gift of Christmas is that Jesus shows us that God is the God who cares, but also the God who dares to step into our rebellious world to lead us back to lasting hope.

Christmas is much more than a story of a baby in a manger. It is the beginning of the greatest life ever lived. It is the way that God has shown all people, for all time, that He is approachable, knowable, patient and kind, yet still infinitely powerful. 

Christmas is a miracle of God’s initiative. Why not find out more about the life that Jesus lived and what was really being communicated in that strange birth where God embodied Himself in human form?

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