Christmas: The Reason for the Season with Pastor Barry Kerner
Christmas: The Reason for the Season
Pastor Barry Kerner
One Sunday, a few years ago, a young girl said to me, “I’d like to talk with you, Pastor. I’m confused about the real meaning of Christmas.” I can see how that could happen to anyone, regardless of their age. It’s possible to become so intrigued with the tinsel and glitter, the decorations and presents, that we miss the starlight and straw. One little boy summed up the confusion of many as he and a friend shopped at Christmas time. He picked up a greeting card, and seeing the infant Jesus depicted on it, nudged his friends and exclaimed, “Imagine that! They’re even trying to drag religion into Christmas now!”
Don’t misunderstand me. I like everything about Christmas. I like Christmas trees. I like Christmas lights. I like Christmas cards. I like Christmas gifts. I even like Santa Claus. And, if that were all there was to it, it would be worth all we put into it because, for at least a little while at Christmas time, all the world is a better place. But, the real meaning of Christmas is not to be found in any of those things. To discover the real meaning behind Christmas, the real reason for the season we need to look again at the Christmas story as recorded in scripture.
Matthew, in his gospel, tells us that the birth of Jesus happened like this: Mary, a young Jewish maid, was engaged to Joseph, a Jewish man. According to Jewish custom, engagement lasted one year before the actual marriage took place. And, although the couple did not live together as husband and wife, they were considered legally married, and to break the betrothal took a writing of divorcement. It was during this period of time that it became evident that Mary was going to have a baby. Naturally, Joseph was distressed when he learned this. He knew the child was not his and he assumed Mary had been unfaithful to him.
According to Moses’ law, adultery was punishable by death and he had every right to have her publicly stoned to death. She had apparently not only disgraced herself, she had also disgraced him. But, being a kind and merciful man, rather than make her a public example Joseph determined to quietly divorce her. While he turned these things over in his mind an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. “The child,” the angel told him, “was conceived in her by the Holy Ghost.” The child was not the result of Mary’s unfaithfulness to Joseph. The conception was a miracle of God. It would be a virgin birth.
The angel then told Joseph that when the child was born he should “call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.” Then Matthew adds this postscript, looking back to Isaiah 7:14: “Now all of this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet (Isaiah) saying, ‘Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”.
Joseph was then awakened from his sleep and did as the Lord commanded him. He took Mary to be his wife, and when the child was born he exercised the prerogative of a father and, in obedience to God, named him Jesus. In those two names, the one predicted by Isaiah and the one commanded by the angel, you’ll find the real meaning of Christmas.
The name Emmanuel tells us who Jesus is. The name Jesus tells us why he came. The name “Emmanuel” means “God with us.” And the name “Jesus” means “Jehovah is salvation.” It is the same as the Old Testament name “Joshua.” As Joshua in the Old Testament led Israel from the wilderness to the Promised Land, so Jesus, as the captain of our salvation, would lead all mankind from the bondage of sin to the Promised Land of God.
So, Christmas is the celebration of the incarnation-of God becoming flesh. It commemorates the time when God invaded this small planet; when omnipotence was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. It is the celebration of the fact that God has come to live among us, to reveal himself to us, to identify with us, and to give himself for us. It commemorates a time when God became flesh and dwelt among us in order to be our savior.
It is clear, then, that the real meaning of Christmas centers in Jesus Christ. If there had been no Christ there would be no Christmas. He is the reason for the season. When I think of the real meaning of Christmas, three words come to mind — revelation, identification, and salvation. Those three words explain the reason for the season. They tell us why the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
The first reason for the incarnation was revelation. To know God has been the desire of people through the ages. There has never been a time, from prehistoric man until the present, when people did not want to know God. A Roman historian wrote that in his time he could find cities without a stadium and cities without a theater, but he could not find cities without a temple. There is an inner longing in the heart of each person to know God.
But, how can we know one who is indescribable and incomprehensible? We can look up into the heavens and see some revelation of God. We can see design and purpose and power. But we cannot know God fully. There are great revelations of God in the Old Testament, but they are all partial. If you want the surest and purest revelation of God you must find him in Jesus Christ.
The disciples once said to Jesus, “Show us the Father and we will be satisfied.” Jesus responded, “Have I been so long with you and you have not known me? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” If you should ask, “What is God like?” I would reply, “He is like Jesus Christ.” If you should then ask, “How much like Jesus Christ?” I would reply, “Exactly like Jesus Christ.” You could say, “He is the spittin’ image of God.” Or as Paul put it, “In him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells.”
Some suggest we can see God in all religions. Theologian Karl Barth stood before students and faculty at Princeton in 1963 during his Princeton Lectures. A student asked, “Sir, don’t you think God has revealed himself in other religions and not only Christianity?” Barth stunned many who were present when he thundered, “No, God has not revealed himself in any religion, including Christianity. He has revealed himself in his son.”
The essence of Christianity is this: Jesus Christ is God. He is not just a part of God, or just sent by God, or just related to God. He was and is God. Plato said that God is so vast that he is indescribable. The ancient Greeks thought that God was incomprehensible. So what did God do? He came down so we could comprehend him. As John put it, “God became flesh and dwelt among us.” It had to be that way.
A foreigner who expresses himself to me in Japanese will not get very far. That is a foreign language and I don’t understand it. Neither could God get far in expressing himself to me in celestial language. However, if God expressed himself to me in flesh, I can understand that. That’s what I am. That’s where I live. Jesus is God in flesh, getting down on my level where I can comprehend him. As S. D. Gordon put it, “Jesus is God spelling himself in language we can understand.”
Michelangelo expressed himself in marble; Rembrandt expressed himself in oils; Handel expressed himself in music; Shakespeare expressed himself in prose and verse; and God expressed himself in flesh. There is nothing more expressive than flesh. The twinkle of an eye, a smile on the face, a warm handshake, a rosy cheek, these are all great expressions. They all communicate. He became a man.
That’s the real meaning of Christmas. That’s the reason for the season.
The second reason for the incarnation was identification. God came not only to reveal himself to us but to identify himself with us. Someone has said, “To walk in another man’s shoes you must first take off your own shoes.” That’s what the Lord did in the incarnation. He took off his divinity in order to put on our humanity. In order to identify with us, the great God of heaven stripped himself of his deity and became one of us. That’s the reason for the season.
The incarnation was for the purpose of identification. One of the most famous tsars of Russia was “Peter the Great.” When he came to power, Russia was an isolated and backward land. His father, Tsar Alexis, like the rulers before him, had been far removed and inaccessible to his subjects. The tsars were all august figures, enclosed in an aura of semi-divinity. But Peter was not like that. He freely moved among his people and identified himself with them. Peter had an inquiring mind and frequently associated with the foreign merchants who lived in his country. He soon became fascinated with western civilization and desired to modernize his country.
On one occasion he sent a “great embassy” of more than 250 of Russia’s young men, from the noblest of families, to western Europe for more than eighteen months to study seamanship, navigation, and ship-building. They would go to learn about western civilization and bring ideas back to re-mold the country along western lines and open the country to Europe. They would modernize Russia and cause it to emerge with new influence in the world. The most remarkable thing about all this is that the Tsar himself traveled with the great embassy, incognito. He traveled as a mere member of the ambassador’s staff to see and learn for himself.
In a sense, that’s what Jesus Christ did. He traveled from heaven to earth incognito. He was born in a manger in Bethlehem. He grew up in a carpenter’s shop in Nazareth. He died on a cross in Jerusalem. And, he did it, not only to reveal God to us, but to identify himself with us. He was born in a stable, not in a mansion, that he might identify with the homeless of our world; he was born in Bethlehem, the house of bread, and not in Athens, that he might identify with the hungry masses; he grew up in the home of a carpenter, rather than the home of a Caesar, that he might identify with the working class; he was born a Jew and not a Greek, that he might identify with the oppressed, the despised, and the rejected of all times. And, he died on a cross and not in a hospital to share the suffering of the world.
He was born and reared at the crossroads of the world that touches Africa, Asia, and Europe, because he belongs to the whole world. Jesus’ favorite term for himself was the “Son of Man.” It is used over 97 times in the gospels. He called himself the “Son of Man” rather than the “Son of God” because he really was the representative man, the man in whom humanity finds its perfect expression, its perfect example, its consummation, and its peak.
As F. W. Robertson wrote, “There was in Jesus no national peculiarity or individual idiosyncrasy. He was not the son of a Jew, or the son of a carpenter; nor the offspring of the modes of living and thinking of that particular century. He was the son of man.” And what does all of this mean to you and me? The writer of the book of Hebrews says, “Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted” (Hebrews 2:17-18).
And again the writer of Hebrews writes, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16).
Because he became one of us he understands us, relates to us, and can better minister to us. That’s the reason for the season.
The third reason for incarnation was salvation. He came not only to reveal himself to us and identify himself with us. He also came to give his life for us. The son of God became the son of man that we who are the sons of men might become the sons of God. In Galatians 4:4-5, Paul expressed the truth in these words, “He was made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”
The apostle Paul said, “If in this life only we have hope, we are of all men most miserable.” Millions are like that today — miserable. They can be found everywhere. They fill the bars, the psychiatric wards, and cemeteries. They are also in the board rooms, class rooms, and operating rooms. They are people without hope. Someone has said, “Let Christ turn your blues and your blahs into oohs and aahs.” That’s what he can do. His redemption is from destruction — self-destruction as well as eternal destruction. We are, in many ways, our own worst enemies. We seem to be bent on self-destruction. When the scriptures say he would save us from our sins they mean in part that he would save us from ourselves.
On the cross Jesus said, “It is finished.” That Greek word translated “finished” was used of a runner who had completed the race and crossed the goal line. It was used of a soldier who was sent on an assignment, a special mission, and had fulfilled it. What did Jesus mean when he cried, “It is finished”? He meant the sacrifice was finished. There was no more need for more sacrifices. He meant death was finished. We need have no fear of it. He meant hell was finished. We now do not have to go there. He did not say, “I am finished.” He said, “It is finished.” What was finished? The sacrifice, the conquest, and our redemption. And that is the reason for the season.
I’m no longer in contact with, the young girl who wanted to talk with me about Christmas a few years ago. But let me answer those, just like her, who are confused about the real meaning of Christmas. Jesus is the reason for the season. Without Christ there would be no Christmas. Christmas celebrates His birth and His coming. Two thousand years ago, Caesar was on his throne in Rome, claiming to be earth’s chief deity. But still Jesus came. Hostility instead of hospitality was a way of life in Bethlehem, but still Jesus came. The Lord had no army except a few Galilean peasants such as Peter, John, and, yes, Judas, but still He came. He had no weapons except an open hand of love willing to take a basin and towel and be nailed to a cross, but still Jesus Christ came. And, in his coming, you will find the real meaning of Christmas.
He is the reason for the season. But I simply remind you, it is not enough that Jesus was born in Bethlehem 1900 years ago. He must be born again in you by personal faith and trust. And, when he is, Christmas takes on a new meaning.