It Really Is About Jesus

Saint Louis, Missouri – Dr. Robert Scott

When TheVillage suggested an article about Christmas, the editorial board offered the title: “Enjoy The Jingle And The Jangle, But It’s All About Jesus.” Being a preacher, I love the alliteration—jingle, jangle, and Jesus. This is a “preachable” title that my congregation might like and will run with it. But, the unfortunate reality is many Christians will focus only on the jingle and the jangle, without Jesus being anywhere on their minds.

The commercialization of the Christmas season and the attempts to remove Christ from its celebration have given me pause. The season is dominated by two events, and they have nothing to do with God and religion. The first is that many businesses use this season as the opportunity to shore up their bottom line. The Friday after Thanksgiving is often called “Black Friday” when retail companies hope to make their businesses profitable. There is also an assault on even using the term “Merry Christmas” because there are those who do not want Christ associated with the holiday season. It is amazing that in this postmodern age people will try to have a Christmas season devoid of Christ.

Mary’s Baby Boy

Interestingly, this season is really about Jesus. In fact, life should be about Jesus. In the gospel of John 1:14, the Bible declares: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us: we beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” This is the spiritual implication Christians believe. God became one of us in the form of Jesus. As absurd and illogical this may seem to many, it is the Incarnation of Christ that serves as a prelude for Christmas, Lent, Good Friday, and Resurrection.

Yet, there are many who get caught up in the jingle and the jangle. They are swept away by the economic merriment, spending money they don’t have, to buy things they can’t afford, trying to please people who might not even appreciate them in the long run. I was amazed to see on the news people cramming into shopping centers, department stores, and big box stores, and some shopped with a mob mentality. However, many of these same people will not cram into a church or any other religious edifice to celebrate the greatest gift of all. While people were spending money on Black Friday, some of these same people claimed to be broke and did not give God an offering on the following Sunday. Yet, government gurus who are concerned about the gross national product, (GNP) and economists who worried about another recession were in a mode of worship when it came to “Black Friday.” And it was not the Christ of Christmas being worshiped more so the the god of capitalism.

The Real Bottom Line

For those of us who believe this season is about more than helping businesses meet the bottom line, Christmas is really about Jesus. This season is about the greatest divine disclosure ever known: God becoming one of us. It is more than a season of reflection and nostalgia. It is more than just singing carols, lighting candles, and decorating homes. It is about something a lot deeper. Nicholas Thomas Wright in his book For All God’s Worth states:

“Christmas is not a reminder that the world is really quite a nice old place. It reminds us that the world is a shockingly bad old place, where wickedness flourishes unchecked, where children are murdered, where civilized countries make a lot of money by selling weapons to uncivilized ones so they can blow each other apart. Christmas is God lighting a candle; and you don’t light a candle in a room that’s already full of sunlight. You light a candle in a room that’s so murky that the candle, when lit, reveals just how bad things really are.”

Five Golden Rings

As we go about this season, it is incumbent upon us to reflect the Incarnation in our lives. God became one of us in the form of Jesus so we can replicate God in broken reality and a bruised world. It is the ultimate form of self-disclosure intertwined with sacrifice that is liberating and redemptive. I contend this can be demonstrated in several ways because it requires you to be the light to someone in a dark place.

1.    If you have to buy gifts to make someone happy, then that is a sad person.
2.    Give yourself to service in the community through volunteering.
3.    Be a mentor to a young person.
4.    Visit a senior citizen and share your presence.
5.    Use this season to become charged for a new year and a new beginning.

And ultimately, when you do this, you will understand that this season is really about Jesus, not the jingle or the jangle.
^[1] Wright, T. (1997). For All God’s Worth (2). London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.