My God Is Christmas
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel ("God with us"). — Isaiah 7:14
For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. — John 3:16
Author
Faustino de Jesús Zamora Vargas
Summary: Christmas announces the mystery that God became human to live among us and offer eternal life. We receive him through faith, which comes from hearing his Word. Therefore, our programs and resources are useful only if we faithfully teach the Bible and proclaim the Gospel, which confronts sin and calls for repentance of the soul, rather than merely seeking bodily health. We must not let celebrations distract us from the urgency of presenting the Savior. Let us return to the Word, examine our lives, and show through our actions that Christ has renewed us. Following his humility, let us bring hope, solidarity, and love to others and help his family grow.
Another Christmas, another chance to tell the story and try to make it understood. The mystery of Christmas, the miracle of the birth of the Son of God. Mysteries are like that: they can barely be understood, which is why they are mysteries. Faith is the only and the best thing we have for understanding them, and that faith comes by hearing the Word of God.
The Word says that God became human to live with us, but people still find it hard to believe; they resist trusting in Him and prefer to live without Him.
No one wants to go to the heart of it, to the seed that is Jesus, and be confronted with His Word. Humanism has had the audacity to try to put makeup on God’s face, leaving Him out by placing humanity on a throne that does not belong to it. Every day the church has more activities, more programs, sophisticated worship, almost invisible microphones, state-of-the-art audio: all of that is fine if the Bible is taught as it should be, if those whose mission is to preach it expound it so that people are confronted with its age-old truths and transformed by the truth of the Gospel.
Christmas means presenting God to people, which is the same as conveying hope to them. Christmas means having the courage to confront people with the sin that separates them from God; to immerse the hedonism of this season in the river of grace so that a new person may emerge, clothed in Christ, meek and receptive to the Gospel of salvation. Christmas means standing in the gap and not letting in voices that confuse amid the blare of horns and fireworks, but instead proclaiming that there is a Lord who offers free medicine to heal the world, to heal war, to heal the incongruity of someone dying of hunger when so much food is wasted. And what is the disease? Sin, my friend, sin. We still do not understand. We keep calling people together for the healing of the body, but the soul remains there, untouched, unmoved, untouched by repentance; why repent, what do we have to repent of? A healthy body with a corrupted mind instead of a healthy mind in a healthy body. What good is everything to you if you lose your soul? But no one says it; we keep quiet, and we wait for Christmas to wear our new things, and we celebrate the garlands at the shop across the street, and we lose ourselves in the grape must of emptiness, promising to attend to the human heart at the next feast. For we have lost our sense of urgency in preaching the Savior to souls in pressing need of God’s touch.
Christmas means returning to the solid, sure foundations of the Word of God, living lives that make an impact through what we do and not through what we say; we cannot offer Jesus as a gift unless we bear witness that we ourselves received Him one day, when He renewed us at the roots so that we might bear fruit that glorifies the child of Bethlehem. Christmas means introspection, but not so that we remain absorbed in ourselves; rather, so that we may give ourselves to others with a message of hope that proposes a new way of living together, of solidarity, of calling everyone to a lasting embrace through the imprint of God on the Christian heart.
Where are we going, O Lord? “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68). This is the idea of Christmas, the message of Christmas: eternal life. Christ was born to offer eternal life, to remind us that we are His family forever and that we have a mission, each in our own part, to help it grow. Who else has been born to show such altruism for humanity’s sake? How is it that Emmanuel, not considering equality with God something to cling to, emptied Himself, took the form of a servant, and became like human beings? (Philippians 2:6–7). Have we ever humbled ourselves so much that others saw us as servants (slaves) of Jesus Christ?
We thank You, Lord, for reminding us how small we are before Your great majesty and how much we are worth by Your grace. Renew in our hearts the true spirit of Christmas: life at Your side, Your presence in our lives. To all my brothers and sisters in Christ who read and comment on these notes with kindness and mercy, to the whole León de Judá family, an immense Merry Christmas, full of the spirit of life in Christ, our Emmanuel, the offspring of the only fullness this world needs.
God bless you all!
Suggested reading: PSALM 150