THE FULL MONTY:
Luke 1:26–2:1–20; Revelation 12 To read if you have time to take in the whole story
THE CONTINENTAL OPTION:
Revelation 12 Read this if you only have time for a few key verses
ONE SHOT ESPRESSO:
Revelation 12:17 ‘Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring’.
My four year-old was asking me about Santa recently. Now, I understand this is a bit tricky. Everyone has an opinion on what to tell their children about Santa. The thing is, I already made this decision years ago with my first son. He is 12. So when my 4 year-old asked about Santa, before I could consider his sensitive imagination being singed by the sting of reality, my older son answered out of habit, ‘Santa is a commercial conspiracy designed to make you greedy.’ That is exactly what he said. Now, I believe that’s the truth, although I admit it did sound a little harsh when said out-loud to a 4 year-old. But if the truth be told, Santa can kiss my donkey as I ride it straight to Bethlehem on the darkest night of history when light was getting ready to show off.
How the Grinch stole Christmas
I’m not the Grinch. I promise. But sometimes the things we’ve done to Christmas make me want to reject it all and pretend I don’t live on this planet.
We spend more on Christmas gifts than it would take to feed every hungry kid on the planet. Did you even hear me? We spend ten times more money on Christmas gifts than it would take to bring clean water to the entire earth. Can you hear me now? We spend more money on Christmas gifts for OURSELVES than it would take to solve the epidemic of curable diseases killing millions of children on the PLANET this year. Is any of this even getting through?
I can almost picture you responding like my 4 year-old did. He simply looked at my older son and me and said: ‘No. Santa brings me gifts.’ He simply rejected the truth for a lie. Along with the rest of the world. It’s an easier thing to believe.
The actual genuine, honest, real Christmas
The truth of this commercial conspiracy version of Christmas is that greed equals emptiness and selfishness and then fuels every kind of injustice on the planet to keep the cycle going. How we can market blatant greed as ‘good cheer and great joy’ is a mystery but defintely a reality.
The thing is that the actual events of the real Christmas we are celebrating are so cataclysmic that I can’t just shut my eyes, turn off my TV and pretend like I’m just visiting this planet. The actual story of Christmas – the real narrative behind the commercial orgy – is so important, so phenomenal, so outrageous that you’d literally have to be out of your mind to consider not humming along to its tune. And that’s what makes Christmas in Western countries so very tricky.
Jesus actually came to earth. Ring the bells. Sing a little louder. Jesus came to earth. That is amazing. Born out of wedlock as a homeless refugee, the Son of God invaded the earth to bring good news to the poor. Sing a little louder please.
Even Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights got it a bit right as he prayed, ‘Dear Lord baby Jesus, lyin’ there in your ghost manger, just lookin’ at your Baby Einstein developmental videos, learnin’ ‘bout shapes and colors.’ Jesus actually came to earth.
As the Genie in Aladdin put it: ‘the cosmic power of the universe squeezed in a little-iddy-biddy-living space’. Or as Eugene Peterson suggests, ‘God put skin on and moved into the neighbourhood.’ Seriously. As the astronaut Neil Armstrong who walked on the moon was thinking to himself, ‘Wow – man is walking on the moon,’ he heard God respond in his mind, ‘That’s nothing. God walked on the Earth.’ Just take a minute to think on the implications of Jesus being born:
To those of us on earth who feel utterly alone: you are not. To people who are oppressed: you are free. Others who are sick: you are healed. Feel empty? You will be filled.
We shut our eyes, light our candles and wish it was a silent night, but deep in our hearts we know the battle is still raging on
A lady, a baby and a dragon
The meaning of Jesus’ coming is key, not only to our everyday lives, but to everyone’s life. There is now living hope that our lives matter. There is some glimmer, in the distance maybe, but a glimmer just the same, that we were born for more than this – that there exists some possibility that all the brokenness, lostness and emptiness will be matched by hope, truth and life. Jesus’ incarnation means that it’s not too late and it’s not too hard for God to do what he promised. And he promised redemption and wholeness to the entire created order. It’s that big and Jesus became that small to deliver it.
If we are honest, the ‘giving’ in Christmas is about taking one moment out of a whole lifetime of moments to think about someone else, to spend our hard-earned cash on something other than ourselves and to think upon, to really contemplate the meaning of Christmas. The invasion of heaven into the ordinary. God as a baby.
In all our thinking and pondering we must remember that in the real Christmas story, it wasn’t such a quiet, silent night when Jesus was born. His birth was met with a jealous and enraged king who ordered the death of all baby boys under 2. The Bible tells us that ‘Great was the weeping in Ramah that night.’ Can you even imagine? We talk about a blue Christmas but black would be more accurate. The death of all baby boys in Bethlehem. Merry Christmas.
This is how important the Christmas message really is. It’s worth killing over. It’s the end of an earthly kingdom. Revelation tells the cosmic perspective of the Christmas story with a lady and a baby and a dragon. That’s my favourite Christmas perspective because it feels more like the truth. The dragon just waits for the woman to give birth so he can consume the baby. But the woman escapes and the dragon cannot consume the child – he is defeated and mad as hell. Anyone who knows the reality of life knows that sounds a lot more like the truth than we’d care to admit on most days. We shut our eyes and light our candles and wish it was a silent night, but deep in our hearts we know the battle is still raging on. The light is penetrating the darkness, and the darkness has not even understood it yet. Merry. Christmas.
Questions
How can we keep the wide-eyed wonder of the incarnation alive in our own hearts and spirits?
What is blocking the real meaning of Christmas to others and how can we help tell the truth?
What is the actual threat of Jesus coming to earth?
What is the ‘war’ like in your heart, and in the lives of the people you serve?
How can this perspective of Christmas actually change the world?
(I wish it could be) Christmas every day
Jesus’ birth means the empowering of every person. The salvation of the earth. This is terrible news to people who exploit and oppress. It’s every earthly king’s nightmare – a new king and a new kingdom with equality and freedom and truth as its building blocks. It’s incredible. It’s a revolution. It’s an overthrow – it’s a new way to live. It’s God’s kingdom come. Merry. Christmas.
You see why the dragon got a bit ticked off? He had lost. Darkness cannot win. It’s only a matter of time. The light of the gospel that came as a baby continues to grow as a witness of hope that can never be extinguished. The revolution has begun indeed.
So despite my fear and aggravating nagging feeling that so many people just don’t ‘get’ what Christmas really is and what Christmas really means, the latest commercialisation and greed-based ‘season’s greetings’ message is simply a new form of King Herod - seeking to destroy any message of salvation. Any hint of this incredible divine conspiracy that can shake every kingdom and establish a new one. No matter how black the backdrop, no matter how jealous the king, no matter how much tinsel and greed we use to block the child out it will never drown the message, it will never stop the momentum, it will never win. Merry. Christmas.
Jesus has come. The Kingdom is HERE. God wins. Hope shines bright. The weak are made strong. The lost are found. The good news is announced and we keep on announcing. Spread the news in whispers and red sweaters at office parties around the world. The mistletoe is evidence that God has kissed the earth with his kindness. He is not mad at us. His love has come. Ring the bells and eat the cake – pass the turkey and bless the orphans. The good God wins. Merry. Christmas.
That’s not only worth killing for – it’s worth living for. It’s worth taking every breath a little deeper, it’s worth smelling the flowers and laughing with the children opening their presents with wide-eyed wonder and it’s worth the time to spend your life spreading the good news. I’ll be at a church in the hood serving Christmas dinner to people abandoned by the world. I’ll be with my 4 year-old who can celebrate Santa if he wants but who will know the truth that it’s Jesus who ushers in a Merry Christmas to the lost, the last and the least. He will know the whole story and join the team to help spread the news of this divine reality made flesh. We will go and find some weak and poor folk and tell them they are to inherit the earth. Oh yes – we are going to find some persecuted people and tell them they are the sons and daughters of a living God. We are going to keep the revolution alive, the dragon ticked off, and the light of God’s glory revealed blazing like a city on a hill. Don’t get lost in the Santa shuffle, look up, get wide-eyed again, and remember: God has come indeed. Merry. Christmas.