Christmas in October!
Answering the question of Christmas, and reality, through the lens of Easter
Paul, the writer of two thirds of the New Testament, suggested that the literal, physical, historical resurrection of Jesus is the fundamental axis point of any relationship with God. He asserts, and this is the basis of Christianity, that Christ is not only the bridge, but actually God Himself, the living bridge, come to meet us on our own turf. The message of Christmas, which we all will begin celebrating not too many days from now (ironically enough, due to the marketing machines of big retailers), actually finds its culmination in the message of Easter. In all likelihood, because the consumer price index is unexpectedly low right now, the retailers will begin the media buying onslaught even sooner than ever, if that is possible.
What is the Christmas/Easter message? God, in the flesh, in the form of a little baby, came to earth (well all like this part and all the nice songs it has given rise to)…to die, (because we are sinful and in need of God’s intervention and have no way within ourselves to bridge the gap between us and a perfectly holy God), and rise again (in order to demonstrate his conquering of sin and death and thereby provide the way for healing and resurrection of our souls, and establish for the world to see His divinity). We tend to miss or disregard this last part of the story amidst our culture’s nice holiday celebrations. After all, such violent imagery, death, and the corresponding need for forgiveness and healing just don’t mix well with the festive “holiday” atmosphere we all want. However, what we must see and actually celebrate on the deepest of levels, is the truth that more than a syrupy sweet holiday feeling, Christmas is the most radical idea the world has ever encountered. Really. Think about it. Given some thought, and accepted for all it truly is, the reality of Christmas could totally transform your life, and ignite the next 90 days ahead, and offer you a “holiday” of the soul unlike you have ever known.
So, the attempt, as we start October, is to begin the process of reflection and consideration in relation to the upcoming onslaught of holiday attention pointing toward gift season. A true understanding of the radical teaching of Christmas will also offer us a more compelling reason to give thanks in November as well. What could we, after all, be more thankful for? The deeper reality still, once understood and embraced, is that Christmas, and Easter, reverberate through our souls throughout the year. The reality of its truth is the illuminating torch for daily life. There is nothing in our lives which is not touched by the reality of this radical message. Its about how we know God, how we find internal peace and purpose, and its about how life itself is defined. Let’s take a look. We begin with a few questions.
Hitler, Manson, Bill Clinton, Billy Graham, Mother Theresa; where would you place each of these on the moral ladder?
Upon which rung would these or others be placed by God Himself?
What if your ladder differs from the ladder of others?
Can you say enough prayers, do enough good deeds, fast enough, repent enough, or do anything “good” enough to earn your acceptance before God? Can you climb the metaphorical moral ladder up to God?
How many rungs must one climb in order to reach the heavenly realms?
Who decides, ultimately, where the standard for human accomplishment and moral excellence is determined?
Which of us knows anything about the inner life, thoughts, and motivations of any of those listed above or any others?
Is there a standard?
What is it? Who is it? Where is it?
The questions above bring us to a sobering and ultimately life giving reality; we cannot climb our way to God. That is the Easter message, friends. The sweet scene of the manger is a seg-way to the cross. They both point to the reality of ultimate truth. Both scenes must be taken together as one story. Though our culture may attempt to anesthetize them both and separate them as two sentimental fairy tales, the Bible presents a much more profound and consequential view.
We will never agree on the height or width of the proverbial ladder to God. God has not intended to allow each of us to decide how we “reach” Him or understand Him. He has revealed Himself. Jesus is God’s plan to reach us. Rather than climbing some never ending moral ladder, God intends for us to walk with Christ across the bridge of the cross. The cross stands as God’s clear message that only sinless perfection will do because He is Holy and we can never hit that mark. Only Christ, the perfect one, lived a sinless life and died in our stead to make a way “across” for us. He bore the wrath of God’s fury against the sin of humanity and the sin in our hearts. In ourselves, we could not bear that wrath or atone for it. And we cannot measure ourselves against others around us in order to find our moral quotient, for “all have fallen short of God’s demand for moral perfection”. If we look at others we may feel more or less “moral” depending upon the relative moral character of those to whom we compare ourselves. But Jesus told even the most devoted religious people of His day that they fell far short of what God was calling them to. Yet He offered life to ANY who would humbly accept this truth and climb off the ladder and cry out to God for a genuine transformation of the soul.
If we have any hope of truly connecting with God and living an authentic Christian life we must abandon our hope in our own goodness and trust that God, through Christ, extends His grace to cover our sins and offer us a life of abundant grace before Him.
This Jesus, yes the historical Jesus, is alive and well and active in this world in the hearts of believers. History tells us that the grave was indeed found empty. And despite all the attempts of so called “academics” to debunk the Resurrection event, it stands today as the most important event in the History of the world. It is the reality of Jesus’ resurrection from the grave that promises us God’s activity in our lives. Again, Paul stresses that without a real, physical, historical resurrection we would be without hope. This Jesus, who fulfilled over 300 Old Testament prophecies which were spoken of the Messiah hundreds of years prior (those odds make the lottery look like a slam dunk), and who healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and cast out demons, is the same Jesus that restores lives and gives clarity, purpose, meaning and significance today. Let us not doubt that Jesus was indeed who He said He was. Further, let us abandon any suggestion that this historical figure was little more than a good guy or a moral teacher. He was more, much more.
C.S. Lewis, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to”.
Jesus was indeed who He said He was, God in the flesh. As such, He was and is the Bridge to God.
The bridge calls us to Himself. Not to defeat, boredom, ignorance or blind faith, but to life, abundantly, meaning, virtue, significance, and purpose.
He is our way and our example. He shows us how inept our attempts to find life in the trinkets of this world are.
He reminds us that at the end of this game called life, all the toys get left behind. Like the game of Monopoly, at some point, the game is over and all the real estate, money, possessions—it all goes back in the box. And once we get placed in our “box” and get put six feet under, the toys really lose their appeal.
Malcolm Muggeride writes, “Reaching after perfection by dying in order to be reborn, sloughing off the old man, our fleshly being, as a snake does its old skin irrespective of whether it is frail or robust, ungainly or comely, drab or dazzling. In giving the blind back their sight Jesus made us understand that we are all anyway in need of seeing eyes. When the crippled and even the dead rose up at his behest, they illustrated a truth more ineffable than any miracle—that in suffering and dying we live, while in living and abounding for life’s own sake alone we sicken and die”.
Jesus, the man, the living Christ, was and is real and offers us our only way to connect to God in a real and meaningful way. He told us that He came to give life and to give it abundantly. He was born, lived, died, and rose again to demonstrate this truth to us. He is your ticket to meaning, purpose, and healing. He is the basis of all truth, and standard of measurement for all we face and decide upon. We begin with Him, and bring His teaching to bear on the questions of our age and culture. His truth and teaching have direct implications on how we do family, relationships, pleasure, pain, work, play, …all of it. The wonderful reality is that God has chosen to reveal Himself, and actually desires to be actively involved with our lives, and desires what is best for us! His revealed truth and guidance for us is a demonstration of His love toward us. He has not left us guessing, He offers us the way out of darkness, confusion, and misguided thinking, and leads us into the light of truth which sets us free in more ways than we can imagine. Indeed, Christmas, seen through the lens of Easter and the fullness of God’s message to humanity, is the most radically thrilling message the world has ever encountered. It is the launching pad for living, as it opens to us the journey of truth God has offered us in His word. Because we can live in the assurance of God’s revelation to humanity, and His provision through Christ Jesus, we can trust His full plan for us, revealed in the Bible, as our compass for all we meet in this life. By trusting His way, and His teaching all of our experiences are transformed. To know we have a God who makes the way clear for us is a joy unknown to those closed off to the possibility that God takes such radical and loving steps to speak to His creations.
May we see Christmas for all it is this year, long before our world attempts to sell us on a message that falls woefully short of God’s full message. Indeed, though it may sound trite, Christ must be kept in Christmas. Should we try to remove His life, death, resurrection, and teaching, what we have left is something short of biblical Christianity.
Bruce Smith
optimuslife.org
soulstormsite.com