Christmas

Christmas is not simply a necessary first step in the salvation transaction. It’s not even primarily a nostalgic story about how humble God is and all the things he’s willing to do for us. We cannot simply approach Christmas as an epic tale of long ago adventures somewhere across the ocean, because Christmas is not about the past. It’s about you, right now. 

Jesus was born so that he could be close to you. The Bible says Jesus is not “unable to sympathize with our weakness, but […] has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).  In other words, Jesus gets you. He knows your struggles, your frustrations, your anxieties, and your deepest, darkest secrets. And he still likes you and wants to be near you, to help you overcome your negative tendencies. He wants this so much that he is and always will be fully human. 

Arguably the closest people to Jesus while he walked the earth were his parents, his family. How did they get close to Jesus? They lived with him. Before Jesus performed a miracle, cast out a demon, or preached a sermon, he spent thirty years living with his family, talking with them, wasting time together, making memories together. If Christmas, the sacraments, our prayer lives, are to be anything more than mere salvation transactions, we must allow Jesus to live with us.     

Jesus was born in a barn among the useful animals because no one was willing to let him into the places where people live. This Christmas, is Jesus merely something useful to you—perhaps the occasion for a nostalgic holiday party—or are you willing to make some room for him in the places where you live—in your home, in your office, in your hobbies, in your relationships, etc? I invite you today to ask Jesus to be born anew in your own life. Just make sure you let him in.