Putting the “CHRIST” and “MAS” back in Christmas.
“The celebration of Jesus’ birth!” That’s the general answer if you
ask people what Christmas is about. But,
for most of them, in their hearts, “Jesus’ birthday” is just like another
aspect of Christmas instead of the ultimate reason. “Jesus’ birthday” is just right up there with
the gifts and parties and the decorations and the holiday that defines what
Christmas is for them.
The word “Christmas” originates from “Christ” and “mass”, which
basically means “worship.” But there
seems to be not enough of “Christ” and “worship” in modern observance of
Christmas. I am not saying that the features
of the modern Christmas celebration – gifts, trees, lights, decorations, foods,
reunions, parties, vacation, merrymaking, etc. – are diminishing the essence of
Christmas. But people tend to focus on
them rather than to let these things point them to Christ and worship him.
Christmas is a season worth rejoicing over because of Christ’s
birth. The actuality of this event in
human history is such a big deal for it means that God dwelt among us. Immanuel.
God with us. Jesus is God
incarnating as Man, to be the Representative and Savior of mankind; so that He
can suffer and die in our place, ensuing our freedom from sin and our deliverance
from eternal damnation.
And, thus, as response, every feature of our Christmas – food, gifts,
decorations, songs, festivities, etc. – should not be the source of our
excitement and happiness this season, but let them merely help us to direct the
focus of our ultimate joy in Jesus and let him be glorified by all aspects of
our Christmas celebration.
December 25 used to be a pagan date of celebration, but early
Christians chose to sanctify the date and use it to commemorate Jesus’ birth
instead. Now, in a world that seems to
forget why it’s rejoicing in the first place, let us, Christians, once again
sanctify the modern practices of the holiday and point the rest of the world to the glory of Jesus Christ.
Joy to the world! The Lord is
come!
We celebrate Jesus’ birthday.
But, ironically, we get the gifts.
Most importantly, we are the ones who received the “Greatest Gift.”
Christmas is ultimately about God giving his own son (John 3:16);
Jesus giving his life for a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
Thus, the “Greatest Gift” is the Birthday Celebrant himself, Jesus
Christ. And through Christ, we became
recipients of grace, joy, hope, peace, salvation, eternal life, and the
fellowship of God! Such awesome Gift!
That’s why Christmas is said to be the “Season of Giving.” For God has given us so much. Hence, we who have experienced the lavish
extravagance of God’s giving can afford to give generously.
Christmas Banes
People who haven’t grasped the blessing of Christmas don’t have the
“Spirit of Giving.” Rather, they have
the “Spirit of Expecting of Receiving Something” or, worse, the “Spirit of
Begging.” There’s also the “Spirit of
Christmas Cynicism” but I like to think that the moral of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has already taken most
of it away from people. Still, I will
still touch upon the matter later on.
For now, let me talk of these major banes in Christmas: the “Spirit of Expecting of Receiving
Something” and the “Spirit of Begging.”
A person with the “Spirit of Expecting of Receiving Something”, well,
expects that he or she has to receive something for Christmas. He or she believes that people around him or
her are obliged to give him or her gifts.
Instead of thinking of what he or she can give to others, what this
person is looking forward to are the stuff that he or she will get. This is the kind of person that prepares an inadequate, thoughtless gift to join the “exchange gifts” with the intent of
getting a superior thing in return. And
this is the kind of person who grumbles when the gift he or she receives
during “exchange gifts” is inferior to the gift he or she prepared.
The “Spirit of Begging” is just an extension of the “Spirit of
Expecting of Receiving Something.” But
this now involves begging. I have
nothing against poor people. But
begging, for me, is only a shade lighter away from crime. And, like crime, begging for money is
reserved for two kinds of people: a.) the desperate; and b.) the callously
shameless or conscienceless. I don’t
approve of chronic begging but I have some sympathy for those in the first category and none for the second (I might expound on the matter in some future
essay). But, either way, I hate it when
people use the greeting “Merry Christmas” as a means of begging. Seriously, if you greet someone “Merry Christmas”,
your intention is to give or, at least, bless the ones you are greeting. For me, using the word “Christmas” as a means
for begging is blasphemy.
Look, if you are going to beg, just straight-up say that you are
begging – “Do you have spare change?”, or “Alms! Alms!”, or anything that
simply say that you are begging for money – and leave “Christmas” out of
it. Now, if you received something from
the one you are begging from, then you can appropriately bless him or her with
“Merry Christmas!” then.
When beggars greet me with “Merry Christmas” as a means of begging, I
simply smile and greet them a hearty “Merry Christmas!” back. I have no right dictating how you can show
your Christmas generosity. But I suggest
that you do likewise whenever beggars greet you with “Merry Christmas” in order
to get money from you. Don’t give money
to those who beg by barefacedly exploiting Christmas. Don’t encourage such blasphemous
practice.
Rather than give to this kind of beggars – who you aren’t sure anyway
if they are indeed in poverty or are just lazy or belongs in a syndicate – give
to people that you actually know – friends, relatives, acquaintances,
churchmates, etc. – are in need. Surely,
you probably personally know people that could use some Christmas cheer. These are the ones you should lavishly
portray your Christmas generosity.
Again, I can’t dictate you how you should practice your Christmas
generosity. But, at all times, let your
Christmas generosity lead those people you chose to favor towards Christ. Let your generosity direct them to the
immeasurable generosity of Christ, that they may see that He is the Greatest
Treasure Ever.
In fact, that’s the best thing to give to those people you meet that
have the “Spirit of Begging.” Rather
than give them money, take the time to tell them about Jesus. These people actually need Jesus in their
lives more than money (which is apparent from having the “Spirit of Begging” in
their lives). Do your best to let them
see that Jesus is a Treasure that is infinitely greater than any material thing
they can obtain from begging.
I know of a Christian man that does it right. When beggars come to his doorstep to ask for
“Christmas”, instead of immediately giving them something, he would invite them
in his house so he can tell them about Jesus.
Realizing that they probably won’t get any money from this man, these
beggars would refuse and go away. This
is just sad. The man was actually
offering them something more valuable – Christ himself – than any “Christmas”
they are expecting.
On Caroling
And due to this distorted outlooks of Christmas – “Spirit of Expecting
of Receiving Something” and “Spirit of Begging” – carols which are meant to
fill the air with Christmas cheer instead fill the air with noise.
Most children carolers are motivated by the money or treats that they
can receive from caroling. The greediness is apparent from the lack of effort
they put in their caroling. They don’t
even bother practicing their song-set nor bother to master the lyrics of the
songs. They sing gibberish; are out of
tune and out of beat; and gets mad and sings a mocking song whenever they don’t
receive anything from those they are caroling, i.e. the ones they expect to get
money from.
Caroling, like all other features of Christmas, is about giving.
The primary purpose of going house to house and singing Christmas carols
is to spread Christmas cheer and declare Christ’s glory in the season, NOT to
get money from the people you are caroling to.
Every December, caroling is an activity in our church. We go to impoverished communities and visit
our poor members and their neighbors. We
sing carols and then give them rice.
This is caroling done right –giving! It’s a wonderful tradition that I’m proud I’m
part of.
As a Sunday School teacher and an elementary teacher, I have the
opportunity to tell my students the proper attitude of caroling. I tell them that they should have a heart of
giving whenever they go caroling. As
children, they are limited financially, thus, caroling is the best opportunity
they have to give to people. They should
sing Christmas songs with all their heart; let people enjoy their singing. Don’t expect or ask money from the houses
they are caroling. If they are given
something, then be thankful. And even if
people don’t give them anything, don’t grumble but still be cheerful and
thankful.
There’s this beautiful Christmas short that a local network ran years
ago. A group of children went caroling,
and they stopped on a house belonging to an old man spending Christmas Eve
alone. Hearing the children singing, the
old man started feeling his pockets for some coins, but there were none. He went outside and apologized to the
children that he doesn’t have anything to give, and then went back inside. The children looked at each other for a
second. Then, they started singing
again. They shouted that it’s okay, that
they will sing for free. It made the old
man smile. The children finished
their song, and, lastly, greeted the old man a hearty Merry Christmas. Beautiful!
That for me defined how children should proceed with caroling.
Again, I have no right to tell you how you should practice your Christmas
generosity. Give them money or treats
(it’s preferable if you give them treats rather than money) or none, it’s up to
you. But, again, like with beggars, let
your generosity lead them to Jesus. Tell
them about Jesus and how valuable he is than any material things they can
obtain. Invite them to Sunday School. Give them Gospel tracts for children. Actually give them Something more substantial
than money or treats.
It is understandable to an extent because these children who go
caroling to get money know nothing better.
Unfortunately, many of these children grow up without actually realizing
that Christmas is about giving. They
grow up thinking the rest of the world is obliged to give them something during
this time of the year, hence, exploiting Christmas to get money. That’s why children, as young as they are, need
to know Jesus during Christmas.
The harm of the Santa Claus myth
I have nothing against Santa Claus as a fictional character (I know he’s
based on an actual historical person, but the pop culture representation of old
St. Nick is, of course, fantasy). In
fact, like other fictional heroes, whose qualities we admire about them are
projected in our admiration of the supremely admirable God, Santa Claus the
fictional character can do likewise. My
problem is how people would fool children by declaring that this mythological Santa
Claus is actually real, and would give them gifts during Christmas if they
behave. These children will grow up and eventually realize the truth that Santa Claus is fictional, but
the “Spirit of Expecting of Receiving Something” and materialism is already
implanted in them by years of expecting gifts from Santa. Hence, the Santa Claus mythology is what
charms them and not the reality of Jesus Christ, the real reason of the season –
Someone that is infinitely more exciting than Santa Claus. As John Piper brilliantly analyzed:
"It is mindboggling to me that any Christian would even contemplate such a trade, that we would divert attention away from the incarnation of the God of the universe into this world to save us and our children. . . . Not only is Santa Claus not true — and Jesus is very truth himself — but compared to Jesus, Santa is simply pitiful, and our kids should be helped to see this."Santa Claus offers only earthly things, nothing lasting, nothing eternal. Jesus offers eternal joy with the world thrown in — the fire engine is thrown in (1 Corinthians 3:21–23)."Santa Claus offers his ephemeral goodies only on the condition of good works: 'He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows when you have been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake.' That is a pure works religion. And Jesus offers himself all the gifts freely, by grace, for faith."Santa Claus is make-believe. Jesus is more real than the roof on your house."Santa Claus only shows up once a year. Jesus promises, 'I will be with you always' (Matthew 28:20). You say to your kid every night: 'He is standing by your bed. He is with you when you get up in the morning. He is with you when you go to school today. If mommy and daddy die, he will be right there with you.' Santa doesn’t hold a candle to this flame, Jesus."Santa Claus cannot solve our worst problem. Jesus did solve our worst problem, our sin and our alienation from God. Santa Claus can put some icing on the cake of the good life, but he cannot take a shattered life and rebuild it with hope forever. And our kids need to know that about Christmas."Santa Claus is not relevant in many cultures of the world. Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords over all the peoples of the world."Santa Claus will be forgotten some day and Jesus 'is the same yesterday and today and forever' (Hebrews 13:8)."So there is no contest here. I cannot see why a parent, if they know and love Jesus, if they have found Jesus to be the greatest treasure in the world, why they would bring Jesus out of the celebration and Santa into the celebration at all — I mean, he is just irrelevant. He has nothing to do with it. He is zero."So my counsel is to give all your efforts to making your children as happy as they can possibly be with every kind of surprise that is rooted in the true meaning of Christmas. Let your decorations point to Jesus. Let your food point to Jesus. Let your games point to Jesus. Let your singing point to Jesus. Out-rejoice the world, out-give the world, out-decorate the world, and let it all point to Jesus."If being Jesus-focused is a killjoy for your Christmas, you don’t know him well."
The sooner children know that Santa Claus isn’t real and his philosophy can’t satisfy, then the sooner they can go on a more exciting path towards Jesus Christ.
Why bother with Christmas
One of the songs we sing during our church caroling is “Christmas
Without Christ”, which goes like this:
"Why bother with the tree?Why bother with the lights?If you ignore the meaning of that first silent night.Why bother with an angel?Why bother with the gifts?If you ignore the message Jesus Christ came to give.Christmas without ChristThere's no Savior, there's no joyChristmas without ChristThere's no reason to rejoiceChristmas without ChristOh, it makes me wanna cryWhy bother having Christmas without Christ?"
It’s easy to be cynical on how the Christmas season has become. With the trees, the gifts, the decors, the parties, and all that stuff, it feels like that Christmas has become a time for commercialism, compulsory spending, and obligatory merrymaking. Thus, Christmas begins to feel onerous and empty. And it is… if Christ is not made the center of it all. Just as what Charlie Brown and the gang learned in the classic Christmas cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas (which I have watched countless times already during the Christmas season), Christmas is stressful and burdensome if we forget what it’s really about: Jesus Christ.
Because if Christ is the center of our Christmas celebrations, all
these things we bother about – exchanging presents, singing carols, putting up
trees and lights and decorations, preparing festivities and food – have
significance, for all of these are merely directing us to the hope and
rapturous joy that is solely found in the Birthday Celebrant. Hence, we can
derive a genuine and meaningful – and even yearlong – celebration, because
there is much to rejoice about in Jesus Christ.
Happy birthday, Jesus. Merry
Christmas, everyone.
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