It truly is a wonderful time of year. Some folks would go so far as to say it is the Most wonderful time of the year. Others would find that hard to believe. For some people it is the most lonely time of the year (just watch the opening credits to the movie "Surviving Christmas" and you'll see what I mean). It's a time when family comes together...unless you have no family. It's a time to celebrate with friends...unless your world is friendless.
Who cares if a baby was miraculously born so many years ago? Who cares that angels proclaimed the birth of a new king? Peace on earth and good will toward men are great taglines, but where are they?
Even our Christmas specials and holiday movies declare over and over again that the only thing you truly need to have a wonderful, joyful, and maybe even miraculous Christmas is your family and friends. So what good is this holy celebration to those who are lonely and abandoned?
If this is you, I would say that you have more to gain from the miraculous Christ-child than any of us. And if that is going too far, then at the very least you could understand and appreciate him and his purpose more than most. He came here for you.
In celebrating the Christmas season we rejoice in the coming (and subsequent life, death, and resurrection) of our savior, and look forward to the second coming of our glorious king.
But there is more to the birth of baby Jesus than that. There is something much more simple, and perhaps more meaningful in the coming of the God-child.
I am talking about Emmanuel.
It means "God with us." God has come down to be with us; to live with us; to know and be known by us.
Jesus didn't just come to die. He came to start a relationship between man and God that had been--for the most part--lost since the fall of Adam and Eve. He came because he sees our loneliness and wants to fill it with his love. That is why he came in our likeness to relate with us, connect with us, and show us how much he loves us: first in his life and even more in his death.
God knows we are lonely. We are ALL lonely. Certainly, we cover it up well with our schedule of activities, our social circles, our hobbies, and our vices. But when you take them all away we feel just how lost, empty, and alone we really are. God is not fooled by our antics. He knows. That's why he came to be with us.
He came to show us where we are and lead us on the right path. He came to feed us the bread and water of life. He came to care for us, to be with us, and to create a family for us with him as the firstborn and God as our father.
"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing" (Psalm 68:5).
Even Christ's death was the means of making a way for us--broken and wicked humans--to approach and know the perfect and loving God. He made a way for us to have a relationship with himself now and forever.
So as we celebrate this Christmas season may we certainly worship the Christ-child as God and honor him as king, but may we also love him as our great and dear friend.
"We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19)
