But What's The Reason For Christmas

But What’s The Reason?

Isaiah 53:1-6 Luke 1:26-38 Text John 3:16

Journey with me for a moment to the land of Karonia. Things were not going to well in the land because many people were dying of a crippling sickness of which there seemed to be no cure. Finally word came to the people of Karonia, that a cure had been found in the distant nation of Lucindia. The people of Karonia sent a delegation to go the land of Lucindia to bring back the cure. Those who went were cured, and they came back and told the citizens. "Fair citizens of Karonia, there is indeed a cure for what ails us. This is to be a day of celebration." We must go at once to the land of Lucindia in order to be cured. Many people went and were made well again.

The day of the return of the delegation became a yearly celebration. They called it Miracle Day. Anyone who wanted to be healed of the crippling disease could be healed by going to Lucindia. But the trip to Lucindia was a difficult one and many people decided it was not worth the struggle to go. Others were sure a new cure, one closer to home would be found. Still others simply hoped the disease would just go away. But each year everybody celebrated Miracle Day.

As times past, more and more people became sick, but they all looked forward to having a great time on Miracle Day before they died. Somewhere along the way, the people of Karonia forgot the reason for the season. People died because they forgot or ignored the instructions to go to Lucindia and be healed. But the people of Karonia celebrated Miracle Day faithfully with great energy and enthusiasm.

Let’s come back home to our modern world. We too have a great celebration going on, but instead of calling it Miracle Day, we call it Christmas. A delegation came to us from a place called heaven in the form of angels. There were a group of shepherds out in a field taking care of their sheep when a magnificent light appeared all around them and an angel came to them. The shepherds were nearly scared to death. But the angel said to them, Luke 2:10-12 "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. [11] Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. [12] This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Have we come to celebrate the good news of Christmas without dealing with the need to understand the reason for it all? Is the angel’s message today lost in the spectacular event of the season. The shepherds heard that a special child was about to be born in Bethlehem, and they wanted to go and see the child. But the truly good news wasn’t a child was being born, it was "Look God has come up with a way to deal with your sin." It’s not just a baby being born, it’s God is intervening in history to raise us a Savior.

To understand the reason, you have to understand when Jesus Christ came into being. Jesus did not come into existence on Christmas Day. Jesus has no beginning. He has always existed as God. In Genesis, before the creation of human beings, God said, "let Us make man in Our image." Although God is One, God has three distinct personalities all of which have always existed.

In John’s Gospel, we are told in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh or a living human being and came to live among us. So Christmas is not the beginning of Jesus, it’s the beginning of God’s walk in the middle of humanity as one of us.

The idea for Christmas comes out of story of rebellion found in the book of Numbers. God had delivered His people out of a cruel and painful slavery in the land of Egypt. He told them He would take them to a new land where they could have a great living. They were excited the new land until they found out they would have to do some work to obtain it. They refused to take on the challenge. God then told them, because of your refusal to accept the land I want to give to you, you will wander in the desert for 40 years. After a while the people complained against God and Moses for taking them out of slavery. They complained about the food God gave them to eat. They complained about the water. They were just plain complainers.