Poets and artists have always been interested in depicting the seasons of the year. There’s a beauty known only to each season which engages and sparks the imagination to creativity. In 1725, Vivaldi composed his most known work The Four Seasons, the texture of each concerto resembling its respective season. Photographers love the seasons—their savage beauty and eloquent splendour. Poets love to paint pictures in the mind:
Spring brings us rainy weather, bright yellow tulips and cherry blossoms. It brings us hope.
Summer comes stealing in with its hot and humid often caressing breath while Fall lingers, patiently waiting in the wings with its golden leaves ready to quickly cover the ground in rich glorious colour.
And Winter?
Winter awaits with its first blast of cold. Sometimes arriving angry and harsh, hitting fast hard and vicious. But not always; sometimes Winter steps softly, quietly and lays its soft white blanket of snow over cities like a loving mother covering her child.
In my circle of friends, Winter is footy and netball, summer is cricket and the beach. The in-between seasons are like a waiting room for the main game. Putting aside the tackiness, we can even speak about the seasons in our lives. Just as there are seasons—Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter—we each experience seasons in our lives.
There is ‘a time to be born’—this is the Spring of our lives when we are young and needful of teaching. Our parents teach us in ways that build our character. We usually learn from our parents their moral ethics and codes. Our teachers at school also form our character by building upon our abilities in different subjects throughout our years in school. The more we study, the more we learn in which ability we are stronger.
Then there is ‘a time to plant’—this is the Summer of our lives when we go about using what we have learnt in the Spring of our lives. We get out of school/college, we get a job in which we can demonstrate our talents. We may even get married and raise a family. The Summer of life is often the best time of our lives when we accumulate lasting life experiences.
Next is ‘a time to pluck up’. Harvest times comes in the autumn of life. We draw on the resources we have ‘planted’ earlier in life. It’s like we are harvesting the vegetables from our garden which were planted for ‘another day’. Now it is time to pluck them up and put them to good use. The dictionary gives one of it’s definitions for ‘pluck’ as, ‘Resourceful courage and daring in the face of difficulties’. The autumn of life.
Lastly, there is ‘a time to die’. The Winter of our life is old age. To each of us there comes a time when material things no longer matter. My mum is in a nursing home. Everything she owns now fits in one room. It wasn’t always that way.
There’s a book in the Bible that captures the seasons of our lives. And this takes us one step closer to understanding Christmas. In Ecclesiastes 3, verses 1 and 2, the Teacher says, ‘To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.
The Teacher ponders the endless cycle of seasons and he sees the burden that God has laid upon men and women. He knows that there are many seasons to be seen, but soon in death these cycles come to an end—and he wrestles for answers. He struggles with the futility of life. His conclusion is a droll one. ‘So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him’? (Ecc 3:22).
Here we are, friends, standing on the verge of understanding Christmas. Do you see? The Teacher asks, ‘For who can bring him to see what will happen after him’? Who is it that has the answers to life and death? Who can look beyond the seasons of our life? Where is wisdom found? How can we find meaning in the futility of life?
The Teacher can do no-more than foreshadow the answer. At the end of his book, he speaks of the wisdom needed to understand life as coming from a Shepherd (Ecc 12:11). Israel understood the Shepherd as their King whose task it is to guide them in righteousness for the Lord’s sake (Ps 23:3). The Teacher looks to the King for answers. And then thousands of years later, on one starry night some shepherds are tending their sheep. And they are summoned by a company of angels to visit the Shepherd just born, a Shepherd who is Christ the Lord.
There is something extraordinary about this Shepherd. Matthew and Luke tell us that he was born of a virgin (Matt 1:23; Lk 1:34). His conception was a fusion of God and humanity. The angel tells Mary that her first son will be called ‘the Son of God’ (Lk 1:35) and ‘his name will be Jesus because he will save his people from their sins’ (Matt 1:21).
The mighty expectations that Israel had for a great King are laid at the feet of Jesus. Mary says, ‘He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers’. And Zechariah says that Jesus will ‘give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins’ (Lk 1:77).
There are hundreds of promises in the Bible concerning the birth of Jesus. I think there was only one when I was born, ‘if he mucks up he’ll get a good flogging’. These promises particularly relate to what Jesus will do as a man. Born of a virgin birth, born as a King in the line of David, given a name which means ‘God saves’ and they will also call him ‘Immanuel’, which means ‘God with us’ (Matt 1:23). And the lonely shepherds in the fields hear the angels praising God saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests’ (Lk 2:14).
The events surrounding the birth of Jesus are designed to tell us that Jesus carries with him the wisdom of God. And if we are going to answer the Teacher’s question, ‘How can we find meaning during the seasons of our life’? then we need, I expect, the wisdom of God. It’s not a wisdom, though, that looks like human wisdom. The Apostle Paul says elsewhere, ‘For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength’ (1 Cor 1:25).
The answer to the Teacher’s question, which is the problem of a meaningless life, lies not so much in the birth of Jesus, but in his death. The birth of Jesus is significant in so far as it anticipates his adult life and death. This is why the Gospel writers spend so little time on the events of the birth of Jesus. Matthew has almost two chapters and Luke has the fullest account, but still roughly two chapters out of twenty-four. Mark has nothing and John has one verse, ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’ (Jn 1:14).
So if we intend doing the Bible accounts justice, then we must follow the birth of Jesus to the cross. It is indeed at the cross, that the promises about Jesus reach their climax. And it is here that we find our answer to the question, ‘How can we find meaning during the seasons of our life’?
I’d like to give a four part answer to this question.
First, we need to look beyond the baby in a manger to the life and death of Jesus. Babies are cuddly and cute and, putting aside bad reflux and projectile vomiting, are highly inoffensive. You may not consider yourself a religious person. So make it a matter of historical enquiry. Look beyond the baby in a manger and investigate the life and death of Jesus. There was an interesting article by David Marr in the Sydney Morning Herald on 19 December. He concludes that God is not dead in Australia. Rumours of his failing powers are exaggerated. The default setting of this country is faith without belonging to a religious organisation. A recent Nielson poll suggests that Australians identify themselves strongly as believers and strongly Christian.
What was interesting was that a third of the nations atheists, agnostics and doubters have turned their back on God, but not on miracles, astrology, ESP and UFOs. So I wonder who the religious people really are!
Its important that we scrutinize the object of our faith. For faith itself is an essential human ingredient for life. We need to make sure that the object of our faith is a worthy object. And this Christmas season, I am saying to you that it is very important that you trust Jesus. But don’t accept me at face value, investigate Jesus for yourself. Make it a matter of historical enquiry.
Second, I want to say to you that Jesus brings God’s wisdom to bear upon the problems of life. Remember that the events surrounding the birth of Jesus are designed to tell us that Jesus carries with him the wisdom of God. In the events of Christmas, Jesus is too young to speak for himself. So others, such as Mary and Zechariah, proclaim the wisdom of God. And then Jesus grows up and he is old enough to speak for himself. And Jesus displays the wisdom of God in his own life and it spills over into the life of others.
Christmas is like the first act of a three act play. In the first act, the plot is laid down and the main characters are introduced. You get a feel for where the play is going because expectations are created and problems are introduced that need resolution. The Christmas scene is like the first act of a three act play. Except in this play, there is one central character, Jesus, and he is born into a world of high expectations. So high, in fact, that when he grows up and starting meeting these expectations, the religious leaders reject his wisdom and authority and they scheme to put him to death. Now if we were to boil these expectations down to one key idea, Zechariah does this for us. Jesus ‘is to give people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins’ (Lk 1:77).
The second act of the play is the life of Jesus. As he moves around the ancient world, he gives people knowledge of their sins and he shows that he has the authority to deal with the basic problems of life. Like the corruption of the human heart. Like the age old problem of death. Then in the third act of the play, Jesus dies as a final and complete payment for sin, he exercises authority over death by rising from the dead, and then he offers people lasting forgiveness for their sins. This is the wisdom of God in action.
Jesus brings God’s wisdom to bear upon the problems of life.
Third, the cross is the ultimate expression of God’s wisdom. Dying on a Roman cross in the first century was an undignified and humiliating way to die. Wisdom says avoid the cross at all costs. Kings don’t exercise their power and authority by allowing themselves to be put to death. And so for Jesus to voluntarily go to the cross is a strange thing to human ears.
And yet Jesus went to hell in the sense of what hell really is: separation from God. You know that the best things about life are often what we can share with other people. The best things for me are quality time with my family and this is one reason why the Christmas season is so special. I love time with Janette and the boys and time away from the dog. The best things in life are healthy relationships and the worst things in life are lack of relationships and broken relationships which are painful and heart wrenching and destroying. And Christmas too often reminds us of relationships we once had but are now gone.
That’s why death is so dreadfully painful. Death robs us of relationships—we are not made to be alone. If you want to destroy a person, put them in solitary confinement. The breaking relationship is the most painful relationship we can endure. No relationship in the universe is as close as God the Father with his Son.
The Father whose eyes were too pure look at sin, turns his eyes away from his Son on the cross for the first time in eternity. And the penalty for sin was paid. There has been no other moment in eternity like that moment. As Jesus anticipated this moment in the Garden of Gethsemane his sweat dripped like blood. Hebrews 10:9 tells us that Jesus went to the cross in accordance with his Father’s will; John 14:31 tells us that Jesus did it because he loved his Father.
But there is another reason why Jesus went to the cross: because he loves you and he loves me. Jesus went to the cross for you and I—intentionally, consciously, fearfully, agonisingly—he did that for us. And so we remember Christmas time because it begins a chain of events that cumulates at the cross. For the cross is the ultimate expression of God’s wisdom.
Lastly, you can find meaning during the seasons of your life by installing Jesus as your King. Jesus left heaven and he endured winter for us. And he did this to give you the possibility of living an eternal Summer. You simply need to ask him to do so. Jesus is wisdom in the flesh and he is prepared to share his wisdom with you if you only ask him.
The Teacher hadn’t heard of Jesus and he was frustrated with his answers. Although what he concludes is true, it is incomplete. It needs to be fleshed out which is why Jesus came in the flesh. There will always be frustrations in this world. There will always be unfairness, tragedy and death. Trusting Jesus right now won’t make these things magically go away. But it will give you God’s perspective on why things are the way they are. This is wisdom. This is the way to find meaning during the seasons of your life. Because when we understanding why things are the way they are, then we can align ourselves with reality and stop living a fool’s dream.
The reality is that this world is a mess and the United Nations summit on Climate Change did nothing to fix the problem. Our hearts are a mess. They are full of sin and condemnation. Jesus was born to die—he was born to transform and renew us—he was born to offer us the opportunity to shift from death to life. Wisdom is knowing the Lord Jesus and being in relationship with him. Wisdom is confessing sin and transferring control of my life to the one who deserves to be in control.
Pictures of wise men and shepherds and camels and tinsel and fruit cake deflect us from the real meaning of Christmas. In every season of our life, we need Jesus. We need his loving rule, we need his wisdom, we need his companionship, we need his words for his words are the words of life.
So this Christmas season, celebrate the birth of Jesus in all the seasons of your life. Make him your King and give yourself the greatest Christmas present of all.
