Let’s read Luke 10:38-42 and Isaiah 1:13-14. We are only days away from the biggest birthday celebration in the world! There has been a debate over the actual birthday of Jesus Christ. Alfred Edersheim, the famous Jewish researcher and author, suggested that December 25 is a reasonable date for Christ's birth. The first one is that very early on, going back to about 180 or 181 AD, we have Church Fathers, such as Theophilos, saying that Jesus was born on December 25. In 189 AD, patriarch Demetrius of Alexandria also wrote that Jesus was born on December 25.
According to a 2017 Pew Research Center survey, nine-in-ten Americans (90%) — and 95% of Christians — say they celebrate Christmas. Christmas this year is entirely different from before. Usually, since November, millions of people flock to shops and malls to buy Christmas gifts for their family and friends. Everywhere we see the Christmas tree and decorations. Shops and malls play Christmas carols. Churches are also busy preparing for Christmas celebrations and services. Entering the middle of December, airports, train stations, and streets are filled with people returning home or visiting their parents to celebrate Christmas together.
However, this year, due to the pandemic, they cannot do those activities. For ten months, many people everywhere have to do their activities at home. Many churches have not been able to hold services in person since March 22. And now, we still cannot celebrate Christmas together at the church. Many people are disappointed because they cannot celebrate Christmas like the previous years. For them, Christmas this year is not fun, unattractive, and even sad.
I don't know how you feel about celebrating Christmas this year. But I want to invite you to think for a moment. Don't we believe that God works in everything for good to those who love Him and are called according to His plan (Romans 8:28-29)? If we believe that what God does or allows to happen is for our good, it means that this Christmas condition of 2020 is also for our good. The question is, what good is God doing in a Christmas celebration like this?
Now let's look back for a moment and ask, "Have the Christmas celebrations celebrated everywhere for many years to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ?" Every December, billions of people around the world celebrate Christmas. But let's see what Christmas means and how they celebrate it. Many of them take advantage of the Christmas moment for holidays. As you see, for more and more people, Christmas is becoming a cultural holiday. “Happy holidays,” they say. Ironic since the word holiday comes from ‘holy’ and ‘day.’ Without the holy, there is no real happy day. The world wants to celebrate His birthday without using His name!
Christmas is also identical to shopping. A survey of 1,496 people this year asked them how much they spent on Christmas in 2019. If you totaled up what you spent on gifts, food, travel, decorations, and other Christmas-related expenses, would you come in above or below the national average? Summary of key findings: 93.4% of American consumers bought Christmas gifts this past year. The average consumer who bought Christmas gifts spent $928.76. 21.5% percent of respondents went into debt over Christmas. 29.7% of people who went into debt plan to pay it back with their tax returns, but almost as many have no idea how they will get out of debt.
For many people, the Christmas celebration means parties and even drinking. Little children love Christmas, not because of Jesus but because of Santa Claus who brought gifts for them. Many people do not celebrate the birthday of Jesus but want to have fun and self-indulgence at Christmas. How can they celebrate the birth of Jesus if they don't even know who Jesus is?
In churches, Christmas was full of activities, like choir, drama, and music practices, and doing “Christmas caroling,” visiting orphanage homes, etc. Doing them is undoubtedly good, but people often became exhausted physically, mentally, and spiritually after Christmas ended. They did not experience the joy and peace of Christ. They celebrated Christmas but did not welcome Christ's coming into their lives! They were like Martha, who was busy welcoming the Lord Jesus into her home by serving Him, but she missed the moment with Jesus, sitting at His feet, listening to His teachings. Martha thought she was doing something right, preparing a delicious meal for Jesus. Probably she thought Jesus would say to her, “Martha, you are a great chef.” Instead, Jesus said to her, “Martha, Martha, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Haven’t many churches been like Martha in celebrating Jesus’ birth?
Seven hundred years before Christ was born, God, through the prophet Isaiah, rebuked the Israelites when they held their religious celebrations. In Isaiah 1:13, God said, “Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.” New moons or “Rosh Chodesh” means the “head of the new [moon],” and indeed, it is a day—or two—of celebration marking the start of a new lunar month. They observed sabbaths every seventh day, every seventh year, and every seven times a seventh year. Convocations are the calling of assemblies; These assemblies call were the holy convocations on the sabbath, at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and on the day of atonement (Leviticus 23:3; Numbers 28:26; 29:1,7,12).
In verse14, God continued, “Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.” God said, “I am weary of bearing them” because He could not bear the iniquity that was in their hearts when they had their solemn assemblies and holy convocations. God was not happy with the celebrations they did. He was angry with them! What God wanted from them was more than religious festivals, but a righteous life, a loving heart for Him and others.
Billions of people everywhere celebrate Christmas every year. Is Christ happy? I am afraid, if we could hear Him, He would say, “Your Christmas celebrations I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.” Why? Because many of those people reject Him and even mock Him! So, let’s go back to the true meaning of Christmas, which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.
For us, the condition for Christmas in 2020, where we cannot get together, have a party, and go shopping, maybe can be the most beautiful Christmas. This “shelter-in-place” situation makes us celebrate Christmas in a way like Mary, who sits at Jesus' feet. So, on December 25, I encourage you to have a family devotion if possible. And please do these five things to welcome Christ's coming to earth:
a. Worship Christ and give Him thanks for His incredible love. Like the Magi, humble yourselves before Christ, claiming Him to be the sovereign King of your lives. Thank Him and praise His holy name.
b. Meditate on God’s love. Take time to read and meditate on God's words, especially about God's love, Christ's coming, or His incarnation into the world.
c. Pray for yourselves. Ask the Holy Spirit to work more freely in your lives, to give a deeper understanding of God and His truth, and to continually renew your character so that you can become more and more like Christ.
d. Pray for others. Ask for the gift of salvation for your family members, relatives, and friends who do not know Christ. May the Christmas news they hear this year, whether through TV, internet, radio, or what they read, may open their hearts to realize their sins, and they want to ask forgiveness from Christ.
e. Share God's love and blessings with other people. Share the gospel with relatives and friends who don't know Christ, either through cards, text messages, or WA. Support mission organizations that help children and families in need so that they too may feel the love of Christ through the material help they receive.
May this Christmas 2020 be a beautiful Christmas, full of meaning as God wants. The pandemic due to Covid-19 has indeed caused many problems and suffering. But during this challenging situation, we may declare to the world that Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, has come. He came to show God's love and His will. And He came to redeem and deliver humankind from the 'virus' of sin, which is far more dangerous than the Coronavirus because it results in eternal death in hell, separated for eternity from God's presence. Nothing can heal humankind from this "virus," except the blood of Christ, the Redeemer, which He shed on the cross. His blood can cure humanity of their sin that brings eternal death. Praise God, the blood of Jesus has healed you and me. Two thousand years ago, the angel declared, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” (Luke 2:11). So, let us see this Christmas situation in a positive way. Probably if there is no pandemic this year, we and the world would still celebrate Christmas in the same way, which is worldly and meaningless. Let us celebrate Christmas properly, a Christmas that centers on Christ, which pleases Him, and which changes our lives so that we become more like Him. Merry Christmas to all of you! Our Lord Jesus with us!
