How Would Christ Choose to Celebrate Christmas (Part 3)

Sorry for the delay between posts.  Now that holiday travels are over for me, I should be able to be consistent.  It is now time for the third and final part of “How Would Christ Choose to Celebrate Christmas.”  If you have not yet read the first two parts, check them out first:

How Would Christ Choose to Celebrate Christmas (Part 1)

How Would Christ Choose to Celebrate Christmas (Part 2)

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So, if Jesus Christ were able to plan his own birthday celebration (a.k.a. Christmas)  in 2009, how would He choose to celebrate it?

Let me first say this:  This is not necessarily a study to determine what we should or shouldn’t be doing on Christmas day.  As far as I know, Jesus didn’t really leave any specific instructions on how to celebrate His special day 2,000 years later.  However, if we are truly wanting to celebrate the birth and life of our Savior whose life was defined by humility, love, selflessness, and self-sacrifice, I can’t help but wonder, “Are the traditions we follow on Christmas day really doing that?”  Are the traditions that we follow on Christmas day really celebrating and paying honor to the birth and life of Jesus Christ?

If you were to look at Matthew 2, you would find the story of the 3 kings (you may know them as the “magi” or the “three wise men”) who came from “afar” to shower baby Jesus with gifts.  Somehow these guys recognized that somebody important had just been born and in order to show him reverence they traveled a long way just so they could give him some gifts.  They were pretty cool gifts for a baby to receive back in that day too!  Gold, incense, and myrrh.  That would be like getting cash, some really high dollar cologne, and a gift card to Express (by the way, I didn’t even know what Express was until this Christmas).

That’s how we know the story to go, right?  The kings show up, give him some gifts, and they leave.  The one part of the story we hardly ever take note of though is the part where it says, “On coming to the house, they saw the child (Jesus) with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.” (Matt. 2:11)    For the kings, that’s what this day was about.  That’s what the gifts were about.  They worshiped Christ.

Obviously, we can’t literally take gifts to Jesus on His birthday like the three kings did (or like we would for anyone else on their birthday for that matter).  However, I want to propose a round about way in which we can almost literally give gifts to Christ in celebration of His birth.

In Matthew 25:34-40, Jesus tells a parable.  There is a lot of depth to this parable and some major implications that come out of it as well, however I want to simply point out one aspect.  The people who the King (Jesus) allows into His kingdom were rewarded because they fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, gave shelter to the stranger, clothed the naked, looked after the sick, and visited the prisoner.  The King tells the people, “…whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”  Essentially, these people were bringing the King gifts (food, drink, shelter, clothes, etc… but most importantly love) everytime they ministered to somebody’s needs!  Incredible!  Even though we can’t literally take a gift (like gold, incense, or myrrh) to Jesus, we CAN!

I fear that our celebrations of Christmas have drifted away from actually celebrating the birth of Christ.  Don’t misunderstand me, Christmas is a great holiday.  Seeing family and friends, giving and receiving gifts, and sharing meals together are all great things.  However, the question I can’t help but land on this post-holiday season is this:

There is no more important birthday that we could ever celebrate than that of a King and a Savior, could it be time that we reconsider how we are celebrating Christmas?

~ by Austin W. on January 5, 2009.