The Christ of Christmas

In anybody’s birthday celebration, what we always imagine is a joyous occasion, usually a party with lots of food, drink, and merrymaking, among family and friends. Everybody joins the occasion to honor the person whose birth is being recognized. And we see him/her at the center of it all, the focus of everybody’s attention, the recipient of gifts and well-wishes. Everybody wants to talk to the celebrator – he/she’s the center of attention.

But imagine a party where everybody is talking to each other, neglects the celebrator, and leaves him alone. If this is what is happening in how we celebrate Christmas, something is terribly wrong. Do we talk to Jesus most of the time during our parties and focus our attention on him? Or do we go our own merry way doing all the trappings of tradition, toasting each other, giving each other gifts, and, enjoying the “gifts” most of us receive in terms of bonuses and entitlements, mentioning Jesus only during the opening prayer or the blessing of the food?

Or maybe we need to step back and see if we are focusing more on the birth aspect of the celebration rather than on the person whose birth we observe. Christmas is Christmas not only because it was the birth of Christ, but because Christ was born. The angel who appeared to the shepherds one dark night in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

The birth of Jesus is important because Jesus is the Savior promised by God to redeem his people from their sins. Jesus is the Christ, “the anointed one” in Greek, who was foretold to come and save God’s people. He is the “Messiah” (“the anointed one” in Hebrew) whom the Jews are waiting expectantly. The Christ is the same as the Messiah and some translations of the Bible use Messiah in Luke 2:11 instead of Christ. The primordial importance of Christmas was because Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, was born. Not parties, bonuses, hams, lechon, manita-manito, or fireworks, while Jesus is left alone in the corner of the room or in our minds. Let us reflect on that.

In the end, we will each face God, to account for our lives, one-on-one, not collectively. Jesus did not come so all of us will go to heaven, the Bible is clear enough on that. Each of us will give an account. Is Jesus the Christ and Messiah of my personal life (not everyone’s lives)? – is a question I need to answer. May God give us the discernment to know the answer; may the Holy Spirit quicken our souls that we may receive salvation by grace through faith, and may Christmas be true to all of us with Christ in it and at the center of it all. God bless you all!