He was born outside a small hotel in an obscure Jewish village in the great days of the Roman Empire. The story is usually prettified when we tell it Christmas by Christmas but it is really rather beastly and cruel. The reason Jesus was born outside the hotel is that it was full and nobody would offer a bed to a woman in labour, so that she had to have her baby in the stables and cradle him in a cattle-trough. The story is told dispassionately and without comment but no thoughtful reader can help shuddering at the picture of callousness and degradation that it draws. J.I. Packer, Knowing God (1973)
Christmas reminds us of our sin, of that there is no doubt. We needed saving and continue to do so. The fact that we seek to beautify these ugly facts of the Christmas event and continue to trivialise their importance with a range of activities that leave us too exhausted to reflect and rendered unable to grasp its seriousness by our round of trivial festivities, demonstrates our propensity to crowd God out.
I often wonder why this is so. Is it, as someone has said, that “man cannot bear too much reality”? The reality that we cannot save ourselves or even improve ourselves as fit to meet and live with God is sobering and ignored by most. Sadly, if we fail to see our predicament we rob ourselves of benefiting from God’s remedy and consign ourselves to living lives alone and far below the fullness He would have us enjoy.
Or is it that we settle for less simply because the less is so enjoyable in and of itself, yet makes no real demands on us? The food, family reunions, holidays, Boxing Day test matches, camping with friends, annual backyard cricket games, Boxing Day specials and time to enjoy gifts bring their own pleasures. Few would want to deny that but they are only shadows of life lived for the Creator who makes the good gifts possible. Fancy settling for the wrapping paper rather than the chocolates, or the glad wrap rather than the turkey! Yet that’s what we often do when we fail to either thank God for the gifts or seek our lasting joy in relationship with the Giver. It would be akin to expecting an expensive gift from our friend or parent but not wanting to enjoy friendship with them!
When God became man and dwelt amongst us, it was so we too could enjoy God. But since He is God we must allow Him to call the shots and set the agenda. Yet, as millions have proved, His demands are not burdensome, indeed they are life-giving since they not only keep us from the consequences of doing our own thing but give us the opportunity to increasingly learn the joys of doing His will.
Christmas is an invitation from God to do what we do when we are confronted with a table full of goodies – to “taste and see that the Lord is good”. When I enjoy a chocolate cake or roast dinner, it is because I make the choice to eat the food which causes me both delight and nourishment. The humility and love of Jesus in coming amongst us assures us that when we taste and see how good He is – by confessing our sin, turning to Him and trusting Him with our life – He will neither let us down nor leave a bad taste in our mouth.