Thursday December 6, 2018

 

For many years there has been an all out culture war surrounding Christmas. The battle is all about whether it is appropriate or not to say Merry Christmas or just say happy holiday to not offend anyone. I would like to offer my unsolicited opinion; I do not think it matters much. I believe that what is most important is that the words Merry Christmas become alive. In other words don’t tell me, show me instead what a Merry Christmas is all about.

 

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seenhis glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.Out of his fullness we have allreceived grace in place of grace already given.– John 1:14,16

 

As John wrote about his personal encounter, he could not forget how badly the disciples misjudged and mistreated Jesus. On one occasion John and his brother James asked Jesus if he wanted them to call down fire from heaven in order to burn an entire village that did not welcome them. On another occasion, John and James tried to outsmart the other disciples by asking Jesus if when he established his kingdom, would he allow one of them to sit on his right side and the other on his left.  And as if this were not foolish enough, John and James’ mother went to Jesus to request that her sons be allowed to sit to the right and left of him. Jesus on one occasion had to rebuke the Apostle Peter and called him satan because he was so egocentric that he did not care about God’s plans to save the world. Judas was caught robbing the money he was given for the ministry and John tells us that throughout all of this, Jesus in his relationship with them, extended grace.

 

Towards the end of his Gospel, John tells us that Jesus who had already shown so much grace, knowing that his time to die on the cross had come, wanted to once again show them just how much he loved them. So Jesus began to wash the disciple’s feet despite the fact that he knew they would all abandon him, that Peter would deny him, and that Judas would betray him for thirty pieces of silver. In John’s mind, this no longer represented grace; this was grace upon grace already given.

 

What makes Christmas merry is not merely the words but rather the actions. So go ahead and wish everyone a Merry Christmas, but let your words become flesh, let them become alive, show everyone what a Merry Christmas is all about. If Jesus was graceful towards his disciples, we can show grace to those who disagree with us. Perhaps in doing so they too will have a happy holiday and more importantly a Merry Christmas.