We tend to think of Christmas in terms of its goodness. That’s true, of course. Both the secular Santa Claus and the Christian birth-of-Jesus versions of Christmas have a deep goodness in them: a time of hope, generosity, gift-giving, holiday cheer, singing carols, tasty treats, and time with family and friends. And none of this ugly politics.
Compare and contrast these two versions of Christmas for a minute, though. On one hand, you have Santa Claus: a magical elf who has apparently three powers: flying (or is that the reindeer?), gift wrapping, and teleporting into people’s houses. Oh, and keeping a 8.2-billion person list up-to-date. The end result? Holiday cheer, once a year.
On the other hand, we have the story of Jesus. The mighty creator of the universe (Colossians 1:15-17) deciding that the only way to rescue humanity from itself was to become human Himself (Philippians 2:6-11). Not just become human, but become human in a womb, and be born as a baby. He can sympathize with all of our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:14-16) because He has lived it all—gestation, birth, the fragility of infanthood, walking and talking, puberty, education, a career (presumably), friendship, fickle fame, political manuvering, temptation, betrayal.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. (John 1:5)
The thing about Santa Claus is holiday cheer that comes ones a year, and we hope to forget the evil in the world around us for just a moment. The thing about Jesus is that He has already looked evil in the face — and won. His goodness isn’t a once-a-year candlelight. It is a bright floodlight in the darkness of the world. It reveals the darkness in our world.
The darkness in evil dictators and tyrannies.
The darkness in cults and self-help religions.
The darkness in deepest poverty and untold wealth.
The darkness in ideas that exchange the truth of God for a lie.
The darkness in murder and crime and abuse and human trafficking.
The darkness in classism and sexism and racism.
The darkness in our own countries and cities and towns.
The darkness in our own churches and neighborhoods and political tribes.
The darkness in untimely death and persistent sickness and hatred and broken relationships.
The darkness in our own hearts.
Jesus knows it all. He is not surprised by my faithlessness and doubt and lack of love. He knows it all. “God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Jesus’ goodness exposes the darkness, so that we see our utter need for Him.
We tend to treat our politics as if they were sports: epic battles between our team (dressed in white and purveyors of all that is right) and the other team (death to the heathens!). Only one team can win, and it better be ours.
This understandable in many ways. After all, the Bible portrays some epic battles when Jesus wins over Satan. (Revelation 20:7-10)
The problem with the sports mindset — our team had better win! — is that we focus so much on our team winning that we blind ourselves to our own team’s problems. We start by choosing the better of two options, slink into choosing the least of two evils, and slouch into supporting our team at all costs.
Political division and competition is not the problem. Pointing out the speck in our opponent’s eye without taking the log out of our own, is.
Christmas and the floodlight of Jesus’ goodness give us a way forward. We aren’t left with a Santa Claus simply hoping to bring out the goodness in the grinch. We are left with Jesus who is truly good, and the rest of us, who are not — and we look to Him for salvation. For those who follow Jesus, we have a responsibility to be faithfully obedient to Him each day (Mark 12:29-31). We are not left in fear (Romans 8:15), but are instead filled with His Spirit and adopted as His children when we turn to Him. We aren’t left with a battle that our team must win, rather, we are left with Jesus who has already won (John 16:33). Christmas doesn’t give us many detailed answers for policy positions. There is lots of room for discussion and debate. Christmas does give us the courage to call out darkness, wherever it is found. Christmas tells us the darkness has invaded humanity so deeply that the only rescue is an invasion by God Himself, in the form of a baby. It is only because of Jesus that we have hope.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. (John 1:5)
Indeed. Merry Christmas, everyone!
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