It may seem like a non-issue, making Christ the center of Christmas. His name is in the holiday, after all, all our Christmas carols are about him, and nativities and crosses are hung up everywhere this time of year. But like clockwork, when December hits, it’s very easy to get wrapped up in the presents, pretty lights, and wonderful music of the season, that we don’t fully appreciate what the season is really for. Jesus isn’t hard to find in the Christmas season, but He is easy to miss.

The Season

“And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” — Luke 2:7 

I highly recommend reading the entirety of Luke 2 sometime this Christmas season. It’s not only a wonderful story, but it focuses our mind on what this season is all about: our Lord and Savior’s birth.

The first thing to take away from these verses is that they actually happened. Jesus was actually born of the virgin, Mary, in a manger in Bethlehem. If God didn’t become a man, there’d be no reason for joy, and certainly no reason for Christmas. But it happened, and this birth had been prophesied over 500 years ago in Isaiah.

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14 

The second thing to remember is that Jesus is God. God Himself took on all the aspects of humanity. He became a human, just as human as you and me, so that he could save us all. That little baby that Mary held that night was the Savior of the world, and that is what we celebrate this Christmas.

Jesus didn’t come as a conquering king, as the Jews might have wanted Him to. He didn’t come as a political figure, or a booming authority that would bully the earth into submission. No, He came in the dead of winter, when all nature was still, and He was born in a disgusting barn and placed in a box where animals eat out of. It doesn’t get much lowlier than that.

Yet that was why Jesus came as He did. He didn’t need all the fanfare, all of the praise. He came to be all that we are, as humanity, yet living a perfect life. It’s this perfect life He offered as a sacrifice for our sins on the cross, some 30 years later.

“And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.’” — Luke 2:10 

Jesus’s birth should bring us great joy. Not just in the birth itself, but in what it means. God Himself, the King of the universe, the One who made each and every one of us, descended to Earth and became one of us, to ultimately sacrifice Himself for us. That’s cause for great joy.

If Jesus Christ hadn’t been born, there’d be no reason to celebrate. We’d all be dead in our sins, and we’d have no way to atone for our offenses. There’s literally nothing we can physically do to save ourselves.

That’s why God did something. That’s why we have great joy.

The Reason

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” — Phillipians 2:5–8

The Christmas season should be a time of great joy, but it also should be a time of remembrance. Jesus was born for a purpose, and that purpose was to die on a cross for our sins. He came to do what we never could, live the life we could never live, and die the death we could never die.

Christians should never get over the Gospel, especially not at Christmas time. During a season so full of giving, who are we not to give thanks to the One who gave us the ultimate gift? We can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ if only we accept Him into our heart. Now that’s something to celebrate this Christmas!

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” — Phillipians 2:9–11

Jesus was born, He lived a real life, and He died a real death, but that’s not the end of the story. The Bible tells us that Jesus is alive. He rose again, conquering death, so that we won’t have to face punishment ourselves, if only we trust in Him. The main image of Christmas is a manger, but the holiday ultimately points to the cross, and eventually the empty tomb. 

Jesus is alive, and He’s coming soon. This Christmas, there’s a lot to be thankful for. It’s easy to feel a lot of different things this time of year: joy, sadness, loneliness. With Christ, we have a joy that never fades, because our ultimate hope isn’t in something of this world, it’s in the One who holds all things in the palm of His hands.

“The Son of God became a man to enable men to become Sons of God.” — C.S. Lewis

The Christmas story is about the King of the Universe, the One who holds the stars and planets in His hands, coming down to the lowliest of circumstances, taking on the dirt of humanity, and saving us from ourselves. That’s tidings of great joy.

Merry Christmas!