Christmas-But Not Yet- Part 1

We are about a month away from what the world now dubs as Christmas Day and folks are getting excited. Yet, in all the general pandemonium that takes place supposedly in His honour, very little is seen of this Jesus- man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Somehow He is strangely absent from the feasting and pleasure seeking masses which are held. Sad to say, many Christians are being swept away on the high tides of commercialism, sensuality and gluttony that sweeps over communities at this time of the year.

The life of Christ refutes the idea of Christmas celebration as we know it today. While on earth Christ lived a life of self sacrifice. Reveling, feasting and merriment were not to be His lot. Christ lived in the shadow of the cross and yet very few people recognized it. I can well imagine the intensity of emotions which many Jews experienced when they heard that Jesus was born. The thought of liberation from the Jewish yoke would have been uppermost in their minds. This would have been reason enough to celebrate. Christ, the Liberator, had come on the scene. "Christmas!" But not yet.

First the cross... but the Jews couldn't understand it. They failed to understand Christ's mission. Could it be that we are still misunderstanding even today? Interestingly, even the disciples failed to understand Christ's mission and looked for 'Christmas' prematurely. The sons of Zebedee were ready for 'Christmas'. They even desired to have the best seats at the gala. Judas too wanted 'Christmas' prematurely. His desire led to the betrayal of Jesus. Today we too want 'Christmas' prematurely.

The crucifixion of Christ was a crushing blow to His disciples. Today, persons are crushed when they face the startling fact that there must be a crucifixion of self before there can be a 'Christmas celebration'. Yet 'Christmas' is a-coming. Soon Christ will come for His people in fulfilment of His promise in St. John 14:1-3. (To be continued)