The Cross and Christmas

So my (Aimee's) Grandma walked up to me the other morning and asked me about the cross that hangs in our living room near the front door.  I had draped a red cloth on it (which we've done at Christmas time for many years) and she wanted to know why.  I explained that I did it because red is the color of Advent and that I thought it looked pretty.  She responded (I may not quote her exactly, but this is essentially what she said), "Yeah, but what does the cross have to do with Christmas anyway?"

She didn't really finish her thought beyond that.  At the time I was wondering if she was about to suggest that the cross be taken down during Advent.  I asked her if that was what she wanted, and before I really gave her a chance to answer, I told her that I would not take it down because the cross is very relevant to Christmas time!

Christmas is special.  There is no question of that.  But we have to remember that Christmas wouldn't matter if it weren't for Easter!

"The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."  John 1:14

Praise God that He loves us so much that He sent His Son to us!  The important part of all that, of course, isn't that He came, but why He came.

Jesus came to redeem us from our sins.  As one Christmas carol puts it, He was born to die.  Jesus came to earth and became a man so that He could die on a cross for our sins and so that God could raise Him from the dead so that we can have eternal life with Him in paradise!  If Easter hadn't happened, Christianity wouldn't have happened, because it would have meant that all of the bad things that people were saying about Jesus was true: that He wasn't sent from God and that He wasn't performing miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit, that He was a blasphemer, etc.  If there had been no Easter, if He had not died, and if God had not raised Him from the dead, it wouldn't matter that He came at all, because it all would have been a lie and His death would have been the end of it.  But praise God!  His death was not the end.  And because of that, we know that our deaths are not the end.  Hallelujah!

Christmas matters because of Easter!

We may not dwell on it.  And that's ok.  We tend to spend this time of year focusing on the joy of His arrival.  On the mystery of His birth.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  But somewhere in our minds, maybe in the back there, we need to remember that all of that joy and excitement and hope that came along with the birth of Jesus was actually all because of the reason that He came.

If you ever have trouble remembering, even somewhere in the back of your mind, then I suggest singing more that just the first verse of most major/popular Christmas carols.  The third verse of "Joy to the World" says:

          No more let sin and sorrow grow,
          Nor thorns infest the ground.
          He comes to make His blessings flow
          Far as the curse is found,
          Far as the curse is found,
          Far as, far as, the curse is found.

The third verse of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" says:
          Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace!
          Hail the Son of Righteousness!
          Light and life to all He brings,
          Risen with healing in His wings.
          Mild He lays His glory by,
          Born that man no more may die;
          Born to raise the sons of earth,
          Born to give them second birth.

The second verse of "What Child is This" says:
          Why lies He in such mean estate,
               where ox and ass are feeding?
          Good Christian, fear; for sinners here
               the silent Word is pleading.
          Nails, spear, shall pierce Him through,
               the cross be borne, for me for you.
          Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
               the Babe, the Son of Mary.

Need I continue?

Christmas is special.  Jesus Christ came down in the form of a little baby.  He took on flesh ... and He took on our sins.  We just need to make sure we don't forget that.  We don't forget why He came.  Afterall, that's the thing that makes Christmas, and that special gift we all recieved on that first Christmas, so special.