'Tis the Season to Be Jolly or Joyous?

In the US, which refers to itself as "One nation under God," it is acceptable to use the term "Happy Holidays" in relation to December 25 but unacceptable to use the term "Merry Christmas." For millions of people, the focus is on buying, giving, and getting. They are happy enough to sing "'Tis the season to be jolly" simply because the focus is on having a good time. "'Tis the season to be joyous" is more fitting, but how many people really understand what the real joy of Christmas is all about?

For centuries prior to Jesus' birth, the people of God had lived under the Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, Persians, Greeks, Egyptian Ptolemies, and Syrian Seleucids. Although the Jewish Maccabees-Hasmoneans had regained control of the holy land in 164 BC, the Romans took control of it in 63 BC. The Roman imperial establishment proclaimed the following: "Caesar is a son of god! Caesar is Lord! Caesar rules the world! Caesar brings peace! Caesar brings good news!" While serving as the president of Harvard University, George Macdonald described the hopes that the Jewish people embraced during the centuries prior to Jesus' birth:

They were all waiting for a king
to slay their foes and raise them high;
Thou cam'st a little baby thing
that made a woman cry.

How true! We might add one more sentance to these verses:

Thou cam'st to do Thy servant thing,
on cruel cross to die!

In the Apostles' Creed we confess, "He was born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate." What do we see between these two statements? A comma! If only the Church Fathers had included between these two statements, "walked the way of a servant-without-limit." The significance is mind-blowing. Jesus did not come merely to go to a cross so that people might be forgiven and go to heaven after they die. True enough, but there is so much more--He came to establish the true, eternal Kingdom of God!

How radically different is Jesus' Kingdom from what humanity at large dreams about and wants. His teaching may be summarized as follows:

• We live on a tiny planet in a vast universe which we did not make and do not own. God made and owns the universe.
• We inhabit a body that we did not make and do not own. God made and owns it.
• God owns the ground on which we walk, the house in which we live, the car that we drive, and the money in the bank account that bears our name. After all, have you ever seen a U-Haul pulled behind a hearse?

In his splendid book How God Became King, British scholar N.T. Wright points out that there are three "high points" in the Gospel narratives:

• After Jesus ate with His disciples in the Upper Room, He washed their feet--something that only Gentile slaves did for their Jewish masters. He told the disciples to reflect His action!
• Jesus lived the life of a servant to the point of giving up His life on a cross. At Calvary, Jesus got crucified and Satan got "nailed"!
• Jesus' Father endorsed His Son's servant ministry by raising Him from the dead and declaring Him to be Lord of the universe.

When Jesus ascended after His resurrection, He did not withdraw His presence; He merely transformed it. He walks beside us throughout life. We are not waiting for Him to come again; we are waiting for Him to reappear. When we celebrate our Lord's birth, we have every reason to experience great joy that is profoundly beyond definition. When, during the coming days, you celebrate our Lord's incarnation, may it help you and your loved ones to understand that to know, believe in, and follow Jesus full-time gives rise to the understanding that life is the season to be joyous!