If you were brought up in a home where church was attended or even had friends or family who went to church regularly, I’m sure you’ve heard that “Jesus is the reason for the season.”

When I was a little girl, my grandmother wore a sweatshirt with the saying stitched boldly and in festive colors across the front. I still remember seeing her in the sweatshirt, and even though my mind knew the truth behind those words, my heart didn’t embrace it.

Like most people, the true meaning of Christmas became submerged beneath the transitory allure of the secular holiday, which, if we are honest, has little, if anything, to do with Bethlehem or a Savior named Jesus being born.

How ironic it is that a movie called “The Grinch Stole Christmas” has become almost a cultural phenomenon when the truth of the matter is that we, as humans, stole the meaning of Christmas long before any film about a Grinch was ever made.

In a way, those of us who celebrate Christmas as mostly a time of gift-wrapping and present-swapping, parties involving vast quantities of eggnog, hot cocoa, and cookies, along with Christmas songs and visits from an imaginary Santa have stolen Christmas. 

Now before you think I must have lost my mind in saying such a thing, let me explain what I mean.

In much the same way that the iconic Grinch tries to steal Christmas from the townspeople where he lives, we have tried to steal Christmas from Jesus. We’ve wrapped up the simple story of a baby born in a manger and left it under a tree, while giving our attention and adulation to secular stories where the key figures aren’t three wise men but instead elves, reindeer, and Mr.and Mrs. Claus. As for Bethlehem, it’s become the North Pole.

Once again, I feel I should explain something before I go further. I understand that there are those who believe Jesus was only a good man and not the Son of God. I’m not judging any of my readers who don’t believe as I do. However, even if we differ in terms of who we believe Jesus is, we surely agree that Christmas is a day that is named in his honor.

It’s perplexing to me that a baby of such humble beginnings is the person behind a time of year in which excess is seen in everything and where opulent attire and extravagant presents are often not only given but expected.

Yet, for every person or family for whom it’s the “most wonderful time of the year,” there is another person or family for whom the season is far from wonderful. As a society, it’s become politically correct to pay lip service to helping the homeless or donating to the “less fortunate,” but if the desire to do these things dwelled in our hearts, we wouldn’t need a special time of the year to remember them.

If we even pretend to attach any religious or spiritual significance to Christmas whatsoever, no one should have to inspire us to want to show love, compassion, and kindness to others. And when we fully comprehend that without the most important gift the world has ever known, Jesus, there would be no genuine hope for any of us, we realize that regardless of what we want, we have an obligation to honor that Gift by sharing it with those around us.

Heaven knows, I realize it can be awkward and downright embarrassing to talk about Jesus to a perfect stranger, but we are not called to live a life of comfort but rather a life of meaning in which God’s purpose for us prevails over our own desires and wishes. Santa and elves are cute and fun and they certainly can inspire whimsical decorations, but the greatest story of all the ages began with a nativity, not a sleigh. And there were no reindeer nor were there sumptuously decorated trees or fancy lights in that rustic stable oh so long ago in Bethlehem.

Jesus’s birth was an occasion of humility, and in coming to earth in order to be crucified for all the sins of mankind, the Son of God performed the ultimate act of selflessnes. His story and identity are things one can either accept or not, but no one can dispute He came from humble beginnings.

In our misguided efforts as mortals to equate an important event with fanfare and frivolity, we’ve replaced the manger with materialism and Christ with commercialism. An Ebenezer Scrooge isn’t needed for our narrative to take a tragic turn. Indeed, the only way that our story can become anything but tragic is for us to decide to do something drastic. And that drastic step is to put Christ back in Christmas.

Surely, since there would be no Christmas without a Christ, we should honor and remember Him before we pay homage to fanciful figures of pixies and white bearded men in fuzzy red suits.

But in our remembrance, we need to keep in mind that the gift God gave us through Jesus was not one that was forced upon us. It wasn’t like the present exchanges that are now such an integral part of Christmas. It was a gift that was given with no expectation of a return. God only asks that we accept the gift and, in return, the Light that came to brighten the entire world will illuminate our hearts, so that we can show and share the Love that is synonymous with Jesus not just once a year but the whole year through.

As Charles Spurgeon, the celebrated English”Prince of Pastors” once said, “The grandest Light in history is Jesus.”

Peace and Blessings,

Sascha 🕊