Christmas Day is tomorrow. And after that we’ll be focused on something else. We’ll be getting ready for our New Year’s Eve parties. We’ll watch the top 100 blanks of the year on TV. We’ll try to get in as much fun as possible before school starts again and we will have forgotten all about Christmas. There is just so much to do to get ready for this Christmas day thing that by the time it comes we are sick of it We are over Christmas before it has begun. Tired of the songs, the lights, the sales, the bellringers. Christmas will be over and that will be it.
But did you know that when Jesus was born, he was called “Emmanuel”—God with us? Yet we’ve accepted just the opposite of that. Once Christmas Day is over, Jesus is excluded, for all intents and purposes, from our daily lives. He’s out the door with the leftovers, back in the cupboard with the wrapping paper and Christmas dishes until next December comes. It’s not that he’s not important, we tell ourselves, it’s just that the celebration is over and it’s time to get back on with our lives.
In the gospel of John, we heard that “the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” What does that mean? It means that the world has Christmas all mixed up for the sake of good advertising. In Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, there is a video lesson called “Buyer Beware”. In the lesson, he explains that we are inundated every day with advertisements and that these marketing ploys affect our decision making. It’s tough not to be influenced by thousands of commercials, radio spots, internet pop ups and billboards. If you are not careful and aware, you will find yourself buying things you didn’t have the money to buy.
If you don’t know by now, though my family does watch programs on Hulu and many movies on Netflix, we don’t have a television. Why not? Well, many reasons, but everytime we go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for an overnight stay I realize how happy I am that we don’t have a TV. You see, when you don’t watch a lot of TV, you realize how much of TV is just commercials. And then you realize suddenly what kind of an effect those commercials have on little ears. One day, my kids had never heard of a pillow pet, but after one thirty minute cartoon (with three pillow pet commercials) guess what they couldn’t live without? When I was little, my dad would joke that all he’d have to do to get me to eat something was have it dance on TV. So, he’d get a couple of forks in the two sides of the meatloaf, carry the pan over to the television, lift it up and do a little song and dance for me to get me to eat. Funny, but consider how much of what you buy for your kids is based not on nutrition or even tradition but on television.
Our faith has been manipulated as well by marketing, especially by Christmas marketing, and the results aren’t pretty. I don’t think that people intentionally focus on something other than Jesus; it’s just that there’s not enough room for a big God like that is our normal everyday lives. Not with everything else we have going on. There’s no room at the inn, no room under the Christmas tree, no time to go to church on Christmas Day, no money left to give an offering after buying all those Christmas presents, no time to read the Bible when there are Christmas cards to write. I get it. I struggle too. We all do.
When God became flesh to dwell among us he really did take up a lot of room. As it was explained to me once at seminary, he’s like your big, fat uncle who travels to your house at Christmastime and takes over. He sits in your favorite chair, sprawls out over your couch, grabs the remote with one hand and has the other in the snackbowl. He sets his big ol rear down and takes up all the space you once had. And then, the next day, he won’t leave! That’s Jesus in the flesh! And come the day after Christmas, he’s still here whether we want him or not. Jesus promises that he’s not going anywhere. He’s Emmanuel, God with us. And he won’t be leaving. He’s staying indefinitely.
Jesus is like your loving and overprotective father teaching you to ride that new bike you got for Christmas. He holds onto the handlebars and runs alongside you saying, “Keep pedaling! Keep pedaling!” But while an earthly father will let go and watch you ride off into the sunset once you get the hang of it, Jesus never lets go. Ever. He’s still running alongside you to this day cheering you on but holding on tight. For some, this feels condescending, stifling, like he’s not giving you enough freedom. But if you are like me and have a hard time keeping your balance in this life. Knowing that God is right there, in the flesh, in all circumstances—well, that feels like a glorious comfort.
The sales will only last another day, radio stations will stop playing Christmas songs, everyone will forget about Jesus and church and faith and start focusing on what 2011 will bring. But I pray that you will have a different experience after Christmas. That you’ll look on the world with new eyes. Aware and prepared for what lies ahead. That’s you’ll live and breathe and ride along in a new way. Not because you’ve changed who you are, but because you’ve been changed by the one who’s riding along with you. You’re not going anywhere alone ever again. Jesus Christ is born today. God is with us. And he’s come to stay with you forever. Amen.
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