The True Christmas Gift

It's the most wonderful time of the year again!

Christmas!

Adding things to our already full schedules. Additional expenses in every category. Piles of gifts, often for people already struggling with the immense number of things in their lives. It is just what we do at Christmas, right?

Christmastime does one good thing, for sure - it asks us to consider the poorest of the poor. People who don't have a place to lay their heads. People who may not know where their next meals is coming from. But if we are honest, we might admit that we don't pay much attention to the plight of those people during the rest of the year. If you're like I am, you have stared at the red light uncomfortably while one of the "less fortunate" walks by your car looking for some spare change.

Christmas is both enjoyable and wonderful... as well as a little difficult, at times.

War in Israel and Ukraine. Political corruption. Exploitation of vulnerable people. Child trafficking. Terrorist attacks. Political division. Endless arguing on social media.

On and on the list goes, and Christmas doesn't seem to be able override all the concerns that the current world parks at our doorstep.

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With all this front of mind, I saw something pretty interesting last week. I saw a bumper sticker that really made me think.

I mean, like think for days and days.

Here it is:

Attention grabbing. Pretty creative, actually!

I immediately reflected on the misconception about Jesus that the bumper sticker illustrated. The Jesus of this bumper sticker is one who watches us around the clock, waiting to condemn us when we inevitably slip up on something. A Surveillance Jesus. The Great Monitoring One. A Theological Panopticon.

A few days later, it occurred to me that this exact paradigm of being monitored has crept into the heart of American Christmas itself. As a society, we have collectively agreed to tell our children stories about a man named Santa Claus who keeps a "list" to determine who is "naughty or nice." Most notably, we advise that the best way that our children can win the favor of Santa Claus is by telling them "you better not cry."

Here are some lyrics to consider:

You better watch out

You better not cry

You better not pout

I’m telling you why

Santa Claus is coming to town

He’s making a list,

Checking it twice,

Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.

Santa Claus is coming to town

He sees you when you’re sleeping

He knows when you’re awake

He knows if you’ve been bad or good

So be good for goodness sake!

I don't know about you, but the "I Saw That" Jesus and the "List Keeping" Santa are deeply unappealing to me. To a world that is like the one we live in, they are both Bad News.

Thank goodness that beyond the false Bad News of the "naughty or nice" Christmas message, the Incarnation provides the ultimate correction. The Incarnation is the best Good News that any of us could ever hear.

The Good News is this... you can never make the nice list and God already knows it. You don't even need to try to restore your relationship with Him based on your efforts to get on the nice list and stay off the naughty list. You won't be able to do it.

While we are in our present state of spiritual misalignment, none of us can entirely stay off the naughty list.

No matter how hard we try, each of us will inevitably hit the place where we will make choices that verify that we carry some level of spiritual brokenness. You will inevitably miss the mark. So will I. So will every person drawing breath today.

Jesus left His throne to become a lowly servant and step into the middle of each of our broken patterns, faulty relationships, unkind actions, ill-spoken words, damaged emotional schemas, and destructive cravings. While here, He accepted our penalty for each and every one of our "missing the mark" moments, showing that God is both perfectly just and perfectly merciful.

Here's an analogy:

Imagine that you had a traffic ticket that was $30,000. The judge and jury knew you were in the wrong and had all the evidence. Then imagine going into court and being told by the judge that your fine had been paid and you could walk away without any debt. The Gospel is like that, but like a jillion times better, because it also provides you with a changed heart, as well as a way to have life abundantly and life eternally.

And all of it is entirely free!

All you need to do is... "confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, [and] you will be saved." (Romans 10:9)

May you ponder the true meaning of Christmas this year.

Merry Christmas, y'all.