Christmas is in five days. Five. It seems like it has come out of nowhere, a glimpse of that same wonderful time of year that we look forward to, even more so in 2020. When I was a little girl, I could scarcely get more than an hour or two of sleep because I was so excited to wake up and run in to see our tree with all of the gifts scattered underneath. As I have grown up, I’ve found a new love for Christmas: the love and joy I feel in giving and receiving gifts. For me, as much as I love to receive a gift (especially ones that are meaningful and show me love), I respond to the love language of giving gifts even more. I get so excited to research, find, and acquire that perfect gift for a family member or friend. I usually go wayyyy overboard, buying up tons of gifts, wrapping them just-so, and making sure we check off every Christmas activity we can off of our list. I get a lot of this behavior and obsession with Christmas from my grandmother. She would buy loads of gifts for everyone, decorate to a tee, and usually hide some gifts away and later forget where they were until stumbling upon them a year or two later. Christmas, all of the preparations for that single day, gave her joy. You could see it light up her face, give her purpose and drive her to excellence. It does the same for me, and while I don’t think it’s unhealthy to shower our loved ones with love, it should be done within reason and means. Beyond that, it shouldn’t distract from or replace the core reasons for celebration, the very foundation of Christmas. And that is, Christ.
From as early on in the Bible as Genesis 3:15, an unknown rescuer, Savior, is foreshadowed.
“he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
In response to the serpent and his temptation and subsequent fall of man, God declares this person, this offspring, who will face off with the enemy. The Bible is the living Word of God, and it is wonderful, elements of it are just like any other book: there are character arcs, settings and plots, action, romance, foreshadowing, etc. So even though this is the first book of the Bible, we know that this person will come up at some point, we know to look for him down the line.
The Bible continues through story after story, human sin, subsequent repentance, in a vicious cycle. But there are hints of a solution, an answer, a conclusion building and building throughout. Patterns exist in the Bible, when the same phrases are used, imagery that parallels, it’s not a coincidence.
The Lord tells Abraham, Issac, and countless others “Do not be afraid.” This same phrase is said to Mary when the angel Gabriel is sent to her to tell her she will bear a child. And not just any child, but the Savior. The one that had been foretold as early as the third chapter of the first book of the Bible. The Lord was with each of these characters, these real people, who lived and struggled and believed in Him. His hand was crafting the pathway, the plot, all along. And Jesus, Emmanuel, the Son of the Most High, Christ, God with us, was the turning point. The great twist. The unbelievable vessel of God. Everyone who had waited and studied and theorized on this Savior, were all blown away by the fact that a baby, a vulnerable child, was the powerful answer of God.
He was gifted to us. Given, provided, to walk among us and eventually bear all of the weight of our innumerable sins. He provided the lifeline to reconnect us to God, to restore us to Him, all while completely separating Himself from God. As a baby, born amongst animals and under the glow of the Star of Bethlehem, Christ came. It makes me emotional to think about, the wonder and awe that Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, any who witnessed this event must have felt.
When Jacob is in search of a wife in Genesis 29, verse 3 is written just so, “When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well’s mouth and water the sheep.”
Even though I have read the stories enough times in Genesis that I feel I know them by heart, I never focused on the details. I never dug into the word. This verse stopped me in my tracks. I read and reread it, trying to fathom what my brain was only just beginning to understand. A stone being rolled away from a mouth. A mouth of a well. A mouth of a tomb. To water the sheep. Jesus, Jesus, gave us the sheep, living water. And when the stone was rolled away from the tomb, when He was resurrected, the sheep were able to be watered again.
Anything we buy for each other will never come a fraction of the way to the importance, the significance of the gift of baby Jesus. Of who He was, and became, and is. Of what He meant, gave, and provided for us. So while I continue to enjoy Christmas for the decorations, the music, movies, gifts, traditions, etc. I try to continue thinking of that gift. That blessing that appeared on Christmas and provided us with water, cleansing and restorative and nourishing. Without Jesus, we wouldn’t have Christmases to celebrate. So, joy. Joy comes from the realization that we were loved and cared for enough that God gave of Himself, something so precious we can’t even wrap our minds around it, and offered us the greatest gift. That thought lights up my face. Fills my heart with joy.
Merry Christmas,
-Hannah
