Christ’s Christmas

“For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” – Isaiah 53: 2

No doubt, there is a lot of gilt and glamour associated with Christmas in America.  What with the parades, ads, and never ending Kay Jewelers commercials; it seems (to me at least) that each year the Christmas marketing machine starts early and goes bigger.  The entire nation goes into a buying frenzy and companies across this land are lining up trying to attract the masses to purchase their product.  Like a fishermen after his fish, they will cast shiny trinkets and luscious bait to try and hook you.  You won’t see any ugly people driving that new sports car or modeling the best clothes.  Those billboards, internet ads, and commercials are going to be meticulously prepared to appeal to you; they will have form and comeliness so as to attract.  They want you to see the beauty and desire it.  This of course is not Christmas, it is commercialism.  The Christ that brought Christmas, was not girded with gilt and glamour.  He was not marketed or lauded to the elite, but he took on flesh and condescended to men of low estate.

When you stop and think that God made the universe, the Sun and stars, moon, and then the earth.  After that he clothed the earth with grass, and trees, mountains and deserts.  He filled the great trenches with water and set our entire ecosystems in perfect order.  Finally, He placed mankind here as stewards over his magnified creation.  When you stop and think about all that (if you brain doesn’t short circuit), then think, the God that made all that, sent his only Son to die for me.  Jesus Christ, left heaven, and came to earth taking upon himself the form of a man.  He was worthy of all the accolades and pomp we could offer.  His birth should have been exalted, and broadcasted across the nations.  The Son of God, has come to mankind!  The King of Kings, here to dwell with us.  This was not to be, Jesus’s coming was not a commercialized one.  It was never his intention to exalt himself, he did not come on Earth to court our business, or market himself in hopes to win our acceptance.  Jesus does not draw men that way.  He had no form nor comeliness, and there was beauty that we should desire him.  He was not like Absalom (King David’s son) with long hair, and perfect features, who with cunning words and charisma stole the hearts of the men of Israel.  Jesus does not want you steal your heart, he wants you to give him your heart.  That being said, he has courted you, he has sought after you…..he has bleed for you.  He left heaven for you; he left heaven knowing that he would be born in a smelly old manger, a carpenters son who would one day grow up to embrace a bloody cross.  He is not commercialized Christmas, he is Christmas; he did not bring a commercialized salvation, He is salvation.  The most important things that are in this world cannot be seen, or bought, or marketed on TV.  They are the invisible, the spiritual, a reflection of the character of God himself; things like love, joy, peace, fellowship, family, unity, eternity.  When Jesus came without form or comeliness he set the tone for his ministry and mission.  It was not about the world, the flesh, and the things of this life.  It was and always will be about the will of the Father.  It was God’s will that he come this way.  That he live despised and rejected.  That he suffer, and die on a cruel cross.  He was the Messiah, the Lamb of God, he brought the gift of salvation, and it is for whosoever will.  The scripture tells us that ALL may know the Lord from the least to the greatest. 

If our Savior was born among the lowly, who are we to think ourselves better than our neighbor?  If our Savior had no place to lay His head, who are we to complain when the internet is acting slow, or the air condition’s broke, or everything isn’t going just like we think it ought to be going?  If our Savior, who could have ruled the world, loved not the things of this world, who are we love it more than Him?  The Christmas he brought, the salvation he bought, and the gospel he taught, was not/is not a commercialized one, no, it is the ultimate gift to mankind; the salvation to save your life, and your soul, and that is not something you will find in a department store.