A Defence of Christmas

No, Christmas isn’t discriminatory. Our bureaucrats only say it is because they don’t have the slightest clue of what Christmas means.

Far from being divisive, Christmas is the most unifying day of the year. Think about three classes of men – politicians, thinkers, and workers – in society. We might as well call them by their more festive names: kings, wisemen, and shepherds.

Day-to-day, these groups of men keep to themselves. Wisemen don’t mix with shepherds, and kings don’t mix with wisemen, which is obvious enough when we listen to our leaders speak.

But at Christmas, all of these groups converge in the impoverished hamlet of Bethlehem. Their class division is instantly destroyed by the cry of a babe. These men and women aren’t unified by an ideology or wealth, but by a Man. Kings kneel with intellectuals, and intellectuals kneel with labourers, as all of them give worship to the King of the Cosmos who carries no sword.

Then again, He is coming back with a sword. All of us know about the First Christmas, but what about the second? It’s going to be exactly the opposite of what happened 2000 years ago.

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In Bethlehem, the Lord arrived as a helpless baby in a manger. Entrusted to poor parents, the One who’s prepared a home for us in Heaven was homeless. He exchanged the warmth of the Throne for the frigid reception of Earth. Remember Herod the Great? He hunted the baby Jesus with a blade, just as others would viciously hunt Christ for the rest of His life.

At the cross, these ruthless men succeeded in their putrid sport. Their bane from Bethlehem was vanquished, and left to rot in a manger for dead men.

But He didn’t stay dead.

On the third day, as the Scriptures promised, Christ was resurrected from the grave. He defeated death once for all time, and now lives eternally beside the Father in Heaven. The world’s second Christmas is imminent. The Lord Jesus is alive, and He’s coming back to Earth as a conqueror clothed in radiance and glory. The baby in a manger is gone; the Commander from Heaven is come.

As a child, Jesus was forced to run from evil, but when He returns, evil is going to run from Him.

It won’t escape.

The searing perfection of Christ burns away the dross of everything vile. The King is preparing for His next Christmas, so we have to be prepared, as well. The first Christmas makes men rejoice; the second Christmas makes them tremble. Christ came first to vanquish sin, but He’s coming again to vanquish sinners.

Merry Christmas!