The Reason for the Season

Have you seen the signs around at Christmas that say- ‘Jesus is the Reason for the Season’? In a time when everyone is trying to take the Christ out of Christmas, I am glad to see someone taking the initiative to remind everyone that we are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas, and not just the cold snowy, freezing “holiday season”. I do not think I would be celebrating sub-zero temperatures and feet of snow dropped every night in a row the past week (in some parts of our country). Christians celebrate the birth of the Savior of mankind on Christmas. It is necessary that we remind ourselves of that in the midst of a world and culture that is currently concerned with stripping everything to do with Christianity and Jesus Christ from society. JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!

However, is He really the reason for the season, or the reason we, as members of the fallen human race celebrate the season? You see, we are the reason for the season. If man had not fallen into sin, there would have been no need for a Savior from sin. The truth of the matter is that our sin caused the terrible separation from our beloved Creator, and the need for a plan of salvation. It was God’s LOVE for us that caused Him to send His only begotten sinless Son into the world, clothed in human flesh, to dwell among us and stand misjudgment in our place, suffer our sentence for sin, and open the path back to God for us. WE are the reason He came.

When the angels announced the birth of the little boy in Bethlehem so many centuries ago, it was indeed news of “great joy” (Luke 2:10). A groaning creation, a helpless world could now find HOPE in the spotless Lamb of God, born in lowly circumstances and cradled in a manger- for them- for our salvation. “Unto you (us) is born this day, A SAVIOR, who is Christ the Lord!” (Luke 2:11-16). So great the news, so wonderful the HOPE, so great the GIFT, that the multitude of the heavenly host put on a concert of welcome, praise and glory. Unto YOU is born this day, A SAVIOR! You do not have to stay lost and alone, without God and without hope in this cold and merciless world. Your hope came clothed in humanness, and His image peers intently at you from the sweet hay in the manger.

And yet, the story is not complete, for the baby that arrived that Holy night did not stay a babe. He did not return to His heavenly kingdom without suffering, and that, also, for us.

God the Father and Heaven’s population, like Mary, Jesus’ mother, must have kept (pondered) (Luke 2:19) all these things in their hearts, for they knew the plan that brought the Son of God to Earth. It was for us that He would continue His life and mission. Because of us and for us. Because of His great love for us, and for our redemption. It was for us that He would suffer shame and loss and death, 33 years later, and declare in the midst of unfathomable and unspeakable agony- IT IS FINISHED( John 19:30). And, indeed, it was. The plan of salvation was carried out to the bittersweet end. All for the final victory over death. The Earth He spoke into existence could not hold Him. Death was defeated and Life forever with our Creator and God was secured once and for all.

Will you look at that tiny infant searching you with intent eyes? Will you see His divine love in coming to Earth to provide salvation for you? Will you grab on to the HOPE He offers to you this Christmas season? You are the reason He came. You are the reason He suffered and died. YOU are the one He loves. And HE is the One who is everything to any person who is willing to come to Him! He is the One who makes Life possible and livable. He is the reason for everything and everyone (See Colossians 1:16-17).

So it may seem a little backward to say that we are the reason for the season. We are the reason Christ chose to leave the wonder of Heaven and live temporarily in the constraints of this earth, but on Resurrection morning, I will still be saying, “ JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!”