The Barrier Destroying God

Dec 23, 2018 | by Pastor Josh Tate | series: Christmas


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I remember very clearly one winter night when my daughter was little. It was around bedtime, and, as was our habit, I let her pick out a few books for me to read to her before turning off the light. One of the books that she pressed into my hands was a new one to me, “Barbie in a Christmas Carol” by Mary Man-Kong. The story’s main character was a glamorous singing star named Eden Starling. She was beautiful and talented but also “very vain” and “cared only about herself.” Because she was the star of the theater she called the shots, and she cancelled all the other performer’s Christmas plans and told them that they would be spending their Christmas practicing for the new “Eden Starling Show.” Of course, this saddened the other performers, especially her friend, Catherine. That night Eden Starling went to bed with her cat Chuzzlewit, but as she slept they were visited by three spirits- the spirit of Christmas past, the spirit of Christmas present, and the spirit of Christmas future. They showed Eden Starling the error of her ways, and she awoke the next morning transformed, and eager to set right the awful things that she had done. On the last page of the book (page 10 if you’re keeping notes) Eden, Chuzzlewit, and Catherine, are shown zooming through the city in an open sleigh, and it says that Eden had finally learned the true meaning of Christmas- “Christmas is about giving and spending time with people you love.”

As I read the book to Lucy, I edited that line on the fly. I don’t remember my exact words, but I think I changed it to something like, “Eden truly understood that Christmas is about celebrating when Jesus came into the world to save His people from sin and death.” My apologies to Mary Man-Kong.

It always strikes me as odd that so many modern Christmas books, movies, songs and television programs feel the need to explain “the meaning of Christmas,” as though its meaning was ever unclear or uncertain. It requires something near willful blindness not to see the origins of Christmas. Of course, the reason why so many feel the need to redefine the meaning of Christmas is because we are living in a post-Christian America. Our culture wants all the fun of Christmas but not the Christ who first inspired it. However, without Christ the holiday is stripped of all its original meaning and significance, and so a vacuum of meaning results. And into that vacuum steps Mary Man-Kong and others who seem bent on seeking after a justification for all of the expense and busyness and activity by offering up an alternative view of why this season of goodwill and charity and celebration even exists. Is it really all about giving? Is it just about spending time with people you love?

As Christians, we have no confusion about the meaning of Christmas, and it seems that I never tire of hearing or speaking or thinking about Jesus’ coming into the world. The Christian explanation of Christmas is so much fuller, richer, and more satisfying than all this claptrap being peddled nowadays. Jesus himself was fond of explaining the meaning of Christmas. Over a dozen times in scripture Jesus says some version of “I came for this reason,” and whenever Jesus speaks of his reasons for coming into the world it is an effort to explain Christmas. For example in Mark 10:45 Jesus says, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” That’s why He came! That’s Christmas!

Listen in as we celebrate the rich, satisfying meaning of Christmas. We’ll be studying the story of the Shepherds, who were the first people to receive the news of Jesus’ coming into the world on that first Christmas day.