Can you believe it was 1957, over 30 years ago, when Dr. Seuss first told children and parents around the world that the Grinch tried to steal our precious holiday celebration? In How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Dr. Seuss says,
And the Grinch with his Grinch feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, “How could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags.” He puzzled and fussed ’til his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. “Maybe Christmas” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.” (Random House, Inc., New York, 1957)
There is something about the Grinch that everyone kind of loves, isn’t there? I suppose some would say it’s because there’s a bit of him in all of us ~ or perhaps it’s Ebenezer Scrooge ~ “Bah Humbug!” Actually, I believe our love of stories like Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas or Charles Dickens’ famous A Christmas Carol comes more from our deep desire to know that Christmas, in fact, does not come from a store. We long for assurance that Christmas has a true, deep meaning and origin.
But far too often in this politically correct world, we are reminded it’s not very popular to celebrate the real meaning of Christmas. Sadly, the birthday of Jesus Christ truly has been stolen ~ not by The Grinch ~ but by our secular culture. Christmas is being held captive by multi-million dollar ad campaigns,Jingle-bell Rock booming over loud speakers in stores before we ever eat our Thanksgiving turkeys, and alternate celebrations of everything from the Winter Solstice andKwanzaa to Festivus, which believe it or not, was made popular by an episode of Seinfeld ~ a sitcom! What in the world has happened to Christmas?
Isn’t it time we reclaim our celebration of the birth and life of the Man who changed history forever? Whether you are a believer in Jesus Christ as the Son of God or not, most would agree he has had more impact on the world than any other single person in history. Here are just a few ways Jesus of Nazareth has left his mark on our world:
~ More books have been written about Jesusthan about any other person in history.
~ Nations have used his words as the bedrock of their governments. According to Durant, “The triumph of Christ was the beginning of democracy.” [Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy (New York: Pocket, 1961), 428.]
~ His Sermon on the Mount established a new paradigm in ethics and morals.
~ Schools, hospitals, and humanitarian works have been founded in his name. Over 100 great universities — including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Columbia, and Oxford — owe their beginnings to followers of Christ. [Cited in Bill Bright, Believing God for the Impossible (San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life, 1979), 177-8.]
~ The elevated role of women in Western culture traces its roots back to Jesus. (Women in Jesus’ day were considered inferior and virtual non-persons until his teaching was followed.)
~ Slavery was abolished in Britain and America due to Jesus’ teaching that each human life is valuable.
~ Yale historian Jaroslav Pelikan writes of him, “Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant figure in the history of Western culture for almost twenty centuries… It is from his birth that most of the human race dates its calendars, it is by his name that millions curse and in his name that millions pray.”[Jaroslav Pelikan, Jesus through the Centuries (New York: Harper & Row, 1987), 1.] (http://www.yjesus.com/bornid_article.html)
It’s interesting, isn’t it? At 12:00am on January 1, 2012 as we “ring-in” the New Year, we will once again record for history the approximate number of years since the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. But Jesus’ impact is not limited to broad outcomes affecting “the world” today. This is a man whose life and death were foretold by numerous writers over 700 years before his birth!
In 750BC, the prophet Micah wrote, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (Micah 5:2)
Isaiah, who recorded his prophecies approximately 760 years before Jesus’ birth wrote, “…in the future, he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by way of the sea, along the Jordan… For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”(Isaiah 9:1,6)
And more than 7 centuries before Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, Isaiah also wrote, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering… But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed… He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:3-7) (To see just a few of the Biblical passages and other ancient historical records that refer to the fulfillment of these prophesies, see: Luke 2:4, Mark 1:39; Luke 9:22; John 19:34; Mark 14:61; and Book 18 of the Antiquitiesby Flavius Josephus)
http://www.facingthechallenge.org/josephus.php)
Perhaps most amazing of all, however, is the fact that Jesus continues to change the lives of real people today ~ every day. He changes murderers and thieves into people with a Godly mission; transforms the broken and hurting into the strong, whole & fully alive; and converts the confused and disenchanted into a people of hope! If the life of Jesus of Nazareth was foretold centuries before his birth, defines our modern calendar, and still changes people’s lives today, why would wenot celebrate His birth this Christmas?
Let’s choose to take back Christmas for Christ. Those of us who worship him as Lord and Savior must unapologetically rejoice in Him! This year, decide to focus on the Christ of Christmas. Oh, it’s wonderful to buy gifts and decorate a Christmas tree (although I did forego the “trappings” last year… see Christmas Without a Tree.) But this year, focus on Him.Explain to your kids that we buy gifts to remember the ultimate Gift of Jesus and that Christmas lights are a symbol of the “Light of the World.” Display your Nativity Scene but leave baby Jesus out of the stable until Christmas. Then, as you start a new tradition of putting Baby Jesus into the Manger on Christmas morning, remind your family that the baby, born in that manger over 2000 years ago, is the reason we celebrate.
He is the ultimate, unselfish, totally irreplaceable and priceless gift of freedom, forgiveness, peace and joy, wrapped up in the package of a tiny baby ~ a baby who one day, as prophesied centuries beforehand, would walk the path to Calvary and pay the debt for the wrongs of all mankind. He is the Joy in Joy to the World. He is the reason we call this theChristmas Season – not the “Holidays.” He is the reason that someday,
“… every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”(Philippians 2:10-11)
JOY to the world the Lord has come!
Merry Christmas
