The real reason for the season

There’s been a good deal of controversy this past Christmas season regarding the season itself. John Gibson wrote a best-seller whose subject matter is the “war on Christmas.” Some businesses forbade their employees to wish customers “Merry Christmas,” and public schools have secularized the words to religious Christmas carols.

One letter to the editor of a local newspaper called for people to remember that “Christmas is all about the children.” The writer said, “What I’ve always seen in children is that when they think of Christmas, they are filled with visions of Christmas trees, lights, Santa Claus, and presents; mostly of presents.”

Most Christians, however, proclaim that “Jesus is the reason for the season.” What is the reason for the Christmas season? Is it trees, lights, tinsel, candles, Santa, presents, eggnog, football, snowmen, cards, and reindeer? Is it the children? Is the reason for the season Jesus?

What is the reason for the prophetic visions and utterances of the ancient Old Testament prophets and saints? What is the reason that God dispatched an angel, that a magnificent visitation was given to a virgin, that God in a dream spoke to her fiancé? What is the reason that angels sang with joy in the heavens, that shepherds left their flocks untended in the dark, that wise men traveled a long and treacherous journey? What is the reason for this miracle that we call the Incarnation, when God became man and dwelt among us?

The reason for the season is ... you. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him” (John 3:16-17 NASB).

To Joseph came the divine dream in which an angel said, “And she will bear a Son; and you shall call his name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21 NASB).

“And the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people,” came the message to the shepherds (Luke 2:10 NASB).

If not for us, there is no reason for the prophetic visions and utterances of the ancient Old Testament prophets and saints, no reason for God to dispatch an angel, no reason for a magnificent visitation to Mary, no reason for a divine dream to Joseph, no reason for angels to celebrate, no reason for shepherds to visit a manger no reason for the wise men to leave home. If God did not love the world so much, then what is the reason for this miracle that we call the Incarnation, when God became man and dwelt among us?

No, this season that we have passed through that we call Christmas — this birth we celebrated — is not about trees, lights, tinsel, candles, Santa, presents, eggnog, football, snowmen, cards, reindeer, or the children. The reason for the season is not even Jesus, for you are the reason that He came at all.

The Reverend Canon James T. Irvine says this:
“The Father's initiative is recognized in Bethlehem. Having heard the plea of his people, he responded in an expression of grace and truth recognized in the stable manger. Our need prompted the chain of events that began in the City of David and ended in the darkness of a Friday some years later. So the scriptures proclaim, the creeds declare and we believe. Redemption - forgiveness - salvation - drawing our attention, along with the shepherds. Our reluctance to affirm that we are the reason for the incarnation demonstrates our arrogance and underscores our need for the Bethlehem event, year after year. Allowing today's prevalent bumper sticker theology to deflect our attention from our own need leaves us aloof and beyond our need of God.”

You and I are in need of His coming. We are in need of redemption, forgiveness, salvation. We are the reason he came. The reason for the season was and is us and those who have preceded us and those who shall come after us.

“For if a man belongs to Christ, he is a new person. The old life is gone. New life has begun. All this comes from God. He is the One Who brought us to Himself when we hated Him. He did this through Christ. Then He gave us the work of bringing others to Him. God was in Christ. He was working through Christ to bring the whole world back to Himself. God no longer held men's sins against them. And He gave us the work of telling and showing men this. We are Christ's missionaries. God is speaking to you through us. We are speaking for Christ and we ask you from our hearts to turn from your sins and come to God. Christ never sinned but God put our sin on Him. Then we are made right with God because of what Christ has done for us” (2 Cor 5:17-21 New Life Version).

Without Him we are lost and without hope in the world. We were and will always be the reason for the season.