“Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people: Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

Luke 2:10-11

I have been reading with keen interest some posts on social media concerning the celebration of Christmas. Statements such as: “it just doesn’t seem like Christmas this year”; “Christmas will not be the same this year because of this stupid virus”; “not being able to get together with family and friends is going to make for a miserable Christmas”; and other such sentiments as these. Reading such comments has made me once again stop and think about the real reason for the season.

Let me begin by stating the obvious: I am like just about everyone else when it comes to enjoying get togethers with family and friends. I enjoy the times of fellowship around a festive table garnished with the foods of the season. I love seeing family members that we don’t get to see except during these special times of the year. I cherish those moments of fellowship, feasting, and fun just as much as the next person.

But I also realize that, as enjoyable as these experiences are, they are not the reason for the season, and my experience of joy should not be dependent upon them. Let’s be reminded of the angelic message delivered to the shepherds on the most momentous night in all of human history: the night of Jesus’ birth. As those shepherds were doing what they had done for a thousand previous nights, their evening was interrupted by the appearance of an angel who had been sent to deliver an amazing message: “Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you.” That, as simplistic as it sounds, was the announcement that would change the world. As a matter of fact, human history is marked by that most miraculous night.

Think about the world into which Jesus came. It was a time of political unrest; a time of religious confusion; a time of spiritual darkness; a time of personal searching. Yes, a world much like ours today. A time in which people were looking for something which would give meaning to what seemed to be a miserable, meaningless existence.

It was into that political, religious, spiritual chaos that Jesus came. His arrival was totally insignificant in the eyes of the world. Born in a manger; laid in an animal trough; wrapped in strips of cloth; brought into the world by a poor carpenter and a young, teenage girl. If the world had taken note and paid any attention at all it would have been the attention of pity, not of praise.

Is that the way you feel this Christmas season? Are you miserable because of the current Covid crisis? Are you bemoaning the fact that you will not be able to get together with family and friends? Are you complaining about the fact that the “new norm” is nothing short of the worst “abnormal” you could ever imagine?

If it is, would you please try something for a few minutes? Would you try, as best you can, to put yourself in the shoes of Mary and Joseph? Would you imagine the discomfort they experienced on that most important of nights? Would you picture yourself separated from everyone you loved, in a place of absolute unfamiliarity? Would you imagine being refused a comfortable place to give birth to your Son?

And then, would you for a moment be reminded of that message: “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people.” Don’t allow fear to rob you or the true meaning of Christmas. Don’t allow the demands of social distancing from friends and family cause you to be distanced from the Savior who was born that night so long ago. Don’t allow the social climate to rob you of the spiritual reality of Christmas.

Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, came into this world to make it possible for you to have a relationship with His Father. How did He do that? By being born in that obscure manger, living a sinless life, dying a substitutionary death, paying the penalty for our sin so that we might be reconciled to our Father in heaven. Nothing, in all of life, should be able to rob us of the true joy of the good news of Christmas.

Yes, we can have a merry Christmas, and help others do the same, by remembering the true reason for the season. So, from the Stewart family to your family: MERRY CHRISTMAS!