The true meaning of Christmas

If you were around on Sunday, you would potentially have been quite jarred by the inclusion of the reading for the first Sunday in Advent:  The triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  Here it is for you if you missed it.

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

²⁸ After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹ As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ³⁰ “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
³² Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. ³³ As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
³⁴ They replied, “The Lord needs it.”
³⁵ They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. ³⁶ As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
³⁷ When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

³⁸ “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”^[a]

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

³⁹ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

⁴⁰ “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

The heck is this doing here? Why oh why do we have this reading here, at the beginning of advent? This is a Palm Sunday reading, isn't it?  Of course it is.  Here we are, at the beginning of Advent, the new church year, and we get a reading for Palm Sunday.  What the heck is this all about? Well, as jarring as this is, it should get your brain all moving around, because you know that something's amiss.

Christmas is the time in which you and I think about the baby in the manger in Bethlehem.  As we should.  No trouble there at all. That's what Christmas is all about.  And you and I, as the qulaity Christians that we are, we tend to get a bit upset about the war on Christmas that goes on every year.  And we want desperately to keep Christ in Christmas, and to be sure that everyone else does too.  Odds are that over the course of the month of December, you're going to end up thinking to yourself one of the following things.

-If you're not going to wish me a merrry Christmas, then I'm not going to shop at your boutique.

-The people who don't want to say Christmas should just go to work on the 25th of December if they resent Jesus being around so much.

- Happy holidays?  Season's greetings?  Bah humbug!

Ah yes.  As you will.  But let's say for example that we get everyone on earth to say 'Merry Christmas." Let's say that we could manage to get everyone on earth to focus on the newborn Christ.  So what?  It's not enough.  It never was.  If you want proof of that, check out this most excellent scene from Talledega Nights: the ballad of Ricky Bobby.

Ah, yeah, it's funny right?  Possibly the best grace to ever be captured on film.  It's fun to see Ricky Bobby praying to eight pound six ounce baby Jesus, with his little balled up fists, all cuddly, doesn't even know a word.  And as Ricky says, he likes the Christmas Jesus best.

-"When you say grace, you can say it to grown up Jesus, or teenage Jesus, or bearded Jesus, but I'm saying grace, and I like the Christmas Jesus best."

And why wouldn't you?  We all like the Christmas Jesus best.  You know why?  Because he's cuddly.  Because he's smaller than us.  Because he can't say a word.  Because he's full of potential, but is totally inoffensive.  If your entire idea is to get people to think that Christmas Jesus is great, well, they probably will.  They've got no problem with that.  People have very little problem with newborn eight pound six ounce baby Jesus, with baby God, all that.  They've only got a problem with him once he starts talking.  

Look at this whole scene for a bit.  Don't you find it funny and out of place that Ricky Bobby is praying for all sorts of insane things, that it's all about money, that he has to mention Powerade in every grace by contractual obligation?  Don't you find it strange that he encourages his children to yell at their grandfather, because they're winners, and winners get to do what they want?  And that he says and does all this almost in the same breath as he says grace, ostensibly to Jesus Christ?

But he's praying to Christmas Jesus.  Baby Jesus.  Little tiny baby God, who can't say a word.  Little tiny Baby God with balled up fists and a little fleece diaper, who can't tell you not to do what you're doing.  Have you ever wondered what the heck the cross is doing in this circumstance?  How did Jesus ever get executed if he was just a cuddly little tyke, who had balled up fists and a fleece diaper and all that? Well, as grandpa Chip points out, he was a man.  He had a beard.  And he had things to say.

We have this reading in here to remind us that it's not just baby God, who can't even say a word.  We have a God who became a man, the Word becoming flesh and dwelling amongst us.  You see, it's not just a matter of there being a child born into the world, it's a matter of who he is.  And who is he?  The word of God in human form.

Listen to what God says about Jesus on the mount of transfiguration:  'This is my son, in whom I am well pleased.  Listen to him.'  Do you get this?  I hope it's not escaping you, because it's important.  It's so important I can't overstate it.  The presence of Christ in the world is not one in which he's a baby in a crib forever.  He grew up.  He spoke.  And his words are of such profound importance that we're still talking about them today.  He is the word of God proper, the word of God that demands to be heard.  He is the word of God that has something important to say, and something important to do.  If you're planning on keeping Christ in Christmas, it can't be just as a little tiny Baby.  it has to be as a child who lives, grows, and speaks.  Who says incredibly inflammatory things that would shame Ricky Bobby down to his boots.  If you want to know what Christmas is all about, take some time over this busy festive season to seriously look at what Jesus does and says right after Palm Sunday's readings.  Right after what I quoted earlier.  Do you think this is the sort of man who would be thrilled with you calling out how hot your wife is at grace? Or who would love you to mention powerade?  Or who would be happy to hear that your kids yell at their grandfather?  

Highly unlikely.

The only God that would let you do that would be an eight pound six ounce baby God.  And that's how Christ was born, yes.  But did he stay that way? He did not.  Have you ever wondered why we have almost nothing whatsoever written about Jesus as a child?  Because he didn't stay a baby God for long.  He is the word of God.  And we need to listen to what he says.

PJ.