Every year, precisely on the 25th day of December every year, Christians all over the world celebrate Christmas. The celebration is usually with a lot of pomp and pageantry. People travel from far and near to join relations and friends in celebration. Elaborate preparations are usually made for new and beautiful articles of clothing, food and drinks, exchange of gifts, etcetera. The celebration overflows into, and continues, in the new year. Indeed, Christmas is a season of celebration and Merry making.
Why is it that the Christmas period is such an important and significant period of celebration? Has it all to do with Christ and Christianity?
It has been observed that even non Christians join in the frenzy of the season of Christmas. Why is it so?
The 25th day of December every year is in the last week of the year. For many, it is a time of jubilation and thanksgiving to God for surviving the vagaries of the year about to end, a period to meet friends and relations you have not seen for a long while, a period to take stock of events in the year about to come to an end, a period to plan for the activities of the next year and take new year resolutions.
Advantage is often taken of the peculiarities of the season to celebrate important events and milestones like weddings , Birthdays, funerals, anniversaries, etcetera.
Are the foregoing all that there is to the Christmas season? Is there anything of deeper significance or meaning about Christmas?
God, at the conclusion of the great and wonderful job of creation of the heavens and the earth, declared that the job was good and beautiful. joyfully, in His own image and likeness, God created the first couple, Adam and Eve to supervise over His beautiful creation for eternity, provided they kept God’s command to refrain from eating the fruits of the tree of knowledge of good and evil at the center of the beautiful garden of Eden. Unfortunately Adam and Eve lost that privilege when they disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit, Adam blaming Eve, and Eve blaming the serpent. With this act of disobedience, sin entered the world, and with it, pain and death.
Our Heavenly Father and God, filled with love, mercy, love and Compassion for fallen man, immediately set in motion the process of man’s redemption which culminated in the immaculate conception and birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ : unto us a child is born, a son is given, … Wonderful counsellor, the mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of peace Matthew 1:18-23. Jesus was born in a Manger, a place meant for the feeding of animals like cattle and horses, because His parents, Joseph and Mary were too poor to afford something more dignifying.
The Bible is silent on the exact date of the birth of Jesus Christ. However, some historical antecedents and considerations resulted in the adoption of the 25th day of December every year for the joyful Birthday celebration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
What are the significant lessons of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, as well as the humble birth, life and times of Christ?
1) The Blame Game : Genesis 3:12…. The man said (to God) “The woman you gave me to be with me, she gave me some of the fruit of the tree and I ate “. That was Adam trying to shift the blame to Eve after eating the forbidden fruit. Even in her own defense said to God, “The serpent tricked me”.
We often condemn others for their sins and equally condemn others for our own transgressions. Most of us blame Adam and Eve for bringing pain and death into the world. We all disobey God’s commandments on a daily basis. Like Adam and Eve, we often look for who or what to blame for our transgressions. Galatians 6:7-8 emphatically says, “God cannot be mocked or deceived…. Whoever does anything to please the flesh will reap destruction, whoever does anything to please the spirit, will reap eternal life.
2) Humility, Love and Sacrifice : Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the king of Kings and Lord of lords, humbly and lovingly sacrificed His exalted place in heaven and accepted to be born into this miserable world, suffered all forms of abuse, indignity, torture, humiliation and a very shameful death on a cross for the Salvation of man.
If you are a very powerful, rich and influential person, would you willingly accept what Christ went through out of love, and in total obedience and submission to the will of God? Why are humility, love and a life of sacrifice so elusive in our world even when our joy and happiness here and in the hereafter totally depend on them? The answers would readily be found in our Ego, self-centeredness, lack of love and compassion, insensitivity to the plight of others and much more.
Be humble, loving and compassionate. Sacrifice some of your comfort and earthly possessions for the good of others and store up treasures in heaven. We come with nothing and we shall return to our maker with nothing. Remember that Vanity upon vanity, All is vanity and chasing after the wind Ecclesiastes 1:14.
These are the lessons of the disobedience of Adam and Eve. These are the lessons and challenges of Christ’s humble and sacrificial birth, life, suffering and death. These are the lessons of Christmas. These are the challenges before us.
In conclusion, Christmas is not just a period of outward display of wealth, affection, celebration and Merry making. It is a *period* of *sober* *reflection* on the true meaning and significance of Christmas. It is a period of *reflective* *search* on our *relationship* with *God* and our fellow *human* beings. Let us avoid excuses like Adam and Eve tried to shift blames for disobeying God, so that the true meaning and significance of Christmas would not be lost on us. Let us imitate the humble, self-sacrificing life of Jesus Christ, our model, who gave up everything so that He can be everything for everyone, and gain everything and everyone for His Heavenly.Father, who is our Father and God.
May God graciously grant us that which we seek : A full understanding of the message of Christmas and participation in the humble, loving and self-sacrificing life of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, king of kings and Lord of lords.
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…….. DR NWAKILE I. N. O
