"A Different Christmas"

A Different Christmas -1

Materialism and Capitalism are two concepts that rule the world today. Slowly but surely our festivals have become more about ourselves and less about the Lord. We are so lost in giving and receiving gifts that we end up forgetting ‘The Giver of Life’. We are so busy sharing our little stories that we miss sharing ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’.

It worries me that many of us this Christmas are forgetting the most important lessons that the Lord wanted us to learn through the Christmas story: Submission, Faith and Humility.

Submission:

She had dreams, hopes and aspirations just like any other bride preparing for her wedding. Life had been good to her, she was content with what she had, and though chaos surrounded her, she was at peace because she had faith in God. She believed in Jehovah and she knew that He had not abandoned them. Living under foreign rulers was not exactly pleasant but she knew that the Messiah would come. Then again our Lord loves to send us surprises once in a while.

And so He sent a surprise to Mary, a message out of the blue, a message that world turn her perfect world upside down. A message, that spelt hope for generations, but chaos for Mary. A message, that brought salvation to the world but isolation to Mary. And even as the angel of the Lord gave her the message of the Son whom she was about to bear.

The heavens paused to see her reaction. I can imagine the angels waiting in silence, I imagine Mary, her emotions running from chaos, anxiety, joy, pain, fear and every emotion possible. I imagine her calming herself down, she didn’t know what was ahead of her, all she could see was a lot of judgmental glances, a lot of persecution and a lot of people taunting her saying “You are immoral, how else could you be pregnant before getting marriage?”

But then again she remembered what the Lord had done for Israel in the past. Through all the troubles that her ancestors had faced the Lord was faithful; there was always something glorious waiting for them at the end. Through their wanderings in the wilderness they had come to the Promised Land. Through all the turmoil’s in the life of David had become the man closest to Gods heart. The Lord had never failed them and she believed that He never would, so she looked up to the angel and replied “I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be fulfilled”

At this the angels stood in awe, Mary had shown what it really meant to submit to the will of God.

This Christmas like many Christmas’s in the past you may be in a place where life seems unfair, or may be you are in a place that seems meaningless. But never forget having faith in God through the tough times is truly submitting to His will.

Imagining a Christmas without Mary’s submission is impossible,

Imagining a life of purpose without submission to God’s will is impossible

Biblical Reference: Luke 1:26-38

A Different Christmas -2

 

‘A night as usual’ he thought, but then his ‘usual’ nights were exciting there was a chance for discovery, a chance to observe something no one had seen and a chance to be the first to bring new knowledge into the world. He was one of the ‘thinkers’, one of the ‘learned’ men in his town. His knowledge and wisdom had made him an advisor for many kings and rulers of his time. They would ask him to interpret their dreams, tell fortune from the stars and heal them. He was a wise man.

That night as he prepared to start observing the stars, he noticed a star he had never seen before. This was an unusual star, as it was in not there in his charts, and more than that it was unusual as it shone brighter than most of the other stars in the sky. He could not take his eyes of the star, its beauty baffled him. He wondered ‘What could this star mean?’ 

His curiosity led him to his charts, his predecessors’ charts, his colleagues’ charts but he couldn’t find the star. It hit him ‘Could this be a sign?!!!’ He started going through all the manuscripts he had and there it was “A star will come out of Jacob, a scepter will rise out of Israel” Numbers 24:17. 

He packed his bags in a hurry, and got his camel ready

A King was to be borne in Israel, the promise of a Messiah was for real

I don’t want to be late to see the King, Oh! What a joyous news, I think I’ll sing,

I want to scream for joy, He’s finally here! The Savior of the world has come so near!!

And as he was about to leave his tent, he realized that he had no gift even worth a cent,

Then his desperate search began, But the gift for the King was no where to be found,

Slowly he started loosing hope, without a gift he would never go

Just then his eyes fell on the gold he decided ‘Let me give this, to the king foretold!’

Once he had the gift and everything set, he left and started following the star. Day and night he followed the star. Lets take a pause here and think, what would we do if we were in his shoes, there was this strange star, and some manuscript that spoke of a king, I am not sure if this evidence would be enough for me to leave my house, my family, my job and everything else, just to meet the King; that too a king that many believed did not exists. But this wise man and 2 other wise men like him did. 

If God gives you a sign or makes you walk through paths that you don’t understand, then here is what we should be doing; have faith in Him. Because God doesn’t work like we humans do, He does not think like we do. He knows our potential than any one else, we might want to achieve a few things, but He might want us to create or be a part of history. Have faith in Him.

Lets get back to the wise man, as he traveled he met 2 other wise men who were following the same star and all of them had been inspired by the same scripture, they carried on together day and night, till they reached the town of Bethlehem.

As they came closer to the town they took their eye’s of the star and they started discussing amongst themselves “Where? Oh Where? Can we find this King?” One of them said “Lets’ keep following the star it has led us this far and it will lead us on” the others disagreed, they said “We are in Israel now this as far as the manuscripts mentioned, lets go and meet the king of this region, as a King will be borne in the palace” 

So they went to meet ‘Herod the Great’, the king of that region. And as they shared the news of a new King borne in Bethlehem, Herod was scared and desperate to kill this new King. He ordered the death below the age of 2yrs. 

The wise men realized their foolishness; they had brought trouble on innocent children by not following the star.  Seeing that they had realized their folly, our Lord gave them a second chance and led with the star again. And He brought them to the place where the King was born. And as they saw Him, their eyes’ where opened, a King need not be born in a palace, a King can be born in a manger too. 

This King had not come to rule over the world, but He had come to save the world. He had not come to receive anything, but He had come to give everything. He was not here to save us from our troubles but He was here to show how to live through our troubles. He was not here to save us from our enemies but He was here to demonstrate love for our enemies. He was not like our earthly king’s; He was the Son of our Heavenly Father. He was Immanuel, God with us.

All the wisdom in the world could not help the wise men understand the ways of God. Fast forward to our time, here we are in the same world that our Lord was born in, just that its about 2000+ years older now, but things haven’t changed. 

We still tend to depend on our own understanding of life, we still try to run away from the signs that our Lord shows. We still don’t have enough faith in Him; we look at the pain around us and deny His presence. The wise men denied His presence and brought more pain into the world, the more we run from Him, the more we miss out on His plans for us. 

Imagine if the wise men had not been redirected by the star, they would have missed being a part of history. If today you are being pulled in a direction that seems to make no sense, have faith, you could be on the way to making History!

A Different Christmas -3

 

He was used to walking in ‘streets of gold’, used to hearing the angels sing, used to not being thirsty, used to not being hungry, used to living in peace, used to living without pain, used to being happy, used to always being heard, used to having a clean place to stay in, used to being treated with respect and more than anything he was used to being the Father’s loving Son.

Then one day things changed, like it often happens too many of us, out of the blue our Lord pulls us out of our comfort zone. He does this not to see us suffer, but He does this to teach us something new, sometimes He does to test our faith, but most of the times He’s just making sure, we don’t get too comfortable with life, with His blessings, and in the process forget the plans that He had for us.

So the Father came to Him, and told Him “Son I love you, and I also love the people of the world. You have always been with me, but the my children, many of them don’t get a chance to reach heaven, because they don’t know me, they are blinded by the rituals, by their sins, I want them to have a chance, a way to get to this place, where they can spend an eternity with me. But for this I need You to help Me.” The Son answered “Tell me Father, what I have to do?”

“Son you’ll have to go to earth as a human being. Live a holy life, in the land of sin. You’ll have to show the people who have forgotten Me that I still exist, and I still reign over them. There are a billion needy souls there; I’ll give you a chance to meet some of their needs. You might be human in form, but every prayer you pray will be answered, the people who have faith in you will be rewarded. Once you have preached my Love to the people of Israel, you’ll have to give up your life as a living sacrifice. You’ll have to become the sacrificial Lamb, take up the sins of all mankind, so that whoever believes in You shall not perish but shall have everlasting life.”

The Son looked at the Father, He saw that the Father really had no choice, there was no other way to save mankind, sin had gripped every part of their lives, they were to far from the Lords ways and only a sacrifice of holy blood could save them. So He said “Let’s do this, Father. Let’s give them a chance to live with us eternally. I know it will be real difficult, but some one\ needs to pay the price. And I am ready” He smiled and the Father smiled, though He knew that this path was treacherous, He would do this, because this was His Father’s will.

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2: 6 -11

Let this Christmas, teach us to submit, believe and humble ourselves in the presence of the Lord. Sure Christmas is about celebration, but it is also about salvation. Jesus came to earth as a baby, leaving heaven behind not so that we could waste ourselves in Christmas revelry, but He came so that we could spend Christmas in reverence. He surely came to teach us how to be giving, but more than that He wants us to be forgiving. For many of us Christmas could mean “Wine and Dine” but let not forget we have a “Light to Shine”.

Lets’ submit, believe and humble ourselves, for the Lord is here.

Lets’ love Him back, for He has saved from all fear

Peace and goodwill He has given to us

Wishing you all a Blessed and a Different Christmas!!

 

Also do go through a video I made for my Youth fellowship  - The Methodist Youth Fellowship, Chembur.

Special Thanks to Ancila John who's words inspired the creation of this video!!