Christmas cheer and Donkey dung

Imagine...Some dude stands atop the White House and shouts out "a virgin (of all things) is going to give birth to a son, and this son of hers is going to be the King." And where will this King be born...in a cave amid the donkey dung, cattle and dirt. Imagine, I know you may say that I am a dreamer, but I tell you, I am not the only one...

In what is arguably one of the most imaginative acts of all time, God changed the course of history through His most dramatic move. From a cave God revealed to the world the King of all Kings. Born in one of the most creative and unsuspecting settings, God cloaked himself in human flesh and came to live among us (John 1.1,14,18). Jesus Christ our Wonderful Counselor, our much needed Prince of Peace, Immanuel, God with us gave humanity the greatest gift, Himself. 2000 years ago, Jesus gave us Christmas.

And while so many of us imagine ourselves cozy and comfortable as we bask in the "Christmas cheer," make no mistake about it, the Christian drama is no fairy tale, it is not a warm and fuzzy story told to make us feel fat, dumb and happy. The Christian drama is the definition of reality - it is our foundation. And at the crux of this dramatic story stands the incarnation. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1.14). Christmas without the incarnation is nothing more than eggnog, silly parties centered around a chubby fella in red with his strangely sized helpers and their weird ears - it is nothing more than a story told to make us feel fat, dumb and happy.

As followers of Christ, any and all Christmas celebrations should begin with and flow out of the ultimate and most dramatic reality and act of history that humanity has encountered—the incarnation. J.I. Packer describes the incarnation as the "supreme mystery" associated with the gospel. This mystery is absolutely mind-blowing and as Packer continues, "nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the incarnation." In Jesus, the fullness of God enters the human realm. The incarnation is the sacrificial giving of God to humanity. It is from the performance of Christ that the church, and thus humanity, witnesses the ultimate giving of self.

One thing we need to always keep in mind, the incarnation points directly to the cross, resurrection and ascension of Christ. There is no Christmas without Easter and vice‐versa. Furthermore, the incarnation, cross, resurrection and ascension are not merely to be observed, analysed or discussed, they are the life events of Christ that call for a response from the ones He came to save. 

What are you doing this Christmas season to participate in Christ's incarnational performance?