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A Healthy Christmas Tradition
Matthew 3:2-3
How do you get ready for Christmas? Obviously, there’s a lot of different practical things that need to be done. You need to set up and decorate the Christmas tree. Probably pull it down from your attic or something. There’s lots of gifts to wrap. But more fundamentally, I think a lot of people get ready for Christmas by celebrating Christmas early. This year, at Sam’s Club, I saw these Christmas decorations up at the beginning of October. There were there was Christmas stuff right next to Halloween stuff, right? You got Christmas pushed so early. And then what does that do? By the time Christmas actually rolls around, you’re burned out of it. I know plenty of houses where the Christmas decorations come down the afternoon of December 25th, because you’ve been celebrating Christmas for over a month now. You’re getting tired and sick of it.
The church gives us a different way and honestly, a more healthy way to get ready for Christmas. But it’s also one that’s very countercultural and very counterintuitive.
Last time we talked about these different comings of Advent, and another figure that we’ll see on Sunday is John the Baptist, as he prepares the way for Christ to come into the world. And as we look at John the Baptist, we see what his message is. It’s a very odd one. He’s fulfilling this prophecy.
A voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” (Matthew 3:3)
How does he prepare? He says,
“Repent, because the kingdom of heaven is near!” (Matthew 3:2)
He doesn’t say, prepare for Jesus coming by, rejoicing and being happy and starting the celebration early. We prepare through repentance, through looking at our sin, confessing our faults. Recognizing that we don’t measure up. This is the focus of Advent. It’s called a penitential season, one where we focus on our sins. That’s going to give a very different mood to the rest of your December.
But why do we do this? We have this season of repentance leading up preparing for Christmas so that when Christmas comes, it’s unlike any Christmas you’ve celebrated before. Because Christmas isn’t just about the cute little baby in the manger, it’s about what that baby would go on to do. That Jesus didn’t stay in the crib, but he would trade the wood of the manger for the wood of the cross. That in that child we have the Savior and Redeemer for all of our sins. When we prepare for Christ’s coming through repentance, we recognize why he’s coming, why he’s here, and we have a deeper joy, a stronger joy than we ever would have had in any other way. Because we know Jesus came to save and rescue us from our sins. And when we see how much we need that we have so much more joy in what he has come to do.
Amen.
