The Darkness of the “Christmas Spirit”

Christmas is here. And with it arrived all the promises of snow, gift shopping, family reunions, holiday decor, and cheerful wishes which always accompany “The Happiest Time of the Year”. Or so it seems, at least on the outside.

But just like the empty darkness inside the shimmering glass balls adorning our trees, there is a void beneath all the happy promises of the Christmas Spirit. I’m not speaking about our culture’s mitigation of everything Christ-centered, our overgrown focus on Santa Claus, or the common gripe of holiday commercialization. These things are unfortunate. But I think that very often, our remedies for these faults miss the mark too far in the other direction.

We’ve boiled the cultural issues down to commercialization and Santa Claus, yet we still voice their abstract claim to embrace the “Christmas Spirit”. We do this without ever asking ourselves: What exactly is the Christmas Spirit?

Those Living in Darkness…

The statistics speak for themselves. Beneath the Christmas Family Spirit are broken marriages, rebellious children, and those for whom this time of year is only a constant reminder that they are alone, and have no one with whom to celebrate. Beneath the Christmas “Jolly” Spirit is the misguided pressure that results in anger, depression, and suicide, which greatly increase across the nation this time of year. Beneath the Gift-Giving Christmas Spirit is the frantic scramble of finding something that will gratify the demands of friendship and the silent rule of gift “equality” between givers. Beneath it lurks the disappointment of hopes not fulfilled, and the child who always ends up just playing with the box.

If the focus is at all on the Baby in the Manger, we are satisfied that we, at least, have a more sanctified Christmas Spirit than most. At least we know that “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” and that’s why we get to enjoy the family, and the gifts, and the joy of the Holiday.

But we still miss it. Knowing that there was a Baby in the Manger isn’t enough. It is not enough to know that a Son is born, or a Child is given. That is why the prophet stresses both times, that this Son, this Child, was born unto us (Isaiah 9:7). Christmas is much bigger than a manger scene.

…Have Seen a Great Light

The manger scene. It’s beautiful really. All is calm. All is bright. The infant sleeps, tender and mild, as radiant beams shine from his holy face. So that’s become the “True Christmas Spirit” – images of calm, warm light emanating joy and peace and happiness upon the world. We can add bolsters to that halo with the proclamation of the angels when they brought “good tidings of great joy” and blessed the world with “peace, goodwill toward men” (Luke 2:10,14).

From that passage, this Christmas Spirit leaves man with no excuse not to be happy. Peace will come – it was promised – peace between nations and fellow men. Crime will cease. So just rekindle your feelings of joy and love and generosity by singing songs, eating family dinners, and giving gifts. This Christmas Spirit starts at the manger and it ends in our hearts, and it overflows spiritual exaltation into good behavior. After all, we say, tongue in cheek, Santa Claus only gives gifts to the good little boys and girls.

That’s not the cultural message of Christmas. That’s become the Christian message of Christmas. My heart breaks for those who feel the empty despair of this message, and who grieve as if they’re missing something. They’re not missing something. They’re the only ones that get it.

They understand that if this is the Christmas message, then it is a message of hopelessness. If this is the Christmas spirit, then it is empty. If the spiritual light of the manger is supposed to overflow from our hearts, then we are, of all people, “most miserable” (1 Corinthians 15:9).

Jesus didn’t come into a world that was calm and bright. He came into a world lost in darkness, captive to corruption, in physical and spiritual slavery, futile, despairing, and full of sin against a Holy God. It wasn’t a Silent Night. It was a thrill of hope inside a lightning bolt that split the history of the world in two. It was Holy God in all His glory, taking on the physical frailty of a tiny infant who had come to save the world. It was the Creator of men in His image, now fashioned in the image of man. It was the Giver of life, now dependent on oxygen, and pumping blood, and the milk of His virgin mother. It was the architect of the universe, born to a simple carpenter. It was the Word of God, unable yet to speak. It was the Power of God, contained in a trough of straw. It was the Wisdom of God, who would be taught by young Jewish peasants. It was the King of Kings, as Suffering Servant. Prince of Peace, as Crucified Lord. He who would conquer Death, was now tasting the fragile thread of life, breathing in, breathing out, every breath given as a gift to the One who gives breath to all. And as the Heavens shone with a new star, and Angels shouted glory to God, and Shepherds trembled, and Kings fumed, and Wise men traveled from afar, the Baby in the Manger was upholding them all.

The nation was oppressed, and walking in darkness, and dwelling in the land of the shadow of death (Isaiah 9:1-2), but peace would come, and an eternal kingdom, and justice would be established, the yoke of burden would be broken, and the nations would rejoice (Isaiah 9:3-7).

How?

A Child was born.

And He was born, not to bring goodwill between men, but between God and men. Not to bring good behavior on a horizontal plane, but to bring salvation on a vertical plane. Not to bring peace between nations, but peace with God. Not to receive gifts and kindle generosity, but to become the Great Gift. Not to inspire us to kindle within ourselves happiness and a holiday spirit, but to give us pure and everlasting Joy in the Only One who can give it.

So for those of us who grieve on Christmas, Jesus came. For those of us who are alone, or struggle under the weight of broken relationships, or lost loved ones, Jesus came. For those of us who are selfish, and dissatisfied, and miss the whole point, Jesus came.

“O ye beneath life’s crushing load,

Whose forms are bending low,

Who toil along the climbing way

With painful steps and slow;

Look now, for glad and golden hours

Come swiftly on the wing;

Oh rest beside the weary road

And hear the angels sing.

The Christmas Spirit doesn’t begin in the manger and end in your heart. It begins in a manger and ends on a Cross that brought you salvation, and in a tomb where death died, and in a resurrection where the victory was proclaimed, and in the hope that Christ’s second coming, will be the culmination and beauty and finality and beginning of all the things He wrought in the first.

For lo! the days are hastening on,

By prophets seen of old,

When with the ever-circling years

Shall come the time foretold,

When the new heaven and earth shall own

The Prince of Peace, their King,

And the whole world send back the song

Which now the angels sing.*

 

 

* Sergio Franchi, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear