Before becoming a follower of
Jesus Christ, twenty-four Christmas and Easter holidays had passed; I was well
versed in the trappings of a secular Christmas and Easter. I remember as a kid that
the longest season wasn’t winter with all of its shorter days of sunlight; it
was that stretch between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Looking back, I have to
say that the longest night of the year wasn’t the December solstice in the
Northern Hemisphere but the night before Christmas. Falling asleep on that
night ranked up there as one of the hardest things I had ever done as a
youngster. It was the one and only day of the year I didn’t fudge at bedtime. For
me, Christmas, before Jesus Christ came into my life, was more about gifts rather than God, and Easter was more
about coloring, hiding, and hunting the eggs than celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The myth of Santa Claus didn’t
come as a surprise; I thought I handled it well at the age of twenty; okay, I’m
joking! This supposedly ubiquitous and all-knowing jolly, overweight character saw you when
you slept and knew when you were awake; he also knew if you had been “bad or
good” because he had this supposed list of who had been “naughty or nice.” Perhaps
this portly white-haired and bearded man with his rosy cheeks and cheery looks, bellowing, “Ho, Ho, Ho,” everywhere was to encourage children of the world to
do good. Of course, the downside of that meant that doing bad resulted in
nothing in the bag from Santa for bad little girls and boys. Being good “for
goodness sake” was a motivation to be nice. For the longest time, I thought Mr.
Claus only knew how to say, “Ho, Ho, Ho!” until I sat on his lap when I was eighteen,
and he asked me what I wanted for Christmas….
Now that I am a believer, I
admit I still love the smell of a fresh-cut fir simply adorned with a myriad of
colorful non-blinking lights, beautiful ornaments, and a fitting tree topper
during Christmas. I love holly around soft glowing candles placed tastefully
around the house and an evergreen wreath on the door and a warm fire in the
fireplace. Oh, how different the setting of the first Christmas was.
Joseph and Mary were staying at
the “no room for them in the inn” place in Bethlehem. They came up from
Nazareth in Galilee to register for the census decreed by Caesar Augustus (Lk 2:1-5).
Where they stayed was nothing more than a cave converted into a stable, and the
firstborn Child was delivered and wrapped in swaddling clothes or cloth bands
and placed in a feeding trough for animals (Lk 2:7), not your typical romantic
nativity scene, yes?
The story of Christmas has never
been about gifts but the Gift to mankind, God’s provision for our salvation (Lk 2:11; Jn
3:16). Easter has never been about eggs but the story of the risen Christ
(Acts 10:40; 1 Cor 15:3-4, 17; 1 Pet 1:21). I do have a concern of merging and
perpetuating myths or fables of Santa Claus and a bunny laying eggs with two of
the most sacred days for followers of Jesus Christ. We have embraced the
world’s outlook of “doing it for the sake of the children” or rationalized it as
“harmless.”
The world promotes it, but
shouldn’t we keep in mind that the world is in darkness; how would they know what
is right spiritually (1 Cor 1:18; 2:14; 2 Cor 4:4)? The criteria to include or
exclude Kris Kringle and reindeer and rabbits and eggs during these sacred
times should not be based on our experiences by thinking, “Claus and egg-laying
hares haven’t damaged or warped my mind so it’s okay for the kids; they’ll grow
out of it and be normal.”
I think we are not asking or
pondering the right question. The better question to ask is “Does God desire
for us to mix myths with these two important celebrations of the year for
believers?” The reasoning, “I see no problem with it” is the physician healing
himself syndrome. If anything these two times of the year reflects the power and
influence of secular culture beyond
encroachment to being fully embraced as part of the celebration of these two
sacred times for Christians in the year!
I personally do not have a
problem with giving to others on Christmas for it is a time of giving spiritually
and physically or having the holiday trappings (minus the Claus and reindeer);
Santa and egg hunts we should ditch altogether as followers of Jesus Christ. This
is not about being politically correct but theologically correct and glorifying
God in all that we say and do (1 Cor 10:31; Col 3:17).
God is not glorified by myths or
fables in conjunction with times meant to honor Him. And just because the
parents know the stories are make-believe does not render it agreeable to God
as something harmless or neutral in conjoining myths with Christmas and Easter
as the world does. Listen, Claus and eggs are indelibly etched in my brain when
it comes to Christmas and Easter. I will never be able to eradicate the
thoughts of either one. I really didn’t have a choice growing up because of the
thinking of my parents. I did the same with my son even as a believer!
It is not okay to mix pagan
ideas with important Christian celebrations (contrast. 3 Jn 1:4). As a parent I did
the Santa thing and the egg hunts; I regret doing so; what was I thinking!
Admittedly, it is easy for me to say we shouldn’t do it as believers having
done it (considered hypocritical, right?), but it is even harder to say it now
knowing people will be offended by my words and accuse me of throwing my
mantle of guilt on them. By the way, I have repented long ago of that sin of
attaching lies to our sacred celebrations of Christ’s birth and resurrection;
so there is no more guilt. When you learn from a mistake, you attempt to help
others avoid making the same one (cf. Rom 15:4; 1 Cor 10:6, 11). Have you ever
told your children or someone else, “Don’t go down that road! I’ve been there!”
It’s the same idea, not hypocrisy unless we are still doing it!
I contend it is dangerous to mix
falsehood with truth for whatever “harmless” reason and expose our children
and grandchildren to it and condone it as proper; it is not. We obviously
cannot avoid marketing, but we do not have to participate in it. The world
will maintain we can, but we shouldn’t. The world will claim it is benign, a
long-standing tradition, but it is harmful spiritually because it aids in
setting a pattern of mixing untruth with truth in connection with sacred seasons, but such practice will not be contained to these holidays; it will logically extend to other seasons of our lives...
Does God get the glory from Saint
Nick on Christmas or from believers hunting eggs on Easter when both are based
on a lie? Look at it this way, if the world is engaged and promoting it, a red
flag should go up. When our kids begin to make that migration from make-believe
to reality about Santa bringing gifts or rabbits laying eggs, often we think it
is no big deal; we went through it unscathed, or so we believe?
What do we communicate to our children or grandchildren when we compound those lies with living a double life: one for the church and one in private? What happens when the children eventually realize that Santa and reindeer and rabbits and eggs were all make-believe, and then they see their parents pretending to live one life in the church and another outside of it? In all three instances, one thing is common, attaching a lie to the things of God. Even though nothing may be said about it, there is a good chance they will do the same when leaving the nest.
What do we communicate to our children or grandchildren when we compound those lies with living a double life: one for the church and one in private? What happens when the children eventually realize that Santa and reindeer and rabbits and eggs were all make-believe, and then they see their parents pretending to live one life in the church and another outside of it? In all three instances, one thing is common, attaching a lie to the things of God. Even though nothing may be said about it, there is a good chance they will do the same when leaving the nest.
Now, consider a local church
pulling away from an Easter egg hunt tradition today. Can you imagine the uproar
by members letting it fly of being unloving, sanctimonious,
self-righteous, or just plain strange or weird for wanting to end Easter egg
hunts! Churches have split over far less.
Incorporating this stuff of the
world in the life of a believer reminds me of the criticism Jesus leveled at
the spiritual leadership in Israel when their traditions were considered
greater in authority than the commandment of God (Mt 7:8), and if you didn’t go
along with it you were threatened to be put out of the synagogue! It is not
that Kris Kringle or Peter Cottontail is involved with worship; it’s the
association with the celebration. It does reflect a measure of how powerful the
influence of pagan culture is upon the Church; a culture that loves to muddy things
up a bit with falsehood; it leads to the idea that nothing is absolute; the
black and white have mixed and turned grey. We are living in the days of grey, and
black and white are believed not to exist anymore. The world and carnal
believers have no problem with soiling the sacred.
Both Christmas and Easter are
the two most sacred days for believers. For on Christmas day, the eternal Son
entered our 4-D world of length, width, and height (the XYZ coordinates) and
time in an unimaginable way; from Spirit, He became flesh or literally clothed
in the flesh (God incarnate or God in human flesh, Jn 1:14; cf. 1 Jn 4:2, 3). He
came not from the sinful seed of Joseph but from the creative act of the Holy
Spirit (Lk 1:35). Jesus was fully God and fully man (fully man in the sense that
Adam was fully man without sin before the fall). God provided a way of
salvation through His Son when there was no way humanly possible.
Easter is a time to celebrate
the risen Savior! Though Jesus propitiated (or judicially satisfied) the just
demands of God the Father for the sin of man on the cross, man could not
witness that transaction, but what man could see was the visible evidence of
the physical resurrection that revealed to man that God the Father was
propitiated with the sacrifice of His Son for man’s iniquities. When Jesus told
His disciples that He was the way, the truth, and the life, such a statement is
enhanced by the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus
Christ. In this context, any thought of Kris Kringle or any egg-laying hares
sharing the spotlight on Christmas or Easter is utterly ridiculous and an
affront to the LORD. Trees, lights, wreaths, and so forth are not based on fables.
There is a twist of irony about
spiritual blindness. Of all those Christmas and Easter services I attended at
church as a kid before becoming a follower of Jesus Christ by grace through
faith alone (Eph 2:8-9), my eyes were still closed to the truth through
unbelief (2 Cor 4:4); I never saw or understood Jesus, but what I could see on
those special occasions as a young boy was Santa and the gifts of Christmas and
the colorful eggs concealed in the tall verdure grass. Everything else went in
one ear and out the other.
Now that the nest is empty, the
tree has little to hover over, but the joyfulness of my soul ascends up the
tree beyond the topper pointing toward heaven at the best Gift I had ever
received in my life – eternal life through Jesus Christ! If I ever did anything
right in this life, inviting Jesus Christ into my heart was it! I have wasted too much time on Santa and reindeer at Christmas and rabbits and eggs at Easter in the past, symbolic of other things in my life having no eternal value. No more will I return to that spiritual error. It is not harmless as claimed.
Rather, my
attention is focused on the Lord becoming a man while yet retaining His Deity; theologians
refer to it as the hypostatic union of Christ – all man, all God. Call it what
you will; I cannot wrap my understanding around such an astounding truth! Christmas
humbles me that God loved me so much to send His only Son to die for me; Easter lifts me up because of my victorious risen Savior who proved without a
doubt that He satisfied through His death on the cruel cross the just demands
of God the Father for my sin. Say it to me again, dear Jesus, “Because I live, you will live also” (Jn 14:19b). Folks, this is phenomenally great news!
Recall this refrain from Robert Lowry, 1826-1899?
“Up from the grave He arose;
with a mighty triumph o’er His foes;
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!”
Someone once said that “Ideas
have consequences.” I have this suspicion that when we get to glory, there will
be no reward for the consequences of our good intentions at the Bema Seat,
including an emphasis on Santa and his reindeer or the rabbit and its eggs during Christmas
and Easter celebrations, respectively.
Okay, call me a grinch, scrooge, hare hater, eggbeater, or just a killjoy if you feel so inclined. The real robbers of joy in the celebrations are the mixtures of glorious truths with nonsense, and glorious joy is only to be found in the exclusive focus on God during Christmas and Easter. God is not glorified when He shares the limelight of these times meant for Him with Santa Claus and egg-laying rabbits. Seeing no problem with it is precisely the problem!
Okay, call me a grinch, scrooge, hare hater, eggbeater, or just a killjoy if you feel so inclined. The real robbers of joy in the celebrations are the mixtures of glorious truths with nonsense, and glorious joy is only to be found in the exclusive focus on God during Christmas and Easter. God is not glorified when He shares the limelight of these times meant for Him with Santa Claus and egg-laying rabbits. Seeing no problem with it is precisely the problem!
There is absolutely no need or
justifiable reason to distract from the celebratory times of the birth and physical resurrection of our Savior as believers. Caving into distractions
because of cultural or political pressure speaks volumes about our testimony. What
good is a testimony; if our lips and lives are out of sync with the Word of God?
What do your Christmas and Easter celebrations look like to Jesus?
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