Part 1
“And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, or he will save his people from their sins.” All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”-Matthew 1:21-23
One of the things that my wife and I enjoy doing together this time of year is watching all those sappy Hallmark movies. You may or may not be a fan, but they are wildly successful and watched by millions this time of year. I have often pondered the secret of their success and it occurred to me that the reason is very simple. There is always a happy ending. In Hallmark world there are no sad, empty, gut-wrenching endings. However, in real life that is not the case.
We live in a world filled with hurt and disappointment. In the midst of all the Christmas music, family gatherings, and holiday festivities are individuals facing the loss of a loved one, some navigating a difficult divorce, others struggling with an oversea deployment, and still others coping with a debilitating illness. It is what Christmas really looks like for many people.
However, what Christmas has become compared to how it began is very different. Like a Hallmark movie, we’ve romanticized the birth of Christ. We’ve packaged it to look like a beautifully crafted nativity set, when in reality Jesus was born into a very dark situation.
As I gazed at the tranquil nativity set that sits on the hutch in my office, I was reminded of the chaos that surrounded Jesus’ birth that is not captured in our modern day nativity presentations. Jesus was born during a time of extreme Roman oppression, the religious system of that day had become so legalistic it was choking the spiritual life out of a nation, society was steeped in sin and had all but rejected and forgotten God. Couple that with that fact that Joseph nearly divorced Mary just months earlier and that they had just travelled a long, difficult journey to Bethlehem only to find that there was no real place for them to stay and soon you begin to see that the joy and wonder of Christ’s birth didn’t come without pain.
We, often, portray Christmas as a season fashioned to highlight God’s peace, joy, and love. Yet, these hallmarks of Christmas were ushered in during a very dark time. A time, in which, God chose to send light:
“Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.”-Luke 1:78-79
God sent light into a difficult time of pressing, persecution and abandonment. This is not a new idea. It has been plainly seen in many of our Christmas hymns, however, we have chosen to overlook them for generations. In the song “O Holy Night” one of the lyrics states: “A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.” Many early Christmas hymns reflected the true weight of that first Christmas, but none better than: “O come, O come, Emmanuel”:
O come, O Come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o’er the grave
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, o Israel
O come, Thou Day-Spring
Come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, o Israel
O Come Emmanuel is a song that accurately portrays the reality into which Christ was born and more importantly affirms that it was for that reason He chose to come and dwell with us!
Pastor Scott Burr
Dayspring Community Church
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