A Christmas Wish

For the past few weeks in chapels at HCJB headquarters our president, David Johnson, has been playing the role of Christmas myth buster in his chapel messages, encouraging us to look at the true meaning of the coming of Jesus. That’s an important thing for us to do each year, for two reasons: first, because of the barrage of commercialism that we have to put up with, and second, because the true story is so much more powerful. So, to further encourage you with the power of what really happened I’d like to read a passage adapted from the book The Jesus Style, by Gail Erwin.

Look at the clues that indicate the nature of Jesus—born in a barn, to a teenage mother, laid in a feed trough, considered to be illegitimate by many, of spotty ancestry (there was a murderer, a harlot, a Gentile in his bloodline), a common name (Jesus is a form of the Hebrew “Joshua” and there was one of those on every street), a seemingly misdirected birth announcement received by a handful of mistrusted shepherds, unattractive looks, reared in a bad neighborhood (remember Nathaniel’s question: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”), owning nothing, what can only be called a bizarre combination of coworkers (the equivalent in modern terms of combining an IRS agent, an anarchist, minimum wage laborers, and various other strong accents and odors that had never before been called a unit), the shameful death of a common criminal (that in his day brought about an emotional reaction more akin to “lethal injection” than our warm fondness for “the cross”.

His whole approach doesn’t fit the methods that come to mind when we think of winning the world. These were choices, not mistakes. He seemed to lead with weakness at every step of his life.

And why is this good news? With this kind of approach to us, he could be sure that our response would be an honest one. He used no methods that would coerce us or get something less than genuine belief. This is the way true love works. People don’t propose marriage with a ring in one hand and a pistol in the other. Being an others-oriented person, a servant, he wanted to free people to be as real and honest as possible. He had the power to walk Judea threatening those who rejected him with instantaneous annihilation. Instead, he allowed others to take his life.

We make so few genuine decisions in life. Most of the choices we make are affected by outside forces and demands. But when it comes to the most important decision in life, our decision about God—Jesus seeks only a genuine one. He approaches us in a way that lovingly frees us to make that decision authentically. We can accept or reject. He refuses to violate our personhood and our ability to choose. That is true love.

And that’s the truly good news that is the basis of Shelly’s and my wishes of the very best for each of you this Christmas season.