Making Sense of Christmas
“I am the resurrection and the life.”
John 11:17 (NIV)
The after-Christmas sales are now well underway; my Christmas decorations are packed up and safely stored in my basement; and my beautiful Christmas amaryllis has finally bloomed two weeks late. Most of us have quickly moved on past the New Year’s bowl games and turned both our attention and our calendars to 2022. But this week I’ve found my thoughts bouncing between Christmas and Easter.
Dr. Barker’s recent death and upcoming memorial service have certainly contributed to the dichotomy. So has my ongoing nine-month study of John’s Gospel that I’ll begin teaching next week. Jesus, the Incarnate King, permanently tied Christmas and Easter together when he said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:17).
A leading British economist, asked one December to give his economic forecast, commented that “the significance of Christmas will not become clear until Easter.” He meant, of course, that it would take the economists some time to work out how profitable the previous Christmas season had been.
Dr. Sinclair Ferguson writes, “But like Caiaphas before him (John 11:49-52), he spoke deeper truth than he intended…the meaning of Jesus’ incarnation becomes clear only in His resurrection. Christmas needs Easter if it is to make sense. Without the resurrection, the entire story ends in confusion… A resurrection-less gospel is no gospel at all (1 Corinthians 15:12-19).”
Christianity is a historical faith. Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, was born to live a perfect life and die a sinner’s death. But Jesus didn’t stay dead! The tomb is empty. Christ’s resurrection secures and guarantees our own resurrection. (1 Corinthians 15:20)
Dr. James Montgomery Boice helps us grasp the inseparable connection between Christmas and Easter with his beautifully written Christ: The Greatest Gift:
God - (the greatest Lover)
so loved- (the greatest degree)
the world - (the greatest company)
that he gave- (the greatest act)
his only begotten Son- (the greatest gift)
that whosoever (the greatest opportunity)
believeth (the greatest simplicity)
in him - (the greatest attraction)
should not perish - (the greatest promise)
but- (the greatest difference)
have (the greatest certainty)
everlasting life - (the greatest possession)
As we remember the angel’s good news of great joy announcement of that first Christmas (Luke 2:10), let us rejoice and live in light of the good news of Easter: He is risen! He is risen indeed! (Luke 24:6) Rejoice in the resurrection!