Christmas Eve

Why do we need Christmas? An odd question, perhaps, but an important one. We’re so busy celebrating Christmas, does anyone ever stop to ask, “Why do we need Christmas?” I know how the merchants would answer: “We need Christmas to stay in business. We need Christmas so that everyone goes out and buys gifts that people don’t really need, with money they probably don’t have, for people they might not even like. Christmas keeps the wheels of our economy going. Christmas is good for business.” But that’s not why we need Christmas.

You might answer, “We need Christmas to bring families together at the end of each year. Christmas reminds us to be kind, to share that holiday spirit, to focus on the things that matter: family, friends, and good memories. We need Christmas to help the world become a better place for all people.” There’s nothing wrong with trying to spread some holiday cheer, but that’s not why we need Christmas.

Here is why we need Christmas: We need it because the world is covered in great darkness. Humanity is not getting progressively better. No, the only thing that is improving is our capacity for greater and greater evil. The last century was the most destructive in human history. The more we learn, the more technology progresses, the less we seem to need God, and the darker the world becomes.

We need Christmas because shepherds must watch their sheep at night – if they don’t the sheep will be devoured by fearsome predators or stolen by neighbors. This is not how God meant the world to be, but it is what our world under sin has become. We try our best to protect our possessions, our children, our loved ones from the many evils that surround us, but we can’t – not all the time. The darkness is pervasive. Sin and death creep up on us from every side. What’s more, you don’t have to look out into the world to find darkness. Look no further than your own heart, which Scriptures says is deceitfully wicked above all things.

We need Christmas because shepherds are afraid of God’s holy angels. Why are we afraid? Because sinful men cannot bear to be in the presence of holiness. We must hide, as Adam and Eve did, from the face of God. We are ashamed of our sinfulness, ashamed of our fallen and corrupt nature. Yet instead of turning to our heavenly Father for mercy and forgiveness, our natural inclination is to hide in fear. This is why we need Christmas.

It began in the Garden. We were not content that God should be Lord of all. We wanted to be God. We wanted to be in the highest place. So we declared war on God and made an alliance with Satan. We chose to become self-declared enemies of God. In arrogance, we plunged the world into darkness when we declared, “I will become like God.” In love and mercy, God answered, “Not so. I will become a man.” “Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with hell will not stand” (Is 28:18). What man has joined together, God will separate. “I will place enmity, that is, hatred, between you and the serpent, and the Seed of the woman will crush his head” (Gen 3:15). This was the first promise of Christmas, the first promise of the virgin birth, the first promise of Christ.

When the angels came to announce the fulfillment of this promise, they sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Lk 2:14). Here is God’s answer to our attempt to unseat him from his throne, to our desire to be like God and ascend up to heaven: God is still in the highest. He is still the almighty Ruler of all. Yet he comes to us, not in vindictive judgment, but in peace and good will.

This is the peace of Christmas – not peace in the Middle East, not peace between the relatives around the dinner table tonight, not the sentimental peace of a Hallmark card with three camels and a shepherd boy, but peace between God and mankind. God announces that he will not punish us for our failed rebellion. He will not exact the death penalty that we deserve upon us. Instead, he himself will bear the punishment for the treason of the human race. God cannot die, so he will become a man in order to suffer and die in your place. And this is why we need Christmas.

The shepherds reacted in fear, why wouldn’t they? The angels are messengers of God, and we had no reason to expect anything but judgment from his hand. But the message of Christmas begins with the words, “Fear not!” God comes to us in mercy, not in judgment. His coming is “good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Lk 2:10–11). Even though we were his enemies, Jesus comes for us, and not against us. Don’t be afraid. He intends you no harm. Look at how he comes! The Creator of us all chooses such a humble birth because he loves us.

He comes for liars, thieves, fornicators, and murderers. He comes for drunkards and druggies. He comes for those who appear to live a very pious life while inwardly they crave every evil thing. He comes in order to live and die for such people. He comes for you. And the peace of which the angels sing is God’s good will toward you. This doesn’t mean that God wants you to continue living a life of sin. No, God calls you to repent and turn from your sin, and he promises to forgive you for Christ’s sake. There is no one who is not a sinner, no one who does not need this forgiveness every year, every week, every day. This is why we need Christmas, because we need a Savior. Jesus comes to us, having made peace with his own body, by his suffering and death on his cross. He comes as our God. He comes to break the darkness. He comes to destroy our enemies. He comes as our dear brother. And he comes to bring a kingdom of peace that will never end. Amen.

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