What Christmas Really Means

 “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was first shown in 1965. The most remembered part of the 25 minute cartoon is the speech by Linus, the resident philosopher of the Peanuts. Interestingly, it almost did not get into the final cut as the networks were very concerned that the public would not be comfortable with the Bible being quoted – especially by a cartoon character. However, Charles Schultz, the creator of Peanuts, insisted on keeping the Bible verses saying, “If we don’t, who will?”

Here's the clip.

Here are the verses Linus quotes:

Luke 2:8-14

⁸ Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. ¹⁰ Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

As beautiful as these words are, they seem a little farfetched – the savior of the world being born in a manger? But it is the last verse which makes so many either raise an eyebrow or shake their head.

“And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

This sounds wonderful except we have had anything but peace in the years since this pronouncement. We continue to have conflicts with each other and wars between nations. So many people have died or been maimed by the violence. How can what the angel said be true?

The statement is true because the peace the angel talks about is not between people but between people and God. Remember what happened after Adam and Eve had been judged by God for eating from the tree of good and evil –

Genesis 3:22-24

²² Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 

²³ therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

From this point forward, mankind was at odds with God. There was no way for anyone to get back to the Garden since the cherubim was guarding the entrance. What to do? People cannot fight angels.

-        What happened so we could be allowed back into the Glory of God?

It was the self-sacrifice of Jesus on the cross which tore the veil that separated God and mankind. The warring between God and man was over if, IF, man would believe.

John 3:16-18

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” 

Jesus could have come as a fully grown up person and just started preaching. If you only read Mark’s Gospel this is what you would think happened since he does not talk about anything in Jesus’ life prior to His baptism by John the Baptist.

The other Gospels add to the story. John establishes that Jesus existed from the very beginning and created everything. Matthew and Luke talk about His birth.

So why was it necessary for Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to take on flesh as a baby rather than a fully grown person?

-        To establish lineage from Adam through David (see Matthew chapter 1) as a connection to scripture and prophecy

-        For us to know that He knows how it is to be human and deal with all of our issues

The last point is sometimes misstated as “For Jesus to know how it is to be human”. Jesus, being God, already knows what it is to be human even more than we do. However, we have a hard time grasping that truth since it means grasping the infinite.

Therefore, Jesus was born like we were born. He lived like we live and He died like we will die. This connects Him with us in a way so powerful that generations after He appeared, people can identify with Him on such a personal level. His birth as a helpless, crying baby covered in the same amniotic fluid we all are when we are born, needing to be cleaned off, needing to nurse on Mary’s breast to survive – yet also never losing His other identity as the Lord of all Creation – is God’s way of making Jesus relatable to every person who has or will live.

This connection between God and mankind allows for the “on earth peace” the angel spoke of. The “goodwill towards men” part of the verse is Jesus reaching out to us through His birth, life and death offering the way, the only way, to eternal life.

We cannot even begin to have true peace with others if we do not first have peace with our creator. By His birth, life and death He opens the door for us, and everyone who ever was or will be, to join Him in eternity if we choose to do so by believing in Him.

This is what Christmas really means.