By Victor Bajah
The two-syllable word Christmas carries two separate meanings; when put together they also denote another. In that word you have the word Christ which has to do with Christology is the study of the life and work of Jesus Christ, the God-man. Mass generally carries the idea of celebration. However, when the two words are combined it gives the hallowed idea of celebrating Christ as Lord, the Savior of the world. The Germanic term for the word is Weihnachten which denotes “hallowed night.” The miracle of Christmas happened in the night, His essence made the night hallowed.
If the season is about celebrating Christ, an inquisitive mind would ask, what about Christ are we celebrating? And actually, that is the bane of my writing today. If Christ’s birth should be commemorated annually, as we do every Christmas season, what is the reason for such an elaborate, systematic and exquisite grandeur of fête do we invent ways to doing it?
One reason for this is because the architects of the yuletide from a heart of gratitude felt that God’s grace had appeared to all men, and this grace was demonstrated in the baby boy cuddled in animal feeder, in a Nazarene stable. The Bible supports this idea with the words, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1.21).
In my understanding, the Bible is pointing fingers in the manner we should commemorate the birth of Christ. I know this because, elsewhere, the apostle Paul added words to the birth of Christ that shows He was born to fulfill a purpose, to which He did, and therefore, we should celebrate what He has accomplished with gratitude because it is not something we could have achieved by ourselves if not for the intervention of God we daily referred to as grace!
So, Paul explained that, “For by Grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2.8-9). Paul, in other words, is saying what happened at the event we commemorate as Christmas was an act of demonstration in which, God gave humanity, a gift. This gift came to us not because we had done anything to earn it; it was just an act of goodness, kindness and the self-revelation of God to us. God did that through a culmination of actions that put together, defined the word GRACE. As such, we shouldn’t think we have achieved or merited the divine birth, but celebrate it as a sacred event, which interfaced the human history on a hallowed night we may not be précised, as debates continue to wobble the waters of archeology.
This is the historical and factual apotheosis of the story behind the divine birth we referred to as Christmas. If Jesus was born just to remain a baby or without a defined purpose that changed the history of mankind, His birth would have mean nothing. In fact, I won’t waste my time to be writing this, but because His birth demonstrated God’s cornucopian grace; we all have a reason to immortalize it in our lives.
We can immortalize the gains of God’s grace demonstrated in the divine consanguineous event that has changed the spiritual and physical history of mankind by reflective assessment of our life patterns in a pious manner worthy of the season. Indeed, God has done us well. He has given us the most valuable gift of all times, in the Person of His Son, as a sin offering that would placate for our sins, and open better options for our temporal and eternal state.
What can be of greater worthy than God’s demonstration of grace in divine birth? Who else should get the centre attention in our lives at a time like this, but Jesus Christ the gift of life Himself? How should we celebrate such an event in the history of humanity but to humble ourselves and submit to the Lord, with mouths full of the humble pie of repentance from sin? It is a time to celebrate, yes! Yet, it is also a time of sober reflection, a time to forgive others their wrongs, to embrace enemies and share meals. Yes! It is a time to watch each others’ backs; to give out gifts with the sole intention to remind the receiver that God demonstrated His gift first, in an act of grace that we couldn’t afford, earn or merit. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year, 2022!