You are going to hear it…I guarantee it! It has become a staple of every Christmas season since I-don’t-know-when. No, it is not anything about that fruitcake you will get. 🙂 And no, it is not about watching Enter Sandman by Metallica being played with Christmas lights displayed on houses (although that is quite impressive). So, what is it?
“Jesus is the Reason for the Season.”
Yes, I know the sentiment behind the saying. That phrase first gained popularity in the 1970s as a Christian response to the growing commercialization and secularization of Christmas. The sentiment behind it has been around a whole lot longer. Some research I did shows the saying first appeared on a billboard in the 1950s, but it really caught on in the ’70s. The saying itself is right up there with “Keep Christ in Christmas.”
But is it true?
I am going to be a bit cantankerous here but the answer is No. I know. I know. Someone somewhere just gasped at my calloused response to a “biblical saying.” No matter how much we want it to be true it is not. I realize the sentiment behind it and I recognize the effort of those who simply wanted the focus of Christmas to be on Christ (and so do I), but the saying is not biblical. In 1980 Christian singer, David Meece, released a song called “We are the Reason.” The lyrics went like this: “We are the reason He gave His life/We are the reason He suffered and died/To a world that was lost, He gave all He could give/To show us the reason to live.” THOSE lyrics got it right! He came that we might have life. I am aware that you may thinking that I’m grasping at straws. Perhaps. But perhaps not. The Bible is very clear that we are all sinners incapable of saving ourselves. We needed a sinless Savior who would willingly offer His life in our place. We were the reason Jesus came and died. It is that coming we celebrate every Christmas, but we must never forget the WHY behind it all.
Instead of saying, “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” perhaps it is more accurate and biblical to say, “We are the reason for the season; He is the meaning behind the season.”
I hold the same feelings about these Christmas cliches, Bill. I was just wondering yesterday how we could bring the cross into the manger so that people would know it’s not about a baby it’s about a Savior. Still mulling that over.
I could say “Great minds think alike” but I can’t put myself in your category Pam. 🙂 That idea does give ponder for thought.
I couldn’t agree with you more, Bill. WE are the reason for the season, for without Christ’s saving grace, we would remain hopeless and hapless sinners separated from our God and King. I don’t even want to imagine such an existence. Thank you, God, for the gift of Jesus!
Blessings!
AMEN Martha! Without God’s saving grace says it all right there. Thanks.
I agree with you Bill, I understand the sentiment, but we must always remember, the price of our redemption, and that Jesus came to save sinners, of which we all are. Without the Cross, we would be separated from God forever, and I agree with Martha, I do not want to imagine such an existence. Praise to Our Lord and Savior, for giving us the grace, mercy and gift of the Cross.
I sometimes think we do forget what He has done in our being consumed by the commercial. I agree with you and Martha for sure.