Christmas |
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By Armen Gakavian Like most children, I always looked forward to Christmas. There was something warm and cosy about the summer holidays, time spent with family and friends, and images of a child in a manger. Yet as I grew older I began to resent the superficial lights and Christmas shopping rush. All the glitter, razzamatazz and mush seemed a far cry from the image of the Holy Child, Jesus, born in a manger in Bethlehem to simple, illiterate, working class parents - the Suffering Servant whose destiny was the Cross of Easter:
In the Old Testament (the Jewish scriptures), the people killed animals as a ‘sacrifice’ to God to try to make up for their shortcomings. Yet all the blood of lambs and goats and bulls and doves could never forgive the shortcomings of the people, let alone change their behaviour. It could only remind them, day after day, year after year, of how far they fell short of human dignity, let alone God’s perfection. So, at Christmas, God came in human form – Jesus Christ, the Son of God - to forgive our shortcomings once for all, and to help us live a new kind of life. More than tinsel and mangers, Christmas is the story of an all-powerful, all-knowing God, who lovingly gave his creation the greatest gift of all: Himself. God’s greatest gift was to come and live like one of us, and then die at the hands of His own creation. Thirty-three years after the first Christmas, at Easter, Jesus Christ, the very Word of God, was reduced to a pitiful figure on a Cross, vulnerable and wounded. Yet they could only kill His body - His Spirit lived on, and three days later rose from the grave in a new body, opening the way for us to heaven. Through His death, burial and resurrection, Jesus Christ freed us once and for all from the hold of evil and death over our lives, offering unconditional forgiveness for all our shortcomings – past, present and future - and eternal life. This gift of forgiveness is free, but to receive it we need to understand that even one shortcoming is enough to separate us from a perfect God. When we confront the seriousness of our condition, stop trusting in our own abilities and open our hearts towards God, He is ready to pour out His forgiveness into every corner of our lives, giving us an opportunity to start afresh and to live the way we were created to live:
May this Christmas be the start of a new life for you as you open your heart to God and receive His gift of forgiveness. Then you will enjoy the full life that you were created to live, in harmony with God. |
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