Christmas and Good Friday

Here we are in the season where we celebrate Jesus’ birth. The commercialization of Christmas has brought us to the point that we can go through entire days in the Christmas season and not think about Jesus at all when we think about the holiday.

When we do think about Jesus, we focus on the tiny baby in the manger. That’s easy to see why…after all, we have centuries of songs and artwork that bring the baby Jesus to the forefront of our minds.

At Christmas, I’d wager that we don’t think enough about Jesus the fully-God-fully-man who lived and died as a sacrifice for our salvation. Why don’t we? Think about it this way: when we celebrate the birthdays of loved ones, we don’t dwell solely on their babyhood—we celebrate their life as a whole.

Whatever the reason, I think we would do well to not just think of baby Jesus but also to think about His whole life and the reason why He came to earth.

There’s a scripture that everybody knows, even many people who don’t believe in Jesus at all. We see it scrawled on graffiti and on signs at ballgames:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16 (ESV)

This morning, I heard a clip from a John Piper sermon in which he pointed out that John 3:16 is Christmas and Good Friday rolled into one. That resonated with me, because that verse celebrates Jesus’ coming to earth and commemorates the reason why He came to earth.

These last two days before Christmas, I want to challenge you to not just celebrate the baby but think about His life as a whole. After all, it’s a birthday celebration.

Photo by Alicia Quan on Unsplash