Advent - We Have Found The KingSýnishorn

Christmas remains America’s major holiday. Part of that is almost certainly all the trappings—presents, traditions, Santa, etc.—but part of it is also the comforting picture of a little baby in a manger. Christmas doesn’t seem to demand as much of us as Easter. The little baby in the manger isn’t asking us to do anything. On the other hand, the Master hanging on a cross saying “follow me” represents a large demand on our lives. Without the cross, though, the manger doesn’t mean anything. And without the empty tomb, the cross wouldn’t mean much either.

The empty tomb is the real hope of Christmas. Death, our greatest enemy, entered the world through our sin. Yet, on the cross, Jesus mastered sin. As Paul says in Colossians, He nailed the power of sin to the cross. It was sin that formed the sting of death. It is the cross that breaks the power of sin, and it is the resurrection that shows that God has broken the power of death.

Christmas is just two days away. It is the birth of the Prince of Peace. It is the day that God entered the world as a man. It’s not the cute picture of a non-crying baby in a manger that leads to peace, though. It is that God broke into our lives and changed the story. He sleeps in a manger, sweeps sawdust in a carpenter’s shop, wanders by the Sea of Galilee, spends a few short years doing good – but it all leads up to a few key days where sin and death meet their match. The “little boy from the carpenter’s shop” really is the king of glory. He proved it by triumphing over death and sin and the grave.

For many, Christmas isn’t always the happiest of times. We can be reminded of loved ones who are no longer with us. We can be reminded of our own failures in family and friendships. Yet, the peace that Christ offers is the peace of the empty tomb. Death indeed is defeated. We do not suffer as “ones who have no hope.” The odd little manger in Bethlehem holds the King of Glory. He isn’t there to be a sweet, simple child. He’s there to give us life.

Dr. Marty McMahone, Professor, McLane College of Business