Merry Christmas!!! Peace Joy and Hope. I am sure one time or other you all have watched the cartoon movie, A Charlie Brown Christmas, the 1965 animated special. The cartoon movie teaches us the truth about Christmas. It takes us to the depth of the meaning of Christmas. In the special, Charlie Brown is frustrated because his friends are putting on a Christmas pageant that perpetuates the modern consumerism that has absorbed the holiday. He finally shouts “Can anyone tell me the true meaning of Christmas?” Then Linus takes the stage. In his quiet, soft voice, Linus quotes the story of Jesus’s birth from Luke 2:8-14.
Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David, a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."
Linus then walks over to his stressed up friend and says, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.” So what is the point? We all know that what we just heard is the truth. Note, there is smoothing more I want you to see in that movie. There’s something artistically subtle in that scene that makes me appreciate it even more. Just as Linus utters the words “fear not” from Luke 2, he drops his security blanket. Linus is never without his trusty blue blanket, clinging to it to feel secure and safe. And yet as he recounts the story of Jesus’ birth and the courage it inspires, he let’s go of his security blanket, needing nothing more than the Christmas story to give him the hope of security. What is more special is at the end of the move Linus takes his security blanket to tie it around the bent down tree to make it stand straight and look good. Jesus, the Emmanuel (God with us), came to be with us to wrap us with courage and comfort. So, my dear sisters and brothers the celebration of Christmas are all about accepting Christ into our lives. He is the security blanket that will give us all safety from the nares of the evil. Again I tell you Christmas is not about all the light and glitter and party it is about having Christ in our lives. Christmas should lead us to Easter for Christ came on earth to lead us to resurrection and life eternal.
Jesus didn’t come into the world to give us only good words and profound examples of moral living. He came specifically to provide a rescue for every human heart, to rescue us from sin and spiritual death by paying the penalty we couldn’t afford to pay ourselves. In Jesus’s own words, he came into the world as God incarnate to offer himself as a ransom so that we can be saved (Mark 10:45). And because of Jesus’s payment and resurrection, our souls can feel their worth. Christmas is not just the birth of someone whose example helped humanity. It’s the birth of the One who saves humanity from itself. In a paradox of time, Easter’s hope gives rise to Christmas’s joy