I need to begin with a warning: If you read the rest of this paragraph, you are likely to ingest a musical “earworm” that will not stop playing in your brain all day. According to a survey conducted by FinanceBuzz, the “most annoying” Christmas song in America is Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Paradoxically, it is also the most popular Christmas song in America.

If you now can’t get the song out of your mind, don’t blame me—you were warned.

But seen in a theological light, there’s a surprising message here, one that turns the Christmas holidays into holy days that transform our lives all year.

What does Jesus want for Christmas?

Jesus owned only the absolute minimum necessary for life in this world. This was true from the moment of his birth, when he came into the world in a borrowed stable and was laid in a borrowed feed trough. This was true to the moment of his death, when he was crucified on a Roman cross, prepared for burial through the generosity of others, and laid in a borrowed tomb.

During his earthly ministry, he lived in Capernaum at the home of his friend Peter. When he visited Jerusalem, he stayed in Bethany at the home of his friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Regarding home ownership, he said, “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20).

And yet, not once did he ask anyone for anything except for their good. He asked a Samaritan woman for water so he could lead her to “living water” (John 4:7–14). He invited himself to the home of Zacchaeus so he could bring salvation to his “house” (Luke 19:1–10).

Everything Jesus did, from the moment he entered our world, was intended to bring us to himself:

• If he could be conceived in the womb of a virgin, he can come into any heart and life (cf. John 3:16).
• If impoverished residents of a town so small it’s not mentioned even once in the Old Testament could be Jesus’ family, anyone can be part of his family (cf. 1 Peter 2:9).
• If field hands so ritually unclean that they could not enter a synagogue could join the celebration of his birth, anyone can praise him today (cf. Revelation 7:9–10).
• If Samaritans, Gentiles, demoniacs, tax collectors, and lepers could join his movement, anyone can follow him today.
• If those who forsook him, denied him, and persecuted his followers could be forgiven, anyone can be forgiven.
• If a worshiper exiled on a prison island could experience him personally (Revelation 1:9–20), anyone can experience him in worship today.

I say all of that to ask this: If you were to give Jesus what he wants most for Christmas, what would it be?

“A chamber in the heart of God”

Speaking of Jesus’ mother, Br. Curtis Almquist of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston notes:

We, like Mary, have God’s attention and God’s love. We, like Mary, have something utterly unique about the life God has given us. There is no one like us; never has been; never will be. We are known by God. We are favored by God in an even more unique way than we are to our most precious relationships. There is a chamber in our heart which only God can enter; and there is a chamber in the heart of God into which only we can enter.

How shall we respond to such love?

When Gabriel invited Mary to become the mother of God’s Son, she replied: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Br. Almquist similarly advises us: “Keep the verb surrender in the vocabulary of your heart.”

This verb is God’s consistent demand of his followers:

• “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
• “Submit yourselves therefore to God” (James 4:7).
• “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God” (1 Peter 5:6).

Why is this? Why does Jesus want us for Christmas? All of us, surrendered fully and unconditionally to him?

Is this because he is a despot bent on the submission of humanity as his subjects?

Or could it be that our Lord’s response to our surrender is his greatest gift to us?

“I will give you a new self instead”

Br. Almquist quotes the nineteenth-century Quaker author Thomas Kelly:

The paradox is that as we surrender and are willing to do God’s bidding, our lives unfold in a way that is much more magnificent than we could ever have humanly orchestrated. Life becomes extremely simple, and oh, so good.

This only makes sense. If we trust our lives to an all-knowing Father who sees the future better than we can see the present, an all-loving and all-powerful Lord who can do all that is best and nothing else, how could the outcome be anything but his best for us?

And even more, as we give our lives to the One who gave his life for us, we experience Jesus himself. His Spirit manifests his personality and character in ours (Romans 8:29). Jesus continues his ministry in the world in and through our lives (1 Corinthians 12:27).

1. S. Lewis gives voice to our Savior’s invitation today:

I don’t want so much of your time, so much of your money, so much of your work: I want you. . . . Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked—the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. I will give you myself.

Could there be a greater gift than this?

Quote for the day:

“Let God have your life; he can do more with it than you can.” —Dwight Moody

Our latest website resources:

• How can Christians face anxiety without losing faith?
• A review of “2 Chairs: The Secret that Changes Everything”
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• When are kids old enough to have a smartphone?
• Why do we have Christmas trees? How a “pagan symbol” became an integral part of our Christmas traditions

 

Denison Forum