Crushing Christmas
Last December was one for the books for our family. After endless decorating, wrapping, baking, and planning, our striving for seasonal magic was crushed as one by one we were down for the count. Pneumonia—three down, check. Nasty two-week stomach virus—thirteen down, check. Strep—one down, check. And just when we thought we could muster up some New Year’s cheer, Covid hit—five down, check.
We’ve been there before. No doubt you have too. There was the Christmas morning our son burned his hand; the December we ran out of gas with three littles on the frigid South Dakota interstate (pre-cell phone days); the first Christmas without my dad plus a burned brunch; the years of exhaustion after five Christmas Eve services for my pastor-husband; the years with sleepless newborns; the year our two large, male dogs vied for territory on our indoor tree; and the year of a grandchild’s injury from a new toy. These, plus a multitude of other mishaps, can send our Christmas dreams dashing.
As moms, we work tirelessly at “crushing Christmas” and creating a holiday our families will always remember. More often than not, though, Christmas ends up crushing us. Maybe this can be the year we start a new tradition. Maybe instead of believing that Christmas all depends on us, we can learn to let go of our expectations a bit and remember all that Jesus himself already accomplished.
Whether or not our holiday is seamlessly pulled-off, we can rejoice because our Savior’s birth is just the beginning. Christmas doesn’t end with Christmas. From his virgin birth through his sinless life, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, the Son of God crushed all that threatens to crush us:
Jesus Crushed Sin and Death
Sin is our greatest threat and death its consequence. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Sin separates us from God both presently and eternally. Not even the most industrious, problem-solving moms amongst us can ever fix this perpetual problem. Only Jesus. “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).
He allowed himself to be crushed by the sin that was crushing us and then defeated death through his resurrection. Because of Christmas, believers go from unsaved to saved, from crushed by sin to free from sin, ”from death to life” (John 5:24).
Jesus Crushed Our Enemy
“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). This enemy of all believers wants us to despair, give in, and give up. But because of Christmas, we need not fear he who “comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10a).
Rather, we can “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Ephesians 6:10). No matter how gloomy things look or how drastically our plans are going off the rails, our abiding hope lies in Jesus who “came that [we] may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10b).
Jesus Crushed Dividing Lines
Commercialized Christmas often exacerbates all that seeks to divide us. When another family posts pictures of the mountain Christmas cabin while the gifts under our tree are slim, when other housefuls of relatives makes our fragmented family feel all the more broken, when “Happy Holiday” cards seem to separate the haves and the have-nots, we can rejoice that, in Christ, the opposite is true. In Christ, exclusivity is obliterated!
We’re all in this together. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). But . . . All can receive the Christmas Savior. Luke 2:10 proclaims “‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”
Jesus was and is the answer to humanity’s universal problem. Salvation is for the family whose Christmas quiver is full and for the lonely household—for the living room with sprawling presents and the one with a bare-bones tree. Christmas is for all. We can take heart knowing that Jesus’s birth, life, and “once for all” death crushed our earthly superiority systems (Romans 6:10).
Jesus Crushed Everything That Can and Will Go Wrong at Christmas
The first Christmas was swathed in trials. Unexpected pregnancy; fear; misunderstandings; a long, forced, uncomfortable donkey ride; an uncertain and questionable delivery room; a stable void of festivity; and more. Yet God’s people kept their eyes on the long-awaited Messiah. Their messiness and mislaid plans were overcome by the perfect plan of God, which would set all things right in Christ.
Whether it’s our sin or another’s, death, divorce, loss, brokenness, loneliness, financial strain, sickness, injury, or more that seeks to crush us this Christmas, we can flip the world’s script and instead remember that these are in fact, why we have Christmas—why we needed Christmas. Had Jesus not been born to us, then getting sick at Christmas could crush us. A failed marriage could crush us. Grief of every kind could crush us. Sin and death would crush us. But, Christmas. Immanuel. The hope of our salvation.
May we relieve ourselves of the make-or-break pressure of the season and remember that “crushing Christmas” happens in pointing our families to the One who rights every wrong. Thanks be to God—who crushed it—at Christmas. And at Easter. And forevermore, Amen.
