An Un-celebrated Christmas

An Un-celebrated Christmas

I was reading up on some of the backgrounds of “The Messiah,” written by Handel, a performance that Jane and I attended recently. It was an exceptional presentation and I was surprised at the drama of it all, following the story of the birth of Jesus and His death and resurrection and His coming in glory. It is not really a Christmas story. It is a Jesus story, a Christ story, spanning from Incarnation to Glorification. 

So why is “The Messiah” performed mostly at Christmas? It seems that in London at one time, there was trouble getting up any enthusiasm for the Christmas holiday. Can you imagine? It was Christmas, and there was absolutely nothing going on. No decorations. No gift-giving. No parties. No Christmas music. So what did they do? They stole “The Messiah.”

I don’t know why Christmas wasn’t being celebrated, but I can hazard a couple of guesses. My first thought would be “no money.” It is hard to celebrate Christmas without money. Special gifts. Special clothes. Special meals. It costs a lot to make “special.” Of course, this answer runs crossgrain with the actual Christmas story. It appears Joseph and Mary scarcely had two denarii to rub together. All the essential elements of that first Christmas were heavenly gifts, given as true gifts are, free of charge: the angels; the star; oh, and the Child. All freely given, for free.

Now that I think about it, maybe money is one of the things that actually diminishes the true celebration of Christmas. We buy so much stuff that we have little time or attention for the wonders that have been given completely free of charge. Maybe the people back then, as now, had too much, and were otherwise preoccupied.

Another reason for “an uncelebrated Christmas” might be a loss of hope. Hope is lost when the promises are forgotten. Promises are forgotten when the Bible is not read and taken seriously. God had promised to Adam and Eve and Abraham a Seed; He had promised through Balaam a Star; He had promised to David a Son who would reign forever; He had promised to Isaiah “a child will be born, and a Son given.;” to Micah that the insignificant would prove to be great. But all of those promises are of little value to those who do not listen or heed, hell-bent as they are on, you know, un-celebrating Christmas.

Yes, in London, they needed “The Messiah” to help people focus on Christmas. And today? We need to focus on the Messiah.