It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. In order to be unaware of the Christmas season in America, you’d have to be blind, deaf, and probably lock yourself in a room for two months, leaving yourself with no contact to the outside world. Our culture bleeds Christmas during the month of December. The air just feels a little fresher and people seem a bit happier.

There’s just something about the Christmas season. A lot of people can’t really put their finger on it. The presents are cool, especially if you’re a little kid. Christmas day basketball is always exciting – if you’re an NBA fan. The holiday music can be a joyous time…well, for some people. Others hate that music genre. Family. That’s a big one. The smiling faces of all those we love, gathered together to laugh and to celebrate. That’s one of the greatest gifts we have in this life: family. But for some people, even this presents a dilemma. The in-laws fight and quarrel. Busyness levels are off the charts with planning and cooking and all of those other technical details. There’s a lot to love about the Christmas season, but the physical things to which we can point don’t fully satisfy the question. What is so different about the Christmas season?

For some, Christmas season just means stress. In fact, some might even find themselves more depressed during the Christmas season. It’s not all joy for everyone. Perhaps someone is experiencing a Christmas alone for the first time. Perhaps someone is entering the Christmas season having lost everything. Where some people are bubbling with happiness, others’ spend their Christmas season flowing with tears. I’ve even heard it said that the month of December has the highest suicide rate of any month in the year. Let that sink in. Whether that statistic is true or not, it does bring to light a certain tension surrounding Christmas. Not everyone is happy. Yet even this sadness points to something. I think the reason depression rises for some during the Christmas season is the same reason other people are so happy. Perhaps, these people know they are supposed to be happy this time of year. Maybe some people enter the Christmas season knowing that something is special about it, yet they find themselves emotionally drained. Unable to tap into the joy of this season only leads them deeper into the pit of depression.

So what is it that’s so different about the Christmas season? Yes, you’ve guessed it. The classic “Jesus is the reason for the season”. It’s Jesus that makes the season so special. But it’s so much deeper than this cheesy little phrase. It reminds me of something Jesus said during the Triumphal entry.

As Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem during the final week of His life, the people gathered around Him and began worshiping Him. Their King had come! Seeing this, the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” (Lk. 19:39). The Pharisees knew the commands of the Old Testament. Worshiping something other than God was blasphemy, a serious sin in the eyes of the Lord. So, reasonably, they wanted the worshiping of this man to stop. But in this reasoning, the Pharisees missed something. Something big. Jesus’ response to their pleas is a subtle one: “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out” (v. 40). Jesus Christ is no mere man. He is God in the flesh. His glory thunders throughout the earth.

With this one phrase, Jesus declared His greatness. Sure, He could tell the people to stop. He could implore them to stop praising Him, as the Pharisees pleaded for Him to do. But that would not matter. God Himself had entered Jerusalem. The King came, and He came ushering in his great Kingdom. The joyful praise of Christ was not an option. As the King of Glory enters the city, there was no stopping the worship. His glory was too great. So great, in fact, that if the people remained silent, the stones themselves would cry out!

When God enters a place, people notice. He’s too big, too holy, too powerful, and too glorious to just slip by. So when Christ, the God-man, entered Jerusalem , heads were turned. Something happened that was simply uncontainable. People could not help but praise Him. Glory like that must be praised. Perhaps something similar takes place each Christmas. Yes, there are the arguments that say Christ wasn’t born in December. That isn’t particularly relevant. December is when the Church has chosen to celebrate the birth of its Savior-King. During this season, we remember what might be the greatest miracle: God Himself became man and walked among us. Our God had not abandoned us. Nor did He wait for us to make our way to Him. Instead, He took action. He pursued us – all the way to earth. And even, eventually, to the cross. God entered a place, and everything changed. He entered earth.

Maybe this is why Christmas has such an aura about it. Because this is the season we have chosen to remember that fateful day of our dear Savior’s birth. It was an event so big that we can’t help but be stricken by it. We can’t help but feel something. Perhaps, amongst all the greed and the presents and the food and the music and even the family, there is something bigger going on. Something causing us to cry out. This is too big. In fact, it is so big that I suspect, if we were to remain silent this Christmas season, the earth would still ring with praises – as the very stones cry out in our place.

 

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