The purpose of Christmas

My wife and I were recently wronged, and frankly, I'm mad about it. So mad, that for the first time in my life I may be suing someone. Maybe you've been there. Speaking of that someone who wronged us, for some reason the words "pray for your enemies" crossed my mind this morning, and I did in fact pause and pray for the salvation of this particular person, adding a closing prayer (I couldn't help myself) that he would see the error of his ways and make restitution.

People talk a lot about the meaning of Christmas. Perhaps it would be better to talk about the purpose of Christmas. Jesus summed it up for his disciples in Mark 10:45, "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Even more astonishing is that Jesus came to die for his enemies, those who had wronged him infinitely more than any of us will ever be wronged. "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life." (Romans 5:10) I can't imagine dying for the person that wronged me, yet Jesus came to die for those who had wronged him. The more that truth lands on me, the more I see and value the gift of Christmas.

John, who was on the receiving end of Jesus's rebuke in Mark 10, summed up the purpose of Christmas like this, "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil." (1 John 3:8) I love that! But I think my favorite is Philippians 2:5-11, a passage I've memorized and often preach to myself.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

That's the purpose of Christmas. Jesus came into the world to transform me from his enemy to his friend. In the words of the hymnwriter J. Wilbur Chapman:

Hallelujah! what a Savior!
Hallelujah! what a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.*

*J. Wilbur Chapman, Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners