Christmas Is About Beholding
Christmas is still recognized in our culture. Many households throughout America will have some form of celebration this month. But what’s ironic is, even though we Christians are celebrating the birth of our Savior, we may not be seeing Him accurately or may not be seeing Him at all during this season. With all the shopping, merrymaking, and hubbub around Christmastime, we can miss what the holiday is all about. You see, Christmas is God’s invitation to us to come and behold Him. Undistracted by all the trappings that come at this time of year, He wants us to see Him. Uncluttered by all the things we, our culture, and our society have put on Jesus, He wants us to see Him as He truly is.
It’s interesting to hear people talk about Christmas. They say things like, “Sure, we celebrate Christmas, but we’re not religious. It’s more the spirit of Christmas we’re celebrating.” And my question is what is that spirit of Christmas that people who say such things are celebrating? It must be more than generosity. It must be more than family. It must be more than kindness. If we take all the clutter, like all the wrapping paper and the bows and the tags and the stuff that is probably littering our bedrooms and homes—if we can just remove all of that—what are we left with? It’s Christmas, the celebration of the birth of the Savior of the world! And if we could just see Him and behold Him for who He really is, it wouldn’t only change our view of what Christmas is all about, but it would change us.
“Come and Behold Him”
In the Luke 2 story of events surrounding Jesus’ birth, we read about shepherds who were watching over their sheep at night: “And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.... Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger” (Luke 2:9–12 NKJV). The angel of the Lord wasn’t simply telling the shepherds where to find the Savior just to inform them. This was an invitation that the angel issued to behold the “Babe in a manger.” As we often sing this time of year, “O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem. Come and behold Him, born the King of angels,” this is God’s invitation for us today. He wants us to come and behold Jesus, His Son.
The word behold is very important because it means to perceive in order to comprehend, to come and to look in such a way that it helps us fully comprehend or understand. To behold Jesus is to gaze or observe Him. It’s more than just seeing Jesus. Beholding Him means coming away from all the distraction and gazing upon Him, waiting upon Him to reveal Himself to us. And if we come to Christmas this year and accept the invitation to come and behold, to come and see, it might change how we see Jesus. Remove all the clutter, get rid of all the distractions of the season, and we might actually see that Jesus is God’s gift; He is God’s goodness.
“Good Tidings of Great Joy”
Jesus could have embodied judgment, but instead this Baby that was born embodied God’s mercy and His goodwill. Goodwill, peace towards all men, goodwill and peace. This is God’s mercy. He could have first sent Jesus as the Judge, but He first sent Jesus as the Savior. This is the “good tidings of great joy,” what we call the good news. Jesus embodies that. Jesus embodies God’s kind intentions, His kindness, or His “goodness that leads [us] to repentance,” to change, and to shift (Romans 2:4 NKJV). Why? Because, while God could have allowed history to go on the way that it was and leave us in a weary world, His intentions were to redeem us back to Himself. His intentions were to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.
So, when we come and behold Jesus, we will see God’s love is wide. Jesus Himself said He did not come for the healthy, but He came for the sick (see Luke 5:31 NKJV). He didn’t come for the righteous, but He came for the sinner. He didn’t come for those who have it all together. No, He came “to heal the brokenhearted” (Luke 4:18 NKJV). Why is that? Because Jesus alone can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. And God’s love is wide. He loves the whole world. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 NKJV). This is God’s wide love.
Personal Encounter Leads to Personal Transformation
Jesus as a baby was given and placed in a manger, not on a throne. The announcement of His birth was to shepherds, not to kings and priests, because shepherds were the unassuming, silent, marginalized people. But they were the ones to whom God first proclaimed the announcement of the good news. He started it with the ones that no one would expect. God’s love didn’t start with the popular, the perfect. God’s love wasn’t and isn’t offered only to the religiously put together. God’s love isn’t offered and His forgiveness isn’t given to those who deserve it. He starts wide, and He works His way in.
Why is it important for us to behold Him? It’s because beholding Him is how we have a personal encounter with Him and with Jesus, His Son. When it becomes real for us, each of us, to consider Jesus, to really look at Him, just like the shepherds looked at Him in the manger, that personal encounter with Him will lead to personal transformation, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV).
