Holiday Hierarchy

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Everyone loves Christmas. Think about the way that Christmas has been embraced. Christmas doesn't just get one day, even on the calendar it gets Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and on some calendars even Old Christmas. Christmas is so loved that it has it's own song that tries to elongate the holiday, The 12 Days of Christmas.

Let's face it, Christmas even has the coolest mascot with a fat man dressed in fur, a killer ride sporting 12 reindeer power, and an army of little guys and gals who have pointy ears and an aptitude for making every toy under the sun. Christmas is so big that we start thinking about it on Thanksgiving when Santa Clause crashes Turkey Day to wrap up the Macy's Day Parade.

Why has Christmas gotten so big? Why is it that we start shopping in February for December 25th? If you ask 10 Christians what is the most important holiday in the Christian Calendar, I'm guessing that 9 out of 10 would say without hesitation, Christmas. Why?

There is no doubt that Christmas is a very important part of the story of Christ Jesus. After all it is at Christmas when we celebrate the deity of God coming into the world as a man. However, I submit to you that Christmas is not the most important date in the Christian Calendar, Easter is.

If Jesus had come to the world but not carried through the act of dying and resurrection, Jesus would only be a prophet, a man who came and taught, a god who experienced the world and then returned to his throne. No the act of coming was amazing, but in and of itself it has little value.

Easter, now Easter is the fruition of birth, life, death, and eternity. Easter is the time of year when we pause to remember that Jesus was not just a baby in a manger, not just a prophet of old who brought a message, not just the God who came to Earth. Easter is the time when we remember that Jesus chose to live a perfect life, never sinning, never deviating from what is right. Easter is the time when we are humbled into remembering that the world killed it's King in the most brutal of ways. Most importantly, Easter is the time when we remember that even death could not conquer our God.

The very thing that makes us Christians comes from Easter. To be a follower of Christ we acknowledge that Jesus died not for anything he did, but for the things that we do. As Christians we put our faith in Christ that he did rise from the grave and that he will one day cause us to do the same. Being a Christian has very little to do with believing that Jesus was born at Christmas time, even atheists believe Jesus was born. Being Christians has everything to do with believing the Truths of Easter.

Why is it important that we put the proper emphasis on Easter? Just as Christians has become somewhat confused about the importance of our celebrations, so has the world. The world sees Christmas as the most important holiday in our calendar. Thus, the world also sees the actions behind that holiday as the most important in our religion. Are we putting out the right message?