Fear Not! I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Luke 2:10

I have always loved Christmas. Admittedly, both the secular and the sacred versions of Christmas appeal to me. There is something about celebrating the Light of the World during the darkest time of year. Santa, at his best, exemplifies Christian values. He is the epitome of other-centered, self-giving love.

Truth be told, it is my favorite time of year. I like the story of the first Christmas. I like the idea of the God of the Universe stepping down from his throne and coming to Earth to show his love for us. I like the childlike joy and happiness that transcends the darkness and the gloom.

I don’t know if it was just me, but I was always told that the greatest time of year, and the greatest holiday, was Easter. As a good Christian, I was supposed to celebrate Easter with more joy and fervor than Christmas. 

They both have different significance in the Christian life, but Easter was not helped by my negative views of the holiday.

Christmas is about incarnation and cute babies and love and joy brought into the world for all mankind. Easter has been about punishment and penalties and sin being paid for. Christmas speaks of God’s love for us. Easter has been about God’s wrath and his abandonment of his one and only Son. I was supposed to celebrate the imputed righteousness imparted to me (but pay no attention to the fact that the Father was disgusted by my sinfulness). Christmas is the Light of the World coming down. Easter is darkness; the darkness of Good Friday. Christmas always seemed Happy, while Easter carried a more somber tone.

Christmas is joy and hope, while Easter, although good news, had been intermixed with some questionable theology— maybe it’s better to say Easter had some theology which I did not understand— which went misunderstood for decades.

Every part of Christmas is good, whereas Easter is combined with the difficult. It is more complicated. I am confronted by my own sin and depravity. Perhaps I have misunderstood Easter for most of my life because I misunderstood the Father. I always thought the Old Testament was fire and brimstone and the New Testament was Love and renewal.

Christmas, like the New Testament, was always about Jesus. I used to view Easter as the Old Testament God breaking into the Story of Jesus. But recently, I discovered that the Old Testament is actually pointing to Jesus and the New Testament. Jesus himself spoke of this on the road to Emmaus. I have misunderstood the Old Testament to be about disappointment and anger when it is actually a great love story.

I don’t have all the pieces of Easter figured out, but I know the story is better than I once thought. I have the next few months to unravel that mystery.

For now, I am in the midst of Christmas. The King made flesh and dwells among us. I do not have to rush to the cross because there is so much to learn from the incarnation and the life of Jesus. I have dwelt in darkness but am now aware of a great light; the darkness will not overcome it.

Thankfully, Easter and Christmas are not mutually exclusive. I do not enjoy one at the expense of another. I intend to live in the moment of this Christmas and celebrate the good news that the Kingdom has come. Glory to God in the highest. Peace on Earth. Goodwill toward All (Luke 2:14).