Christmas Was Not The Beginning

Christmas looms large on our calendars, highlighted in bright red numbers, and even larger in our minds. But Christmas was not the beginning. Before Christmas, there was Christ. John says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Christ the Word existed before there was a world to save, before there were stars to show the way for Magi from the east, before there were sheep for shepherds to watch. The Word was with God before there were angels to herald the birth, before there were ears to hear their songs or eyes to see their brilliant bodies glowing in the night.

John says, Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. He made the soil on which the manger would sit and the trees from which the manger would be made. The hay that doubled as fodder for the cattle and pillow for the child was cultivated by the Word which lived before Christmas.

The sheep the shepherds left were created by the Christ they came to visit. The star which guided the Magi was lit by the Lord to whom they gave their gifts. The gold they brought the child was buried by Him centuries before they were born. The frankincense and myrrh they had squeezed from the bark of trees and shrubs had been woven into the wood and scented by the touch of the One they came to honor. The very body of the virgin girl who offered her womb as a doorway into the world was knit together by the God to whom she gave birth.

The waters upon which Christ walked were poured into the hollows of the earth by the Word which existed before Christmas. He planted the thorns from which His crown was made. The timbers of the cross He bore were cut from the forests the Word spoke into existence. Even the tomb from which He arose was His before He borrowed it.

Christmas is about the coming of Christ into the world as a baby and it is a wonderful gift. We might have fled in fear had God come into the world in all His blazing glory, armed in heavenly battle gear to fight the forces of evil. Then, we might have thought He was coming after us, not for us. In coming as He did, through the womb of a virgin, as a baby, God made himself approachable. He came in weakness, vulnerable and dependent. The very God who came to save us needed the good will of a few faithful Jews to save Him from starvation, to shelter Him from the cold and the savvy of some eastern astrologers to protect Him from the political schemes of a wicked king.

For these revelations and many more, Christmas should be embraced, enjoyed and celebrated. But we must never forget that Christmas was not the beginning. Before Christmas there was the Word. And the Word was God.