What has Christmas in common with a funeral?  A funeral is one of those rare occasions when most people are willing to give a hearing to  the message of hope that is offered by Christianity.  If we cannot think about Jesus at Christmas, when will we give Him a thought?!

Everyone seems to bemoan the materialism, and sometimes debauchery, that dominates at Christmas time.  Many appeal for us to remember the real meaning of Christmas.  That is fine, but what do those who make the appeal think the real meaning is?  Is it about children and family?  Is it about giving and charity?  In measure the answer must be ‘yes’, it is about peace and love, but more..!

How ever did a child born in a shed at the back of a hotel in an obscure little place in the Middle East come to have the celebrity status of Jesus?  He wasn’t even born in Jerusalem and that would have been unimpressive enough two thousand years ago when Rome was the centre of things.  He had an unmarried mother, and the father was in doubt.  He was brought up in the home of a carpenter but the nearest to woodwork that we know he got was carrying a cross to the place of his own execution.  Now millions across all the world worship him as God!  How did that happen?

The angel announced the meaning of the humble birth in Bethlehem to shepherds.  He said that a Saviour had come.  What he had in mind was not a political or military figure to rescue the Jews from their Roman occupying overlords.  The chorus of the angelic host is very familiar but needs to be looked at afresh to get the point.  They cried out, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace toward men …”  Then there follows in many Bible translations the word ‘goodwill’.  Whose goodwill?  Is it saying that the men who receive peace are those who have the virtue goodwill?    Or is the goodwill rather that of God who has chosen to bless men with peace?

And what peace is it all about?  Is there a promise of the end of human warring and hatred, and of harmony between people?  Or is it about inner contentment and a sense of personal wellbeing?  We certainly need both of these commodities.  No doubt we need to move towards peace between us all and peace within us all, but there is an even more important kind of peace.  It is simply peace with God.

There is a selfish, rebelliousness in us all.  We break God’s rules for life (the Ten Commandments).  That results in an enmity (enemy-ness) between us and the One who is our Maker and Judge.  We cannot afford for that enmity to go on unchecked.  We dare not die in that condition.  We need a saviour to remedy the situation and rescue from disobedience and its consequences.

We need someone who can establish peace between us and God.  That is what Jesus did by coming two thousand years ago and by going to the cross for us.

But if Jesus really is able to sort out our relationship with God and guarantee our eternal welfare, He is important beyond comparison.  He cannot be relegated to the periphery of life.  We cannot confine Him to church buildings or limit His influence to Sundays.

Don’t you think it is time for you to re-assess the place of Christ in your own life?