The True Meaning of Christmas
Many of us are long past our childhood years. We grew up at a time when the heralds of Christmas were television specials like Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and Frosty the Snowman. But my favorite has always been A Charlie Brown Christmas. Although it’s considered a “classic cartoon” now, when I was first introduced to it, it was a new television program.
As we all recall this is the story of Charlie Brown who’s called upon, mostly by accident, to direct a Christmas pageant. However, when he arrives for rehearsal, Lucy, Pigpen, Snoopy and all the rest refuse to practice. Instead they waste their time in self-indulgence and it’s Charlie, frustrated from the lack of cooperation, who first raises the question as to where the true spirit of Christmas may be found.
When he finally brings a puny and pathetic little tree, which is almost dead, into the theater to decorate the stage, it crumbles under the weight of a single ornament. At that point Charlie falls into a deep depression and shouts out, “Can’t anybody tell me what Christmas is really all about?” “I can,” Linus replies, as he steps center-stage. Then, under the glare of a single spotlight, he recites the words we all know so well from the gospel of Saint Luke:
“There were shepherds in that region living in the field and keeping the night watch over their flocks. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
“That,” concludes Linus reassuringly, “is what Christmas is really all about.”
It is all too easy to forget what this celebration means because of everything else that competes with it. Yet, this is the day, my sisters and brothers, when the Church proclaims the truth – God is our only hope. He is our “Emmanuel”, a word meaning, “God is with us.” When we say, “Christ is born,” we mean that the Lord is the goal of every human life and without Him life itself lacks meaning. He alone is our helper and Savior and we depend upon Him for literally everything, including every breath we draw and every beat of our hearts. For those who embrace these truths, the coming of Christ promises a heavenly future, if we will but live by His teaching and example.
Christmas is not about sentimentalizing Jesus’s birth. This isn’t about romanticizing the image of a little baby lying in the straw. No, we’re here on this Christmas day to renew our pledge to live for Him alone. That is what Christmas really means.
Linus stepped into the middle of a stage and repeated the story of Christmas from memory, a feat I think that most Christians would find difficult. He repeated those sacred words stripping away all the cultural trappings of the holiday that the majority of people equate with this celebration. His words change not only Charlie Brown’s understanding, but the other children as well. Finally they get it. Finally they understand what Christmas is really all about, and it isn’t a time of unbridled bacchanalia.
When the television program concludes, the children gather around that puny little tree, which they support with a blanket and adorn by tearing down Snoopy’s purely commercial doghouse decorations. And then, when all the glitz of the holiday is gone, the children form a circle in the cold winter air and sing, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!
Finally they understand what Christmas is really all about.
Let us pray that our minds and hearts will be focused on the true meaning of Christmas throughout this season. Even with all the other warm and wonderful aspects of the day, may our attention truly be on the One who gives meaning to this Christmas Day.