“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
        for he has come to his people and set them free.
    He has raised up for us a mighty Savior,
        born of the house of his servant David….

   You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
        for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
        to give his people knowledge of salvation
        by the forgiveness of their sins.
    In the tender compassion of our God
        the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
        to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
        and to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Luke 1:67-79

Let me begin by sharing with you one of my pet peeves: the jingle—Jesus is the reason for the season.  Jesus is not the reason for the season. Jesus is the reason for everything. Jesus is the center of all things and of all time, and through him we are brought into communion with God for all eternity.

It is absolutely too small for Jesus to simply be the reason for the Christmas season, as if we were trying really hard to keep the Christmas celebrations focused on their real meaning.

We need to keep reminding ourselves that Jesus is the reason for the season only when we don’t live centered around him as our ultimate reason for existence at every moment of the year. If we did, Christmas would be an intensification of the glory we give Christ every day of the year.

Zechariah had spent nine long months waiting for his son’s birth. They were nine silent months since the day he had been struck dumb by the Angel Gabriel when he wanted to know how he could be sure that what was promised him would actually come to pass. He had nine whole months to reflect on what the angel had said to him about his son: Many will rejoice at his birth…. He will be great in the sight of the Lord…. He will be filled with the holy Spirit…. He will go before the Lord in the spirit of power of Elijah to prepare a people fit for the Lord….

Day after silent day, the aged priest pondered the scriptures and the words of the angel spoken to him that day in the Temple. The silence whispered through his soul and ever so gradually he came to see that his whole life revolved around the Messiah. His fatherhood, a gift bestowed when he was an old man, was geared toward preparing for the Messiah. His child’s entire life would be dedicated to making way for the one who was promised to Israel.

When his lips were opened after the birth of his son, Zechariah burst forth in a canticle that proclaimed that Jesus was the reason for his child’s whole life. Jesus is the daybreak from on high who has visited his people and brought them redemption. He is the light that has shone in our darkness where we walk in the shadow of death, and through his life, death, resurrection, and ascension he has guided our feet into the path of peace. “And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.”

Jesus is not the reason for the Christmas season. Zechariah shows us that Jesus is the reason for everything. The day after Christmas the world will get bored, Christmas songs will vanish from the radio, and retail stores will turn over quickly to the next commercial feast day. But you, do not forget that Jesus is the reason for your very life, the purpose of your existence, and he offers you the promise of eternal glory, every moment of every day, next year and every year after that.

With Zechariah cry out all year: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and brought redemption to his people.”

Image: The child Jesus and John the Baptist; Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Praying with this Passage of Scripture

Image: Myriams-Fotos; pixabay.com