All right, let’s see a show of hands. How many of you would say the Christmas season is your favorite time of the year? I know a lot of us love Christmas, and I’m sure you would list one or more of the following reasons:
- The family gathered together
- The food
- The decorations, lights, and trees
- The Christmas shopping
- The music
- The non-stop Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel. (If you want to see my list of awful Christmas movies, click here.)
- The food (Yes, I repeated that one on purpose.)
And, of course, the baby Jesus in the manger.
Christians know that the whole point of Christmas is Jesus in the manger. God come to earth. And we should celebrate that. Even nominal Christians know Christmas is really all about Jesus.
But here’s my beef. Come January, after all the decorations are put away and the fruit cake is thrown out, we leave Jesus in the manger.
Jesus didn’t come to give us Christmas. He came to give us Easter.
Without the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, the point of Jesus coming to earth is gone. Without the fact that Jesus is alive today, His death on the cross becomes merely an unfortunate death.
When John wrote his gospel, he didn’t focus on the particulars of Jesus’ birth like Matthew and Luke did. Instead, John focused on the reason Jesus came.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:9-14).
So why did Jesus come?
- Jesus came to show us the Father. He is the light that reveals the glory of God.
- His light also reveals our darkness. But Jesus did not leave us in our sin. He came to free us. Forgive us. Give us new life. Bring us fully back into a relationship with God.
I enjoy Christmas, but I am far more thankful for Easter. I am eternally thankful.
This 
post supports the study “Saved By God’s Son” in Bible Studies for Life.
Lynn Pryor 