The best solution for dealing with pain, loss and hardship at Christmas is…Christmas!

One of my favorite Christmas television specials of all time is A Charlie Brown Christmas. Discouraged by all of the commercialism he sees around him at Christmas time (evidenced by the brightly colored aluminum Christmas trees, Snoopy decorating his dog house, and of course…Lucy), Charlie Brown wonders what Christmas is really all about. In response his friend Linus eloquently points him to Luke 2 in the King James Version, and from that passage tells him what Christmas is really all about. And every December as parties get scheduled, lights and decorations are put up, wish lists are made, and shopping needs pile up, it is always good to have Linus’ reminder: We need to focus on Jesus, for he really is the “reason for the season.”

But commercialism is not the only thing that can take our focus off of Jesus during the Christmas season. While Christmas is a time of celebration and joy for many, for many others it is a very difficult time. We see other families coming together and it painfully reminds us of the issues, conflicts, and even dysfunction in our own family. We see people go on Christmas shopping sprees and it reminds us of our own financial struggles that will not simply go away with a little Christmas cheer. For those who are grieving Christmas can be a very difficult time because we are reminded of who we have lost, and the pain that comes with that loss is a little sharper. So while many experience great joy and excitement during Christmas, there are also many that experience significant pain and hardship during this time.

Thankfully the Christmas story is not only a remedy for a bad case of commercialism. In addition to reminding us that Jesus is “the reason for the season,” the Christmas story also gives great comfort and encouragement to all Christians, especially to those who are dealing with pain, loss, and hardship, because through that story we see God’s deep love for us, we see God identifying with us, and we see God’s power and control over all things, including our lives. The best source of comfort and encouragement during our Christmas struggles really is…Christmas.

God’s Love

One of the first verses our kids learned in Awana (and Sunday School and preschool!) is a very powerful truth: “God loved us and sent his Son.” (1 John 4:10). In the previous verse John writes : “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9). And in a verse that will be familiar to many, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). The common thread in each of these verses is that God showed his love for us through sending his Son. God not only sent his Son into the world, he sent his Son into the world to die for our sins! God sending his Son into the world was an incredibly lavish, amazingly deep act of love!

So in addition to celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ at Christmas, we can also celebrate and remember how deeply God loves us. And this is a powerful truth for all of us to reflect on, especially those who are struggling with a bad relationship, identity issues, a lack of self-esteem, or other situations where there is a lack of love from others or from themselves. The love God showed in sending his Son is the same deep, lavish love that God has for us today. God does not change (James 1:17), therefore his love for us does not change. Whatever our circumstances, we can be confident and rest in the fact that our God deeply loves and cares for us.

God’s Identification with Humanity

Not only do we see God’s love for us powerfully displayed at Christmas, we also see a God who is willing to fully identify with humanity. It can be easy to gloss over the reality of Jesus being born in a stable; we like to think of a quaint little manger scene. But Jesus was born in a dirty stable, where animals lived. A nice clean, comforting environment this was not! Thankfully most of us were not born in such circumstances! But Jesus being born into such a hostile environment was the beginning of how Jesus, being fully God, identified with a broken and sinful humanity. In his book, Jesus Driven Ministry, Ajith Fernando notes that being born in a stable was the beginning of a lifetime of many hardships for Jesus. After being born he became a refugee, he then lived in a town that many despised and made fun of, and later he had to take over the family business when his father died, eliminating the chance of a better education.[i] Jesus experienced many of the hardships we experience in this life.

But Fernando also notes that Jesus’ identification with humanity also included experiencing the emotional pain that we all experience at various times in our lives:

“His parents did not understand him when as a boy he spent time in the Jerusalem temple talking to the leaders there (Luke 2:50). His family initially thought he was insane and did not believe in him (Mark 3:21). Though he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, he allowed himself to be so moved by the tears of Lazarus’ sister that he himself wept (John 11:35). His closest friends did not understand the heart of his mission. One of these friends stole from their common purse (John 12:6) and later betrayed him. Another friend vehemently denied knowing him. On the night before his death, shortly after he had demonstrated servanthood by washing the feet of these friends, they argued amongst themselves about who was the greatest (Luke 22:24). Then they forsook him and fled when he was arrested (Matthew 26:56). His opponents constantly accused him falsely, even attributing his acts of kindness to Beelzebul, the prince of demons (Matthew 12:24). Through their false accusations, they finally succeeded in getting him crucified.”[ii]

Jesus, being fully human as well as fully God, experienced the pain and suffering of family issues and conflict, people doubting him, friends misunderstanding him and rejecting him, and opponents viciously attacking him. Isaiah 53:3 prophesied this truth about Jesus as the coming Messiah: “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief…” Jesus experienced full range of pain and suffering that we experience on a regular basis!  And now that he is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, interceding for us on our behalf (Romans 8:34), we can be confident that Jesus, God the Son, fully understands the struggles that we are going through.  

Beginning with the Incarnation at Christmas, Jesus Christ was and is able to fully identify with our brokenness and our struggles. This should encourage us! Often we are hesitant to share our struggles with others because of the idea that “they haven’t experienced what I’m going through,” or “they just don’t understand.” This may or may not be true. But what is true and vastly far more significant is that God DOES understand what we are going through. He understands our pain and suffering and brokenness because he has experienced it himself! We can always cry out to a God who understands exactly where we are in our pain. And because he understands where we are, how we are struggling, and what we need, HE can mobilize and equip God’s people to love us and care for us in the way that we need, even if they have not experienced the pain that we have. Christmas not only reminds us of God’s love for us, it reminds us of God identifying himself with our brokenness, and how God is able to meet us exactly where we are, and love and care for us in our struggles. Because of his identification with us, God truly is, “The God of all comfort.” (2 Corinthians 1:3).

God’s Power and Control

Finally, the Christmas story gives us comfort and encouragement because it shows God’s power and control over all things, including our lives. The manger scene depicting an innocent, helpless baby born into humble circumstances does help us see Jesus’ identification with us, as discussed above. But we deprive ourselves if we only focus on that aspect of the Christmas story and fail to see the power and control and glory of God on display at the birth of Christ. In the Christmas story we see angels foretelling the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus (Luke 1), angels directing shepherds to leave their flocks to come to the newborn king, and choirs of angels giving glory to God in spectacular fashion (Luke 2). We also see God orchestrating people’s movements, such as the wise men travelling a great distance to see Jesus and then being warned in a dream not to return to Herod (Matthew 2:1-12), and we see God moving in history to accomplish his purposes, such as using a census given by Caesar Augustus to bring Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem (Luke 2:1-5), where it had been prophesied the Messiah would be born (Micah 5:2).

God’s power and control over and through the Christmas story is even evident in the way the Gospels are structured. The beginning of the Gospel of Luke highlights the powerful emperor Caesar seemingly in control of everything at the beginning of Jesus’ life. But at the end of Acts (which Luke also wrote; Luke and Acts are widely considered to be a two volume work) we see another showdown between Jesus and Caesar, this time with Paul in Rome under house arrest, right under Caesar’s nose, “proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.” (Acts 28:31). These Christ/Caesar showdowns get used as bookends for Luke-Acts, and implicitly but boldly state that even with the birth of the baby Jesus, God’s kingdom is going forward and God’s plan of redemption though Jesus Christ will not be thwarted.[iii] God is in complete control of the entire Christmas story!

And just as God is in complete control of the Christmas story, God is in complete control of our lives. Even during the most difficult and devastating times in our lives, God is in complete control. Romans 8:28 is a powerful and encouraging reminder of this truth: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.” God is in control even our lives seem to be spiraling out of control. God is with us even when we struggle to feel his presence. The circumstances in our lives which are chaotic and stressful to us are not so to God, because he is in complete control of all things. When our circumstances seem bleak and hopeless, God is in control and in him there is ALWAYS hope. We can always have peace in God regardless of what is going on in our lives, because God is in control.

Several years ago our church’s choir and music ensemble performed “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” originally a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Longfellow wrote this poem during the American Civil War, not long after his wife had been killed in a tragic accident and his son had been severely wounded in battle. Wrestling with his grief, he heard the bells ring on Christmas morning, 1864, and began to write. In some of the stanzas his grief and frustration are clear:

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

And yet in the midst of that grief Longfellow wrote profound and encouraging words that evidence God’s control:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor does he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!"[iv]

“God is not dead; nor does he sleep!” God is alive and is at work and is in control of every part of our lives, and because of that, we can have peace this Christmas. Our lives may continue to be filled with pain and hardship, but two things are clear: 1) God is working all things, even our pain and struggles together for good, and 2) we can be at peace even in the midst of the hardship. God is in control.

Conclusion

Many of you may be struggling this Christmas season. It can be a very hard season when struggling with grief, conflict, financial hardship and many other difficult circumstances that we find ourselves in. But the best source of comfort and encouragement during our Christmas struggles really is Christmas! Through Christmas God’s deep love for us is revealed, God’s identification with our struggles and pain is made clear through Jesus’ birth, and God’s power and control over all things, including our lives, is strongly affirmed from every part of the Christmas story. If you are struggling or experiencing pain, loss, or hardship this Christmas, let God’s love for you, understanding of your struggles, and sovereignty over all things minister to your soul. And if you know someone who is struggling this Christmas, share these awesome truths with them so that they too can truly experience Peace on Earth.

Merry Christmas!

 Notes:

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[i] Ajith Fernando, Jesus Driven Ministry (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2002), 18. Fernando goes on to point out that this lack of education was seen as a disqualification of Jesus when he began his public ministry (John 7:15). Obviously this was not a problem for God, but it does further illustrate the struggles and frustrations that Jesus shared with humanity.

[ii] Fernando, 18-19.

[iii] Sean McDonough, “Birth of Christ,” from online course: Life of Jesus, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, MA, 2002.

[iv] Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” verses 3&4 in Peace on Earth: A Christmas Musical, by Deborah Craig-Claar & Robert Sterling (Nashville: Word Music, 2007), 103-106.