A fat man who lives at the North Pole with elves who make toys all year long … yeah, try explaining that one to a native African. Moses is an extremely inquisitive young man who wasn’t going to waste the opportunity to ask this American girl staying in his friends’ home all about who Santa Claus is, why people celebrate Christmas if they don’t believe in the One it celebrates, what the Christmas tree is all about, and somehow we got to the Easter bunny.
And here’s the best I could boil it all down to – that all these things, notwithstanding the fun and silliness that we can all enjoy (I have happy memories of my Pa stomping on the roof with jingle bells, confirming that jolly St. Nick was visiting), are just ways to ignore what it would mean to encounter Truth. Jason has been preparing his Christmas message for Monday’s service, and I’ll give it away to those who won’t make it to the service in person …
There are four responses in Matthew & Luke to our Savior’s birth. Those who hear the glory and immediately respond with joy and celebration. Those who study and search and find Him at the end of a long journey. Those who have devoted their whole lives to looking for Him but refuse to change their lives when they have the chance to encounter Him. And those who recognize the Truth and do everything in their power to oppose it.
Different cultures may approach this holiday differently, but those responses can still be found, whether they’re disguised as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny or something else a bit easier to describe.
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