Hosanna

by Pastor James Bell

A little girl said it well. Riding home from the crowded mall, sharing the backseat with her revved up siblings, she pressed her nose against the cold, foggy window. She saw the brightly lit plywood manger scene in someone’s front yard. Over the noisy voices of her excited brothers and her frantic, tired mom, she blurted out, “Merry Christmas, Jesus!”

Did Jesus have a Merry Christmas? His best friend John said it simply, “He came to his own and his own people didn’t receive him.” That rejection ultimately led to the cross, but it started in Bethlehem. Those people didn’t even know he was born, let alone who he was. Jesus’ birthday was the stuff of shepherd’s chatter and angelic myths. In fact, it wasn’t until the Magi showed up almost two years later that people started getting a clue.

By the time Jesus was thirty-three, it was pretty obvious that he was not going to have a mega-church in Jerusalem. He did draw some big crowds, and he could have pulled it off by cutting some corners here and there and not always being so bluntly truthful. But on the other hand, after being God and creating the world, the promise of a really large congregation was not enough to cause him to swerve from his prophetic destiny.

Here’s the tough part: He expected no less of his disciples. Jesus valued truth as essential for spiritual freedom. He saw success in terms that were more qualitative than quantitative. Would some of today’s leaders accuse him of negativism if he said to their constituents, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?” Larry King and Piers Morgan would question his exclusivity. Diane Sawyer might try to coax him into a more acceptable position on social issues. Millions would just switch back to ESPN or Dancing With The Stars. Funny that most people on Earth have never really cared about the things that are so riveting to the inhabitants of both heaven and hell. Not yet.

But this truth remains through the years: Jesus’ birth is made sacred by the life it produced. Every time you remember the manger, whenever you follow your faith to the cross,  and as often as you truly worship the Son of God, something happens that will someday shake the world!

These days, along with many other pastors I’m sure, I receive as many heartbreaking stories as Christmas cards. I see, up close and personal, crumbling values, deteriorating relationships and broken hearts. Then I hear the voices of many high-profile Christian leaders giving slick, motivational messages rooted more in pop psychology than the Bible. I feel backed against the wall, seeing Satan’s perverted grin as he communicates in myriad ways a message that says, “If you don’t play along with us, we will paint you as an insensitive, judgmental, grace-bashing, relic of the religious past.”

But spiritual leaders who are spiritual leaders hold to biblical values, presenting love, grace, surrender, service and fulfillment as the Christian way.  Smiling imposters offer grace, grace, grace and more grace as an alternative and tell people to choose their own way. Tragically, it seems to be working pretty well for them, at least on this side of eternity. But anyone with even a little bit of spiritual sensitivity has to ask, “What is the birth of Christ without the cross? What is the message of hope without the empty tomb? What is Christmas without a Savior?”

So I find myself joining that little girl, with my face pressed against the window. In the mix of devotion and dysfunction, friendly faces and frustrating disappointment, the smiles of children and the fears of old men, amidst the carols and chaos….I still believe. With my nose against the glass, I see the hope that lies in a manger. I say with a choked up voice and tears of realization, “Merry Christmas, Jesus!”

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