What Jesus Wants This Christmas
Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. It’s the most wonderful time indeed. It has a way of bringing families back together. No matter where you are, you may be working abroad, Christmas is the time when we can be reunited with our family once again. This is why Christmas is our sweetest and most memorable time of the year.
Here in the Philippines, the moment the calendar hits the -ber months, Christmas has officially begun. People get busier and busier as Christmas day approaches. We become preoccupied with overtime at work just to save money for our Christmas celebration, not to mention our 13th month bonuses. We wait for the malls to go as low as 50% discounts to buy gifts to our niece and nephews. Not just that, the songs in the malls already sound like Christmas. We now hear the famous songs of Jose Marie Chan serenading every mall (and in your playlist if you are a fan of his).
The parties are the most looked-forward events. Who doesn’t love the classic Lechon Baboy on our tables? As for my family, we have this long line of Christmas tradition wherein our titas would group me and my cousins to perform a number for our party. We’d compete against each other; delivering the best performance we could pull off. The best performance is, of course, awarded with really good sets of prizes. And all for the sake of coveted prizes, every single year this tradition keeps getting better and better and crazier. The fun games, the gifts, and the prizes are the most anticipated parts of our gathering. After the games and the performances comes the exchanging of gifts. As Filipinos, we have a different way of exchanging of gifts: Manito and Manita, and this have always been the highlight of our party.
“The parties are the most looked-forward events. Who doesn’t love the classic Lechon Baboy on our tables?”
Human as we are we are not excused from listing down the presents we want to receive for Christmas. It may be Stephen Curry’s spectacular new shoes, or that very hip jersey of LeBron James, or that new iPhone model Apple just released, or that latest Samsung phone, or a career, or just a change of pace. The list goes on and on. Or maybe you’ve been jokingly singing all this time “All I want for Christmas is YOU!”
In about a few months ago I was searching for a piece that I would write for this Christmas article. Then I found this devotional material by John Piper and the title was Good News of Great Joy: Daily Readings for Advent. As I quick read the material there was this question that struck me the most. What does Jesus want this Christmas?
It’s not selfish to wish for all these things for Christmas, but let me ask you a question: have you ever thought what Jesus Christ wants this Christmas?
“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” —John 17: 24
It was before the Passover meal when Jesus gathered his disciples to wash their feet. By now, you might be thinking, “I thought this piece is about Christmas; why is this guy talking about the Passover or washing of feet?” Wait for it; we’ll get to that later.
Yes! It was before the Passover meal when Jesus gathered His disciples and then washed their feet. At this time, Jesus knew what was coming—the road to His death on the cross. He warned His disciples that one of them would betray Him. All of His disciples wondered who it was that was going to betray Him. All except for one.
Jesus told them that He will not be with them any longer and where He was going the disciples couldn’t follow. Not yet, but soon. Before He left, He gave them a sense of security by assuring them that they will be with Him one day. That He will return for them and bring them to His home where He has prepared a place for them. And those who believe in Him must abide in His word and His word will abide in them. The disciples were given a promise to hold on to. A promise that would give them peace in times of trials. Jesus ended their meeting with a prayer, and shortly after, He was betrayed. The road to Calvary had begun.
The disciples were given a promise to hold on to. A promise that would give them peace in times of trials.
John chapter 17 was Jesus’ longest prayer and in His prayer, He surrendered everything to the Father’s will and said that what was coming His way; He’d give it all to the Father.
But at the peak of His prayer, Jesus asked, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24).
In the book John Piper said that “Jesus’ desire for us, for those who believe in Him, is for us to see His glory.” This Christmas, as should be in all of days, is for us to experience what we were really made for—seeing and savoring His glory. As we celebrate this Christmas season may we never forget this. The parties and the gifts may shun us and make us forget about what truly matters: that our savior was born. Jesus was born not just to save us from our sins, but to call us join Him in His glory.
This Christmas, as should be in all of days, is for us to experience what we were really made for—seeing and savoring His glory.
Just before He went to the cross, Jesus declared His deepest desires to the Father. He said, “Father, I desire! That they may be with me where I am, to see my glory.” We were made to see and savor, and treasure His glory. To relish and delight in Him. As what would John Piper would say.
As we celebrate this Christmas season may we never forget this. That our savior was born. Jesus was born not just to save us from our sins, but to call us join Him in His glory.
Two Things to Keep in Mind
Christmas is all about Jesus
As we celebrate all the parties and eat all the Lechon Baboy as we can, let’s not forget the real reason why we celebrate it. Christmas is all about the Word who became flesh, born as a baby in a manger, grew up humbly, only to be crucified and rose again on the third day after His death, and became the savior of the world.
Christmas is all about desiring Jesus
The greatest gift we can receive this Christmas is not the new iPhone, or the shoes, or the shirt or whatever it is that tops your wish list. The greatest gift we could ever receive is the gift that gives us eternal security, the gift that saves us from our sins, and that gift is Jesus Himself. By surrendering our feeble lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is the best thing we can do. This is also the best gift that we can share to our friends who doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus. That Jesus is the only one who can satisfy the deepest longing of our hearts that not even the things we receive this Christmas. That seeing Jesus as our satisfaction we may see him for who he really is.
With these, we can truly taste and see what we have been made for: see His glory, savor it, relish it, delight in it, and treasure it forever and ever.
CHRISTMAS IS ALL ABOUT JESUS!
This post is inspired from:
John Piper. Good News of Great Joy: Daily Readings for Advent (Kindle Locations 140-141). Desiring God.
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