Who’s really coming to town?

By Manik Corea    13th December 2001    0 responses

Christmas has always been a magical time for me. Growing up in busy, bustling Singapore, where I spent many happy years as a child, I remember looking forward eagerly to Christmas each year. The month and a half before Christmas was the long school holidays in Singapore, and my brothers and I looked to it as the climax of our holidays. I now know there is more to Christmas than just holidays, presents and fun.

Go to any major city or town centre in the UK in December, and you will see streets decorated with Christmas lights, trees and tinsel. I wonder if just by looking at the decorations decking our cities, you could guess what Christmas is all about? Some of our shops think it is just another opportunity for greater profit!

For some of us, Christmas has to do with parties and shopping, giving presents to family and friends. It may seem like just another excuse for a party. After all the year is coming to an end. It’s of course a big family occasion. Family members often not seen during the rest of the year come home for Christmas, and a turkey is sacrificed in joy… or in dread, depending on how happy you are to see your relatives! For children though, Christmas is a wonderful time to look forward to getting as presents the stuff they’ve wanted all year – toys, computer games, etc. Some might say it’s also a time of fun and food. We sing and hear old Christmas songs more for their nostalgic value than their real meaningfulness. Some of the songs are about a fat, happy man in red with a long white beard who comes to visit children on Christmas Eve with presents for them. Somehow, always, he manages to find a way into their homes. I refer of course to Santa Claus or Father Christmas.

But we miss the point if we think Christmas is all about Santa coming to town. In fact, not many people know that the legend of Santa Claus is based on an actual person – it is short for St Nicholas, or Santa Nicholas, as he would have been known in Myra (in present day Turkey) where he was a bishop of the church. St Nicholas, who died around about 350 A.D., was a man who loved and served Jesus Christ. He was famous for his great concern and care for those in need. In fact, he would deliver presents to very poor children, sometimes without them realising. The church, recognising the good that Nicholas, Bishop of Myra did, decided to hold a feast day to celebrate his life and work. That day was from then on December 6th, and as part of the celebrations, presents or gifts were distributed mainly to the poor. Today, we think of Santa Claus as a happy old man who delivers presents to people who already have so much. I think the real St Nicholas would be sad and angry that we’ve made him into a cult figure of excessive wealth and luxury.

The real St Nicholas would have pointed us to Jesus Christ, his Lord. And here’s where we come back to the real Christmas story….

In the Bible, Isaiah, a man in ancient Israel who lived around 650 B.C., foretold the coming of a special person. He said, ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.’ (Isaiah 9:6) What amazing words. It is clear these are not ordinary titles you would just give to anyone. In fact, there are some 300 prophesies or predictions about the coming of this special person or Messiah, from Israel. Christians will tell you that Jesus Christ fulfilled all of the predictions, spoken by many of God’s prophets or messengers in Israel over 500 years. Right down to where he was going to be born – the prophet Micah writing some 700 years before Jesus was born, tells us what God says to a little town called Bethelehem: ‘But you Bethelehem Ephratah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from days of eternity.’ (Micah 5:2). Think about it, that’s like someone saying in the 14th century that this year, a boy will be born in London for example, who will be the king of the nation and of the whole world. I’ve been to Bethlehem in modern day Palestine, and I can tell you the people there are proud that Jesus was born in their town.

So, Jesus is no mythical figure. He really existed. The baby in the stable in Bethlehem was just the start of the story. And so we have the other characters in the Christmas story. Mary his mother, and Joseph, the man she was engaged too, shepherds who heard angels singing about the birth of Jesus, and wise men or kings who came from the East with gifts for the king. So many forget that this little baby whose birthday we celebrate each year went on to live a life and then die in a way that would change the history of the world forever.

Here are a few lines from a song by an American singer called Scott Wesley Brown, because I think it captures quite well this amazing Christmas story – of Jesus, God’s son, coming into our world.

Who would have thought that long ago, so very far away
A little child would be born and in a manger laid
And who would have thought this little child was born the King of Kings
The son of just a carpenter but for whom the angels sing

And who would have thought that as he grew and with other children played
This child with whom they laughed and sang would die for them some day
And who would have thought this little child could make the blind man see
Feed the hungry, make rich the poor and set the sinner free
Oh who would have thought this little child was whom the prophets said
Would take away the sins of men and rise up from the dead

And I believe, and I will always sing – this little child, He is the King of Kings.

Yes, the story is not over. When Jesus died, after 3 days, he came back to life, because he was God’s Son, and not just any other man. It was God’s way of showing that Jesus was the true king, and that because he came back from death, so we too can have life again, and need not be separated from God forever when we die. Because Jesus died for us, God takes away our wrong, the bad or evil things of our lives that keep us apart from God. Because of Jesus, we can come to know God. Our lives can be turned around.

So, in the final analysis, the Christmas story is about God’s greatest gift to you and me. It is not just about parties and good food, though we can enjoy those with our families and friends. It is about God saying to the whole world, people of every country, and culture, that He wants to know and follow his Son, Jesus Christ. To give your life over to him, to turn from the things that are wrong in your lives. God is waiting for you.

Christmas for us who now follow Jesus, is not just about looking back – it is also about looking forward. Jesus promised that he will return a second time, not anymore as a harmless baby, but as the King of Kings. The rest of the lines of the Scott Wesley Brown song quoted earlier speak of this looking forward:

Many years have come and gone yet this world remains the same
Empires have been built and fallen, only time has made a change
Nation against nation, brother against brother,
Men so filled with hatred, killing one another

And over half the world is starving while our banner of decency is torn
Debating over disarmament, killing children before they’re born
And fools who march to win the right to justify their sin
O every nation that has fallen, has fallen from within

Yet in the midst of this darkness, there is a hope, a light that burns This little child, the King of Kings, some day will return

And I believe, and I will always sing – this little child, He is the King of Kings

O can’t you see that long ago, so very far away
This little child, our only hope, was born a King that day.

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By Manik Corea

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