Betty the botanist1 took the large tree into the lab and began her analysis. She clipped a few deep green leaves, dissected bark, examined the wood under a microscope, and dissolved sap. She discovered its genetic makeup, its chemical compounds, and its biological properties. She worked obsessively all night, thrilled by what she was discovering.
The following morning, Betty’s three small and excited children bounded into the room to find a stripped and bare tree. Their joyful faces turned to frowns. “Children! Look at what I’ve discovered about this tree!” said Betty, excited to share her discoveries, though perplexed by the unimpressed look on their faces. Finally, her smallest toddler asked, with a tear in his eye, “But Mummy, where will we put all our presents on Christmas Eve?”
Betty the botanist had butchered the Christmas tree!
Some people look at the world and all they see are molecules and matter, the hard truths of scientific discovery. There is no meaning and no purpose, and no amount of scientific searching will reveal one. But there are other plains of meaning, of seeing the world, that just might be better and more important ways of understanding reality.
On one level, a pine tree is just a tree. But, as a ‘Christmas tree’, it becomes a wondrous symbol of joy and celebration that can transform a humble living room into a magical world.
Perhaps you are sceptical and think you can see through the superficiality, commercialism and excessive indulgence. Christmas is fake; a fairy story; a myth. It’s not the real world. But what if Christmas is actually showing us the way things really are?
Historians agree that a real and remarkable man called Jesus existed 2000 years ago in Palestine. The story of his birth breaks through our narrow views of reality and forces us to think again2. We can’t ignore him. Christmas show us at least four wondrous things about the way things really are:
God is real and better than we imagined
Jesus is called ‘Emmanuel’ which means, ‘God with us’ – God in the flesh; someone to see and touch. His life, words, works, and death, show us what God is really like – gracious, wise, loving, powerful.
Humans are special
After decades of being told that we are only ‘meaningless molecules and matter’, it is no wonder we are going through a ‘meaning crisis’. But Jesus’ arrival shows us that humans really matter, not least because he entered our world as one of us!
Humans are broken
We all see what’s broken with the world, but may not understand why. Jesus lifts the lid on the real problem in our own hearts. He called it ‘sin’ and gave his own life to save us from it.
There’s a way back
Gabriel told Joseph to call the baby, Jesus, ‘because he will save his people from their sins’ (Matthew 1:21). Through his death and resurrection, Jesus offers us a way back to life, to meaning, to God, if we trust in him.
This Christmas, I want to invite you to see the way things really are; to dare believe that we are more than molecules, that the world is far more wondrous than we imagined, and that Jesus is the key to understanding why.
- Based on a story by Glen Scrivener
- See Matthew’s and Luke’s gospels