What can we do when “peace on earth, goodwill to men” seems so distant and almost impossible?
Dan Schaeffer
What can we do when “peace on earth, goodwill to men” seems so distant and almost impossible?
Dan Schaeffer
You’ve seen it plastered everywhere, on posters outside churches as the end of the year draws near.
But have you ever felt a little less enthusiastic about the festive season? Have you been tempted to say, “Honestly, it doesn’t feel like Christmas”?
After all, life doesn’t always feel hopeful.
Especially right now, when an age-old conflict between two states is threatening to explode into a regional war.
When a territorial invasion is still displacing and separating families.
When families are struggling with broken relationships, grieving over the loss of loved ones, or coping with deteriorating health.
Sometimes, it seems that life is conspiring to challenge the Christmas message of the “good news of a great joy” (Luke 2:10 RSV)—by wiping away our joy.
At such times, the festive garb of the season—the colours, lights, decorations, songs, presents, family get-togethers—offer little comfort. What we need is something different, something deeper.
Author and speaker Jill Briscoe recalls being asked to speak to a church gathering in Croatia for 200 newly arrived refugees. They were mostly women, because the men were either dead, in camp, or fighting. That evening, she told the refugees about Jesus, who as a baby became a refugee himself. He was hunted by soldiers and His parents had to flee to Egypt at night, leaving everything behind.
Sensing that her audience was listening intently, she continued telling them about Jesus’ life, and when she got to the cross, she said, “He hung there naked, not like the pictures tell you.” At the end of the message, she said, “All these things have happened to you. You are homeless. You have had to flee. You have suffered unjustly. But you didn’t have a choice. He had a choice. He knew all this would happen to Him, but He still came.”
Then she told them why. Many of the refugees knelt down, put their hands up, and wept. “He’s the only one who really understands,” she concluded.
This is the part of the Christmas story that is often neglected.
God had a choice, and He chose to become a vulnerable human child. He chose to come to earth and suffer and die.
We can decorate His entrance into the world with festive angels and stars. But those decorations cannot mask the purpose of His entrance—to suffer and die for us.
The Christmas “Unpeace”
Ironically, it is in those times when it least feels like Christmas, that it might be most like Christmas.
Maybe hope—the hope that comes in the midst of strange, uncomfortable, and confusing circumstances—is the closest we can get to the true and original spirit of Christmas.
Often, the lack of the internal peace we are desperately seeking nearly convinces us that God’s love for us has waned. How can God truly love us when He allows such pain and suffering to enter our lives? But it was because of this very pain and suffering that God came in the first place.
In fact, it was into just such “unpeace” that our Lord arrived. As author Emmy Arnold writes in her book, When the Time was Fulfilled,
How could God hate us, when He gives us what He, past all measure, loves? I proclaim to you great joy that shall come to all peoples—peace on earth! The true Christmas experience is to feel that this Christmas peace is the greater power; that even now on earth it overcomes all unpeace. That this peace shall come to all—that is the expectation and faith of Christmas. The Christmas star in the night sky, the shining of the Christmas light in the night—all this is the sign that light breaks into the darkness. Though we see about us the darkness of unrest, of family discord, of class struggle, of competitive jealousy and of national hatred, the light shall shine and drive it out. Wherever the Christmas Child is born in a heart, wherever Jesus begins His earthly life anew—that is where the life of God’s love and of God’s peace dawns again.
When all the things that spell security and comfort are removed, we become keenly aware of how much we need God to enter our world.
We can’t make heaven on earth, no matter how hard we try, no matter how much we decorate. Sin has affected and infected everything we touch. We need to be rescued. We need a Saviour.
We long for peace. Peace on earth, and peace in our hearts. This is what the original participants in the Christmas story were waiting and hoping for.
What If There’s No Saviour?
A powerful way to appreciate having a Saviour is to imagine what it would be like not to have one.
Imagine that your pain and suffering have no meaning. Your life is simply ruled by fate—and you are just unlucky. Wrongs will never be made right, truth is relative, and hope for a better world is just so much dreaming. Your silent suffering and hidden pain have no divine audience; they are yours to bear alone. There exists, quite simply, no hope beyond this life.
But we do have reason for rejoicing. A Saviour was born to us, and our suffering touches His merciful and gracious heart.
He was not only moved by our suffering, but He also came to join us in it. He lowered himself to suffer what we suffer, to feel what we feel, to cry with us, hunger with us, thirst with us, and live with us.
The Almighty God made himself vulnerable to all the pain of human life.
One of my greatest joys is in knowing that there is a God—the Prince of Peace—and that He is righteous and loving.
That this God loves me never ceases to amaze me. My hope can shine through any pain, confusion, and suffering that comes my way, because I know my Saviour cares for me. My hope cannot be quenched, because I know that my God loves me even through suffering.
Christmas reminds us that we can put our hope in a sure thing—the love of God—demonstrated so beautifully on that wonderful day when He came forth into our world as a baby.
Christmas reminds us that we can put our hope in a sure thing—the love of God—demonstrated so beautifully on that wonderful day when He came forth into our world as a baby.
Because of our despair, hopelessness, and helplessness, He left His throne in heaven. This is the “good news that will cause great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10), for we have peace with God in Him (Romans 5:1).
This article is extracted and adapted with permission from Discovery Series The Real Gift of Christmas © Our Daily Bread Ministries.
Dan Schaeffer is an award-winning writer who pastors Shoreline Community Church in Santa Barbara, California. His work has appeared regularly in more than 30 different Christian magazines and periodicals, in many different countries and languages.
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