Sample Editorial
What does Christmas mean for
most people today? In our secular
society it can only mean for
very many an opportunity to eat, drink and
be merry; to indulge themselves even more
than they do normally, and spend a lot of
money on presents and parties. Somehow it
seems imperative to enjoy yourself, and that
in the only way conceivable in our secular
society, by self-
indeed, identified with joy, for the original
message was of “great joy to all people”. But
the cause and occasion of the joy was not
self-
deliverance and freedom from the curse of
sin and death. That was indeed something
really to rejoice about. “Fear not,” said the
angel to the shepherds, “for, behold, I bring
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be
to all people.”
“Fear not” for in the first place the
Christmas message is intended to dispel
fear. The shepherds were naturally afraid
when they were confronted with the
appearance of the angels, but their fear
only epitomised the fear that haunts every
human heart; that fear which is the concomitant
of the human condition. Because
of the uncertainty and contingency of
human existence, and the many things that
threaten it, fear is a constant accompaniment
of human experience. The wonderful
thing about the coming of the Son of God,
the Saviour, into the world is that he delivers
from fear. He saves from that sense of dread
which is otherwise the constant accompaniment
of human existence, and which the
existentialists have drawn attention to in
recent times. He is the Good Shepherd who
goes before his sheep, and where He goes
they may safely follow.
It is said that Dr Jennings, the discoverer
of the vaccine against smallpox, in order to
reassure his patients who were fearful about
such a strange experiment, first vaccinated
his own son in order to dispel their fears. So
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God tasted
death for us and rose again. Or to change
the metaphor, when he put forth his sheep
he went before them. He did not follow,
as is the custom of shepherds here. By so
doing he dispels our fears.
The message of the angels, however, was
not only to dispel fear, but also to announce
“tidings of great joy… to all people.”
Tidings are news of an actual event – something
which has taken place in the world,
not make-
the nature of the Gospel. It is ‘hard’ news as
they say today. God has acted in the world.
He has sent his Son, Jesus Christ. This fact
marks Christianity off from all other religions.
It is about an actual historical happening.
It is God breaking into history, and
changing things by his presence amongst
us and by the actual events that took place.
It is not just a body of ethical teaching or
philosophical speculation. At its centre is a
concrete event, the birth of our Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ. That makes it qualitatively
different from all other religions. It is
unique. The Son of God has become man.
He has taken our nature upon him. As the
new man, the second Adam, he confronts
the powers of sin and death and drives
them from the field. “Forasmuch as the
children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the
same; that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the
devil; and deliver them who through fear of
death were all their lifetime subject to bondage”
Hebrews 2:14 &15.
This message of good news is for all people.
That is why the Gospel is to be preached
throughout the whole world; and that is
why the kings from the east, as well as the
local shepherds, came to worship Christ
at his birth. Such is the universality of the
Gospel.
Let us pray that the church will be enabled
to grasp afresh the challenge of the
Christmas story, and return to the original
scope and mandate of the Gospel; to proclaim
today a Gospel that delivers from fear
– from the fear of evil – and that brings joy
to those who receive it, and which is universal,
for all people, everywhere. Let us pray
that the true message of the Gospel might
break through all the commercialism, sentimentality and misrepresentation that surrounds the Christmas season, and that the
wonder of the truth of the coming of God’s
Son into the world might be recognised and
received.
