The Reason for the Season

 John Bevalere Cox

 Our living rooms are filled these days with stories of Christmas.  Stories of Santa Clause, how he came to be - of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - How Mrs. Clause Saved Christmas - The Grinch Stole Christmas - The Littlest Angel - The Little Drummer Boy - Amahl and the Night Visitors - all stories concerned with beginnings and celebration - all quaint and pleasant stories that entertain us and fill us with make-believe - non committal ideas of a joyous time of the year where love and giving are paramount. They are fun and touching and warm and happy and we enjoy them. But I would like us to consider Christmas in the light of Him who is the center of it all, the reason for the season.

The word Christmas comes from the Catholic Christ Mass, which means the celebration of Christ.

When we celebrate an event, someone invariably seeks to unravel the web of circumstance that brought it into significance, and to consider its impress upon our lives and times. That will be my task here. I will be that someone.

Our celebration of Christmas, out of habit and convenience, centers around the birth of the infant Jesus; around the advent of a single child born in Bethlehem, far, far away in a manger, to a virgin mother long, long  ago; so long that doubters embolden themselves in expressing their derision  and skepticism.

But what child was this that the whole world would come to revere, and whose miraculous birth we celebrate, in one way or another; whose birth was announced by angels; who had kings and wise men seek him out that they might worship him, (Even skepticism and derision are forms of recognition) Whether Christian or otherwise, the whole world is affected.

If the birth of Jesus were the beginning of Christ, whom we are celebrating, then as with other men of prominence that should be the first knowledge we have of Him. But it is not, A prophet named Nephi, the son of Nephi, living in a land far, far removed from Bethlehem, knew of him by name and of His foreordained mission, and of His imminent birth, the day before it occurred, He knew of it by revelation from Christ Himself. (3Ne 1:13)

But was that the first we hear of Him? Elizabeth, Mary's cousin and the mother of John the Baptist, and Zacharias (her husband) knew of Him months before his birth, (Luke 1:39-45) Others too have been shown His coming and His mission back through the pages of time: Samuel the Lamanite, five years before His birth; Alma (son and father), Ammon, Mosiah, King Benjamin, Enos, Jacob (the brother of Nephi), Nephi, Lehi (600 years before His birth), the brother of Jared (2,000 years before His birth), likewise the Old Testament prophets from Malachi back through Jeramiah, Isaiah, David, Moses, Joseph (who was sold into Egypt), Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Noah, Enoch, all the way to Adam, And when we get to Adam we would suppose that would be the earliest we would be able to go, But we must go beyond Adam and the Garden of Eden, for even our first parents knew of the mission and purpose of Christ, and they taught it to their children. Where can we go beyond Adam? We must go back to that Grand Council in Heaven, before ever the earth was.

Here, in that Grand Council in Heaven, we sit with our brothers and sisters and listen as the Father outlines His plan for the mortal phase of our continuing progression, a progression toward becoming heirs to His glory.

We hear Him ask the question, "Whom shall I send to redeem man from his mortal state, and how shall it be administered?

We are there when one like unto the Son of Man, Lucifer by name, the enlightened and intelligent and powerful Son of the Morning says, "Here am I. Send me, I will be thy Son and I will redeem ALL mankind, that not one soul shall not be lost, And surely I will do it," then his selfish purposes surfaced, "wherefore give me thine honor, (Moses 4:1) In this he sought not only to destroy the agency of man, by limiting his choices, but also to usurp the very power of God. (Moses 4:3)  He selfishly moved for self-aggrandizement and ultimate power, and to exalt himself above God, if that were possible~

We also hear another, the Beloved Son of God, the beloved and chosen from the beginning say, "Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever."  (Moses 4:2)

Lucifer's motives were purely selfish, as were those who followed him, because of the things he promised them.

The offer of the Beloved Son was unselfish, and made out of pure love, concern, and caring; caring for the Father, that His will be done in His way; caring and love for us, His brothers and sisters, that we may maximize our growth and progression through the exercise of choices and agency.

And so the offer of the latter was accepted.  His offer was completely unselfish.  The Beloved Son was chosen to be the savior, the redeemer, the Christ.

The hosts of heaven rejoiced at His selection as the one to implement the plan of the Father.

Let us now consider the singular nature of this immortal, eternal personage.  Let us determine if a celebration of Him is in order.

We have rehearsed how His coming forth was anticipated by all the prophets, and how the angels announced His arrival.  Has there ever been another whose advent was so widely known and anticipated; one who even before His arrival into mortality was known by name and by gender; Who had churches organized and named for Him, that devoted followers might worship Him and follow His teachings and gospel, all before he even arrived?  Has there ever been another who led and directed His people.to lands of promise; who spoke to them; who showed Himself to them, revealing how He would appear when He would manifest Himself in the flesh; who governed and taught them, before His mortal birth?

King's sire offspring and pray for a son to be their heir. They announce and herald his coming, and broadcast to all the arrival.  They rehearse his every move as he grows.  But these heirs have no impace upon men until after their arrival upon the scene and have proven their worthiness.  Their deeds may live on for a time after they have gone, and their influence may be felt in a localized arena, but even the Ceasars have lost their influence.

But review the impact of Jesus - the Christ - upon mankind. His worthiness was known before His arrival All the earth - all civilizations - have felt His influence, and continue to do so, whether Christian or otherwise.

No single life has had so profound an effect upon the world as has His.  All the kings, all the armies, all the prophets, all the learned scholars, all the teachers, builders, artists, and scientists combined, that have ever lived, have not affected the life of man as profoundly as has this single man. Yet, in His life, he was an obscure carpenter, from an obscure village, in an obscure country, and His mortal ministry lasted but three years.  He never had much of this world's goods, but He blessed all whom He knew. He lived but 33 to 34 years.  He suffered an ignominious death, hung on a cross between two thieves, and was buried in a borrowed tomb.

But He occupied that borrowed tomb for less than three days, for on the third day he arose from death, a resurrected, immortal being - a GOD - the first fruits of the resurrection; and the world has not been the same since.

The significance of the birth of Jesus cannot be set apart, in matters of import, from the supremacy of the agonizing atonement of the Christ, first in Gethsemane, then culminating in the willing surrender of His mortal life on the cross at Calvary.  The one cannot be separated from the other, any more than the resurgent splash, and after waves can be arrested after the cast stone violates the pristine surface of a calm pool of water.

It is the whole life of that GOD-MAN that we celebrate.  When we celebrate Christmas, we celebrate Christ:  not alone the birth, nor the crucifixion, nor the mortal life, but the WHOLE concept of Christ, and His being, from the Council in Heaven, to the Supremacy of His Godhood in the Celestial world yet to be.

No, dear children, Christmas did not begin in Bethlehem, nor will it end soon. Christmas is forever.

Christmas is Love, It is the celebration of that Christ-like quality of love, not the lustful, sensual, selfish, immoral assault on virtue that our present society has come to mistake for love - but that truly unselfish caring for another; that consideration for the well-being of another; that heartfelt concern and compassion for another's woes; and righteous rejoicing with them in their joy and happiness.  And we mean genuine on-going enduring to-the-end kind of true involvement that brings us to feel as he feels, giving of ourselves, without self-interest or without self-concern, sharing in times of need, as Christ did, accepting with gratitude the gifts offered in times of plenty.

We feel it all about us at Christmas time; in the cheery greetings; in the happy smiles; in the desire to do good things for each other. Our gift-giving is but a token of His love.  It is but a symbol of His generous unselfish gift to us.

Let us rejoice with the angels and prophets and sing with them, "Glory to God in the highest…for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulders, and He shall reign forever and ever."  (Isaiah 9:6&7 paraphrased)

What a glorious time that will be, when Christ shall reign personally upon the earth. Turmoil and strife shall cease.'  Selfishness will be replaced with love of fellow man, and neighbor will trust neighbor, and there will be no poor among us.  Each can enjoy life and righteousness to the fullest, unmolested and without shame or fear of derisive comments from anyone.

Let the celebration of Christmas be as the words of a song, "It's not the things you do at Christmas, but the Christmas things you do all year through."

May Christmas enter into our hearts and there find a happy and enduring abode, I pray in the name of Him whom we celebrate at this joyous time,

AMEN