Where is Jesus?

Below is an Advent Reflection by EAST Resident Faculty Rev Dr Lewis Winkler titled,  Where is Jesus? A timely piece to cause us examine our hearts and turn our gaze upon the One who matters for the upcoming festive season.

Where is Jesus?

As part of our yearly Christmas traditions, our family erects a Nativity display, complete with a wooden stable, plastic barn animals, shepherds, an angel, three wisemen, Mary and Joseph, and baby Jesus in a manger.  One year, however, baby Jesus disappeared.  Although we searched high and low, He seemed to have vanished into thin air.  When Christmas was over, we reluctantly packed up the stable, animals, and other important figures in the Christmas story, but baby Jesus, who was supposed to be the central figure of the scene, was still missing.

Sad to say, our family’s experience of losing Jesus has become a fitting metaphor for many of our lives at Christmas.  We pull out all the seasonal décor, attend holiday parties, anticipate family gatherings, and make lists for how many gifts and cards we will be giving and sending to others.  On top of all this, we are besieged with invasive displays and advertisements urging us to buying more and more things that promise to give us the joy and contentment for which we long.

Of course, these promises are never fulfilled, and there always seems to be a bigger and better version of what we have purchased by the time the next Christmas season rolls around.  As a result, we frankly find ourselves exhausted and relieved when the whole holiday season finally subsides.  And when it comes to Jesus, the real reason for the season, He often gets lost and forgotten in the midst of all the clutter, commotion, and clamor.

While we are busy hanging lights, we forget that Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12).  Feeling the pressure to give everyone important to us a thoughtful and worthwhile gift, we forget that Jesus is the greatest gift of all (John 3:16).  In all the hustle and bustle, we forget that Jesus promises rest (Matthew 11:28-30) and peace (John 14:27) for all who turn to and trust in Him.

Instead of finding Christ at Christmas, we find ourselves over-stimulated, overworked, and overwhelmed.  As Christians, if this is how we experience Christmas, perhaps we need to ask ourselves an important question: In the midst of all that is Christmas, where is Jesus?  Have I somehow missed or obscured Him in all the traditions and expectations, new and old, that now surround this increasingly hectic and frenzied season?  Have I sought to keep Him at the center of it all or have I let other things conceal, crowd Him out, and push Him away?

Fortunately, the aforementioned story has a happy ending.  We never gave up hope that baby Jesus might appear someday, and several months later, He was found safely tucked away in my youngest daughter’s dresser drawer where she had laid and then forgotten Him.  We restored Him to His rightful place of centrality in our creche, and all was right with the world again.

Similarly, each and every Christmas, we have an important choice to make concerning Jesus.  Because of all the distractions and expectations crowding Him out and drawing us away from the real reason for the season, we must decide: Will we let Him be lost in all the trappings and trimmings of this increasingly secular and market-driven holiday, or will we, like the wisemen and shepherds long ago, make Him the central focus of our interest by continuing to seek Him and joyously make Him known to all who will listen?