With all of the warm and fuzzy Christmas greetings floating around this time of year, I feel it is my duty to expound upon the one traditional holiday message that perhaps most intensely stirs the hearts of parents scrambling to get gifts ready for their precious children: “Some assembly required.”
This message, so small and profoundly understated, is usually printed in microscopic letters on boxes containing at least 150 baffling pieces that must be correctly joined together in order to birth a Christmas toy. One would never imagine that such a small phrase could produce such angst in the hearts of the mechanically inept.
I’m married to an engineer who can assemble and fix things as fast as I can buy and break them, so we’ve never fully experienced the panic of being unable to assemble a Christmas gift at the very last minute. In more than 30 years, I don’t think Joe has ever encountered a set of directions he couldn’t conquer.
But before I hooked up with my wondrous handyman, I lived at home with my parents, who, although gifted in many ways, were a wee bit challenged when it came to putting together complicated toys and gizmos. I had a brother who was much younger than I, so as a teenager, I got a peek at the “Santa side” of Christmas Eve, and it wasn’t always a pretty sight.
“Some assembly required” meant “most assembly nearly impossible” at our house, as we stared at a pile of parts and instructions that looked like blueprints for a nuclear reactor.
Things somehow always got assembled in time, but not before I had witnessed a sleigh-load of stress in “Santa’s little workshop.” Many Christmas Eves I’m sure my folks wondered how they had gotten suckered into biting off nearly more than they could chew.
Maybe you’ve been there. If not assembling toys at the 11th hour on Christmas Eve, then in other life situations. The truth is, we just don’t always know what we’re getting into when we take on projects or commitments.
The “simple” do-it-yourself project becomes a nightmare that tests the bounds of our patience, skills and pocketbook. The “easy” volunteer commitment becomes an overwhelming burden that steals more time and energy than we have to give.
But unlike us, Jesus knew exactly what it would cost Him when He risked living and giving in this world.
You see, Christmas didn’t begin the night Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Oh, no. It began before the world was even created. The Bible calls Jesus “the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8) I can imagine a conversation something like this perhaps occurring before God ever breathed life into Adam:
“Jesus, You know that if We do this – if we create people — they’re going to get themselves into BIG trouble and You’re going to have to sacrifice Yourself to rescue them,” God the Father says.
“Yes, I know,” replies Jesus. “Let’s create them anyway. It’ll be worth it.”
So, they created us. And we got into BIG trouble with sin. And Jesus came, “the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world,” to live with us, to die for us, to rescue us. He knew exactly what He was getting into, and He did it anyway, and in so doing, became the very definition of love.
And we call it Christmas.
“For God so loved the world that He gave …” – John 3:16a