So Different a Day…

There is a question concerning Christmas that keeps recurring: What is it that makes it so different a day? Except for some very real and far-reaching considerations it wouldn’t be so different a day⎯and if it weren’t, we should be going through some meaningless motions.

Christmas has its own special spirit, quite apart form all other commemorative occasions. It is different, and there are reasons why it is and should be so. It is the day on which we have come to commemorate the birth of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, our Savior and our Lord, the Prince of Peace. And as concerning this, we might well consider some searching questions:

Is it just tradition? Is it just a story⎯or was it real? Was there a star? Were there wise men and shepherds? Were there angels who sang? Was he what the scriptures say he was, or was he something less than the scriptures say he was?

Did he live and perform miracles and preach an immortal message? Did he heal the sick, comfort the sorrowing and confound the worldly wise? Was it so⎯or was it something men simply said was so?

Was he crucified and entombed, and did he rise again the third day and appear unto his Apostles and unto others also? Did they see and touch him as was testified of Thomas?

Was he literally resurrected? Did he break the bonds of death? Did he ascend unto heaven and take his place at the right hand of the Father? Is he our Savior and Redeemer⎯and will he come again? Is it all true or was it just a story⎯something that someone said was so?

These are questions that call for unequivocal answers, for the meaning of Christmas depends upon them. And we would witness here that the answer to each and all of them is a fervent, unequivocal, unqualified⎯”Yes.” We may not altogether understand how or why, but here we would witness that He who made us in His own image, who is our loving Father, did send to earth His only begotten Son.

Were there wise men, and shepherds, and singing by the heavenly host? Was there a star? Would we be unwilling to believe that He who gave us life and who deeps creation and uncounted billions of stars in their course could place a special symbol in the sky for the birth of His beloved Son?

Even though we cannot fully understand the ultimate answers, these things we accept as we accept the fact that we are, that we live, that life is real, and that He has glorious plans and purposes for all of us that extend endlessly beyond what men now know. All this is part of the real meaning and message of Christmas, and part of what makes it so different a day.